How Often To Shock Your Pool
How will you know when to shock a pool? Dont wait for a bad smell or eye irritation before you shock your pool. It’s recommended that you should do a pool shock once a week. The more you use the pool, the more often you need to shock it.
Occasionally, you may need to perform an extra pool shock after:
- Heavy pool use, like a pool party.
- A severe rainstorm.
Testing Your Freshly Filled Pool Water
To find out the water balance of your source water, just use a pool test kit or test strips. Be sure that your kit or strips are fresh, last years supply may produce inaccurate results.
To produce the full battery of water tests , you will need a complete test kit like the Taylor Deluxe K-2005. If you prefer test strips, AquaChek Select 7-Way, and LaMotte Insta Test 6 are both complete test strips.
Taking a water sample to the pool store may not be the best option, as their system is designed to sell you chemicals, after which you will need to test the water again, and test all summer – so you may as well buy the K-2005 , or buy some fresh 6-way or 7-way test strips, which aren’t as accurate, but may be close enough.
Intex Pool Start Up Chemicals
Intex pools are small aboveground pools, but they still need startup or opening chemicals as any other pool. Perhaps you arent as concerned about staining and scaling as an inground pool owner, but you certainly want clean and clear water, without any signs of algae.
If you are starting with a freshly filled intex pool, consider screwing on a pre-filter to your garden hose before filling the pool, to remove excess solids and minerals, and reduce the workload for your pool filter.
Step 1 – Water Balance First! As usual, start by balancing pH, Alkalinity and Calcium Hardness levels to the chart above. Calcium is not as critical in a vinyl Intex pool, but maintaining a minimum level of 150 ppm is still a good idea. Your pool water pH level is best in the 7.2-7.5 range, and to hold the pH steady, the waters Alkalinity should be around 100 ppm. Intex pool chemicals startup would not be complete without cyanuric acid ), to protect your chlorine from the sun. Add 1 lb per 2500 gallons, to raise CYA levels to 40 ppm.
Step 2 Add Clarifier: Most Intex pool filter systems are decidedly small, and can use a helping hand. Swimming pool water clarifiers coagulate suspended material into larger clumps that are more easily filtered.
Step 5 Add Algaecide: Following label instructions for dosage, treat your Intex pool with a good quality pool algaecide, as a supplement to your chlorine treatment, to prevent algae growth.
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What Order Do I Add Pool Chemicals
Swimming pools are one of the best investments for your home. But can we talk about the maintenance procedures required by pools? Not many pool owners like pool cleaning and maintenance procedures. I mean, it can be tedious and time-consuming. But when it comes to taking care of your pool, you have no choice. Abandoning your pool can lead to many pool problems in the long run. In fact, you might have to uproot the whole structure. So, do your best to take care of your pool. One of the main methods of maintaining a clean and healthy pool is adding the right pool chemicals.
Stain Removal And Prevention
Stains and ugly water lines are another issue that most pool owners have to deal with. Pool Stain Removal & Stain Prevention Chemicals effectively remove and prevent stains that can be caused by metals such as copper, iron, lead, silver, nickel, manganese, and cobalt. These metals are a major cause for discoloration and scaling in your pool water pool stain removers disperse these metals from your water, leaving it clear and clean. By using stain prevention chemicals on regular basis, the need for backbreaking scrubbing and cleaning will be greatly reduced and it will be far easier to maintain a beautifully clean pool environment.
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Our Conclusion On The Order Of Adding Swimming Pool Chemicals
To keep a pool safe and clean, you should keep the water alkaline and calcium-hardened.
You must also make sure there is enough calcium hardness to prevent algae growth. You must also add bromine to kill bacteria, and finally, you must test the water regularly to check for chlorine concentration.
Keep your pool clean by vacuuming and keeping it skimmed regularly, and follow the correct order to adding swimming pool chemicals we overviewed above- total alkalinity, ph adjusters, calcium hardness, chlorine/sanitizer, and then cyanuric acid. Happy swimming everyone!
The Swimming Pool Cleaning Process
Pool chemicals are necessary to keep pools clean.
Sanitizers kill germs, bacteria, viruses, mold, algae, and more.
To keep a pool clean, people need to be careful about what they use to wash themselves and their families. They also need to be careful about how much they use.
Pool chemicals should be added to the pool to make sure it stays clean and safe. Algae needs to be removed to avoid staining and damage to the pool walls. Hard water requires more chemicals than soft or regular water to remove stains.
Knowing what to test for, use and how to mix them is important to keeping your pool healthy. So what is first when it comes to testing and adding pool chemicals in the correct order?
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What Is Breakpoint Oxidation
To reach breakpoint oxidation, the chlorine reading must be 10 ppm over your combined chlorine reading.
Your chlorine has two readings: free chlorine and combined chlorine . Free chlorine refers to the chlorine that is free and available to kill.
NOTE: Pool shock products are made with unstabilized chlorine or no chlorine at all. They will go in, do their job, and get eaten up by the suns UV rays very fast. Thats why its important to shock your pool at night or dusk, and let it work for 8 hours throughout the night.
Adjust The Calcium Hardness
Calcium can build up around the edges of your pool and will be noticeable because of discoloration. As well as making your pool look dirty, it can also cause damage to the equipment as well as the pool structure.
The best range for calcium hardness is 200-400 PPM.
- To decrease calcium hardness, add fresh water to the pool
- You may need to partially drain your pool and then top up with fresh water to remove calcium. Also, you should brush your pool and then vacuum it to remove excess calcium
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How Long Should You Wait To Swim After Adding Pool Chemicals
When you have a swimming pool, pool chemicals will be your best friend if you want to keep it properly clean. After you add any pool chemicals, you always need to make sure the water levels are safe for you to get in. So always retest your water before diving in. If the pool water seems properly balanced, it should be completely safe to swim in your pool.
If you want to make sure how long you may need to wait after you have added pool chemicals, I have provided a quick guide that may help:
Learn How to Manage Your Pool and Hot Tub
Frustrated trying to keep your pool clear? Feeling confused about when to add the right chemicals? Get the perfect easy-to-use, illustrated ebook and video course today!
What Order Should You Add Pool Chemicals
When it comes to taking care of your pool and keeping your chemicals balanced or opening your pool after winter, it can be hard to know what chemicals you should add and when. Does it really matter what order you add the pool chemicals in?
There is in fact a correct order to add your pool chemicals in after opening your pool or even just maintaining your pool. And the order you use them will actually depend on what you need to accomplish with your pool.
An important part of the process will be to test the pool water and then work to balance out the levels according to the details of your testing. There are standard steps that you should follow with adding chemicals.
Lets dig a little deeper on this topic so you can know exactly what order your pool chemicals need to be added in.
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Protect Your House From Leaks
Although national and local building codes require that above-ground pools are placed several feet away from your home due to electrical reasons, there remains the question of what to do if the pool fails and water starts gushing out of it at high speeds? The ground, and possibly your basement, can become flooded fast. The best protection is to install a sump pump in your basement to handle any water overflow that reaches your home.
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How To Shock The Pool
When youre shocking a pool, the goal is to raise the free chlorine level of the pool water to roughly 10 times the combined chlorine level. Reaching this mark is the breakpoint chlorination.
Shocking a pool should be done at dusk. The sun will burn off unstabilized chlorine. Shocking your pool at night makes sure the chemicals work properly.
Here’s how to shock a pool:
- Test the water. You will need to check the pH level in your pool. Pool test kits can measure the FC and TC of your water. To find the CC of your pool, subtract the FC from the TC. This will let you know how much chlorine you need to add to the pool.
- Calculate the amount of shock you will need to mix. Refer to the amount indicated on the package of the shock chemical you plan to use.
- You can add some granular pool shock to your swimming pool directly, but most varieties need to be mixed with water before use. Mix the granular pool shock with water ahead of time, if necessary. This will save you time and help prevent calculation mistakes. Pre-mix the pool shock in a five-gallon bucket.
- Liquid pool shock is also available.
- Ensure the pool pump is running.
- Pour the mixture into the water, around the edges of the pool.
- Let the pump run for about six hours or more.
- Test the water to ensure proper chlorine levels.
- Dont use the pool right away. Wait for the free chlorine levels to drop to 1 to 3 ppm.
- Wear gloves and safety glasses while working with pool chemicals.
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Once Every Other Day Test The Water
At least three times each week, test the pH level of your water. As long as you test it that often, it shouldnt go out of balance by too much.
Depending on the Results, Use an Appropriate Treatment:
Lets say that the pH level was higher than usual. Then, you should try to lower it. Additionally, if the pH level is lower, then you should raise it.
Usually, We Suggest Using a Litmus Strip:
Perhaps, the litmus strip is among the easiest testing methods. With one of these, you just dip the paper into the water. Then, see what color it becomes. Depending on the results, youll have your answer
Tips For Adding Start
- Add Stain & Scale chemical first, especially for new plaster.
- Try PoolCalculator.com for amounts of start-up chemicals
- Add one chemical at a time, using a pool brush to distribute.
- Run filter pump while adding chemicals to circulate.
- Re-test the pool water after 8 hours of filter run time.
- Add chlorine shock when the sun is not directly overhead.
- Add algaecides last, after chlorine level drops below 3 ppm.
- See our Pool Start-Up Kits for all the chemicals needed.
Once the pool is opened, you will need to circulate, filter, clean and treat the pool water – every day. Consistent water balance, constant chlorine levels and effective filtering is important to prevent water problems.
And, as the water temperature and pool usage increases through the summer, you will need more hours of daily filtering, and more chlorine tablets to maintain sanitation and clarity.
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Manage Ph Levels: Add Muriatic Acid Of Soda Ash
If youve ever swum in a pool and then your eyes or your skin burned while you were swimming or even after swimming, its probably because the pH levels were off in the pool. pH is for the comfort of the swimmer.
In addition to this, chlorine is not as effective if the pH levels are not right. And finally, incorrect pH levels can increase pool equipment corrosion.
You might want to test your pH after youve got your alkalinity settled so you know just what you need to do. pH ranges from 1.0 to 14.0 on the scale. The perfect range to be in is between 7.4 and 7.6.
- To decrease pH, use sodium bisulfate or muriatic acid
- To increase pH, use sodium carbonate or soda ash
Halogens Bind To Free
When the halogens are free, they bind things quite easily. Since they are so reactive, they tear through the pool water. Nevertheless, once they encounter something, they become inert.
Consequently, Youll Notice the Water Is Cloudy:Once enough of it is deactivated, you can see it in the water. To the naked eye, it will appear as if there are clouds in it.
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Keep Pool Water Sanitized With Bioguard Smart Silkguard Sticks Containingsilkguard Technology
- Smart SilkGuard Sticks: Long-lasting chlorine sanitizer that dissolves slowly and all but stops dissolving when pump is off
- Kills and controls algae
- Easy to apply to skimmer, no special feeder required
- The special formulation works best with the skimmer chlorination application
*If pump circulation is more than 12 hours per day, Smart SilkGuard Sticks may need to be applied more often than once per week
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Measure And Adjust Calcium Hardness
If you ever notice a while line or scaling around your pools water line, its probably calcium buildup. And how often you see it is directly related to your pools calcium hardness level.
Ideal Calcium Hardness level: 200 400 ppm
How to increase calcium hardness:
To increase your pool waters calcium hardness use calcium chloride. Follow the usage instructions printed on the packaging.
How to decrease calcium hardness
- Partially drain your pool and refill it with fresh water.
- Use a flocculant to collect and vacuum excess calcium.
Sanitizer is what keeps your pool free of germs and bacteria. Without it, every pool would quickly become a breeding ground for germs.
But luckily, we use sanitizers like chlorine to keep the water safe and healthy.
When it comes to measuring chlorine, there are a few numbers to keep track of:
- Free Chlorine
- Measures the amount of unused, or available chlorine in the water
To find your pools combined chlorine : subtract Total Chlorine from Free Chlorine
Ideal levels for chlorine: 3 ppm
Chlorine comes in a few forms:
- Chlorine tablets
- Salt chlorine generator
For this step, you can save time and shock your pool now. This gives you a jump start on refreshing the water and takes care of sanitizing your pool.
A few other pool sanitizers:
Bromine
Healthy pool bromine levels range from 3 ppm to 5 ppm
Biguanide
Proper levels for biguanide: 30 to 50 ppm
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Basic Pool Chemistry 101
Wouldnt it be great if you could just fill your pool with water, and then never worry about algae growing, or bacteria building up, or the water just becoming a gross breeding ground for all kinds of nasty contaminants and organisms? Sure, testing the water and adding pool chemicals on a regular basis might be time-consuming and tedious, but its absolutely necessary.
A little up-front work means a lot less remediation later when your pool becomes infested with algae, or so imbalanced, the only solution is to drain it and start over. While keeping your pool clean and sanitized may not be the most fun tasks, theyre also not difficult. All it takes is a little basic pool chemistry knowledge, the right equipment and supplies, and a desire to keep your pool clean and swimmable.
Balance Your Water Chemistry #
The first step would be to check your pool chemistry. You can do this using a pH test strip. If you notice that your pH reading is low, add an alkaline solution like sodium bicarbonate to increase the pH. On the other hand, if you find out that you have a very high pH, add muriatic acid to balance the pool chemistry. Also, check the calcium hardness of your pool water. Use a calcium increaser to increase calcium hardness if it is too low. On the flip side, when you have low calcium hardness levels, use pure water to dilute the pool and lower the calcium hardness.
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Pool Water Chemical Levels
For the most accurate pool water testing, we recommend a titration test kit the Taylor K-2005 is the same test kit used by pool stores.
The ranges shown here are suitable for any pool surface or any type of pool sanitizer used.
Adjusting to the lower end of these ranges is best under most circumstances.
Step 2 – Add Stain & Scale and Clarifier: Before you shock the pool, which can disrupt other pool start up chemicals, add a Stain & Scale chemical to prevent staining by keeping minerals and metals locked tightly in solution. Follow up with a good pool clarifier, following label dosage information, to help your filter remove small suspended particles.
Step 3 – Filter the Pool! Run the filter overnight or for 6-8 hours to distribute water balance chemicals, and then backwash or clean the filter as needed, and empty the pump and skimmer baskets. Run your filter 24/7 if possible, for the first few days after opening the pool from its winter slumber.
Before adding your pool opening chemicals, test the water again to be sure your adjustments hit the mark, and all water balance levels are correct, preferably on the lower end of the ranges.
Step 5 – Add Algaecide: The final product in our pool start up kits is the algaecide. Add your algaecide only after chlorine levels have dropped below 3 ppm, which is usually a few days after shocking the pool. High chlorine levels quickly deplete pool algaecides, or render them useless.
