Try Using Fishing Nets To Remove Debris From Your Paddling Pool
If you dont have a cover on your paddling pool, trash will inevitably blow into the water. So, heres a solution to deal with this issue: use fishing nets!
All you need to do is fish out any rubbish you see and dispose of it. This can also be a great pre-pool party activity for kids, and it can even be done before every use.
Plus, itll also teach kids about water pollution and how to get rid of rubbish correctly.
You dont need huge fishing nets, in fact, small sized ones will do for small to medium sized pools.
Good Pool Maintenance Begins With Knowing Your Pool
Before you can properly enjoy or care for your pool, you might need to brush up on all the parts of your pool. You dont need to take an annex course or go for your doctorate in swimology from Harvard. But knowing the basic parts of your pool, and their functions, helps you keep everything running smoothlyand makes it easier to resolve issues when they occur.
Looking for even more pool maintenance tips? Weve got just the thing. Check out The Pool Care Handbook and Video Course and become a pool care master.
How To Get Clean And Sparkling Water For Your Backyard Pool
One of the challenges of managing a residential pool is keeping the water clean and clear. Theres more to it than scooping leaves and twigs out of the water. Cleaning pool water and making it stay clean is more intricate than that.
There are external elements, bodily fluids, and other things that pool water can be introduced to. Needless to say, its the little particles, residues, and byproducts that are harder to spot and keep out of the water. Here are some basic yet effective ways to help keep your pool water clean from both visible and less visible debris and particles:
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Why Cant I Get My Pool Water Clear
by swatms | Jun 6, 2019 | Pool Maintenance
One of the most common questions we get during this time of year is: Why is my pool still cloudy? Why cant I get my pool water clear? When you are a pool owner, you want your pool to be ready at any time for swimmers. You want your water to be clean and clear and problem-free. Sadly, there is no magical pool fairy that will come and clear your water. However, here are some suggestions if you have a cloudy pool.
Inspect Chemical Levels At Least Twice A Day
When it comes to inspecting pool water, pH and chlorine are the ones to keep your eye on.
There are two extremes on the pH scale: alkalinity and acidity. Maximum acidity is zero, while maximum alkalinity is fourteen. The pH level in pool water should be between 7.2 and 7.8, which is the safe middle ground. The pH level should fall in this range to prevent skin and eye irritation, and keep chlorine effective. If the pH levels test higher than 7.8, add an acid to lower the pH level in the pool.
Chlorine, on the other hand, is used to clean swimming pools. It prevents the formation of algae and bacteria in pools, as well as destroying any other impurities in the water. The pool water will be safe for everyone if both of them work together.
Monitoring chemical levels are crucial in keeping pool water clean and safe for swimmers. There is a wide range of tools and kits available in the market for this sole purpose. The two most common ways of testing chemical levels in a pool are pool testing kits test strips. Either way, these should be able to measures both pH and chlorine levels.
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Total Available Chlorine Vs Free Available Chlorine
As pool water warms in summer, more chlorine is needed. If theres a difference between your Total Available Chlorine and Free Available Chlorine levels, treat your pool with a non-chlorine shock. We recommend using Leslies Fresh N Clear, which is an oxidizer with a built-in clarifier. It works by breaking up organic contaminants that bind to the chlorine and prevent it from doing its job. Use a non-chlorine shock if your Free Available Chlorine level is 2.0 parts per million or higher.
Test Water And Balance Chemicals Weekly Minimum
All pool owners know that testing their water is just a regular part of owning a pool.
But ask yourself:
How often do I test and balance my pool water?
Maybe youre someone who squeezes it into your schedule once or twice a month. Or maybe you only do it when you expect to swim.
And although either can work for a little while depending on how often you swim , one thing is certain:
Its not enough.
Its important to keep your pool properly sanitized and chemically balanced for a few reasons:
- To fight off bacteria and protect your health
- For cleaner and clearer water
- To reduce chemical costs over time and
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Remove Foreign Particles Scrub And Vacuum The Pool
The environment and weather may also be the cause of cloudy water. To fix and prevent cloudy water, follow all of the best practices below.
- Foreign particles, small and large, may find their way into the water, especially during spring. Body oil and sunscreen from swimmers also washes off in the water and accumulates in the pool, causing cloudiness. You can use nets to remove visible particles, and you may have to use pool clarifier to clear up the water when cloudiness persists. Also, I prefer using pool flocculant and vacuuming the pool to do away with fine particles that cannot be removed by leaf net or clarifier.
- Algae also causes cloudiness in its early growth stages. To remove algae, scrub and clean the pool using a large leaf net and vacuum: Then do a pool shock to get rid of any remaining algae. Control the amounts of pH, chlorine, TA, phosphate, and other pool sanitizers to prevent algae growth.
- Free chlorine depletes more quickly in full sunlight, but if trees and buildings are next to your pool, direct sun will be blocked. If your pool is in direct sunlight, consider using a chlorine stabilizer and a pool cover when not using the pool.
- Rain also contributes to cloudy water because it dilutes and therefore reduces free chlorine levels. All you have to do is test the chemicals, paying close attention to the chlorine levels, and adjust them as appropriate.
Vacuum The Water Right Out Of The Pool
This is where all the hard work comes in. You now should see a big cloud at the bottom of the pool. This means the Floc collected all the particles that were making the water cloudy and sank them to the bottom.
Now you have to get that thick cloud out of the pool. But if you just vacuum it normally through your filter system, itll just blow right back in through the return jets.
Instead, you have to vacuum the water right out of your pool. To do this with a multiport valve on your filter, just set it to the Waste option. This will send the pool water out of the backwash port as you vacuum. Youll need to keep a garden hose in your pool to fill it while you vacuum.
If you dont have a multiport valve, you can just open the drain port on your filter and let it drain out as you vacuum so it doesnt come back into the pool.
Note: Move the vacuum slowly along the bottom of the pool or else youll kick up the cloud and you wont be able to see what youre doing. And you may have to do this multiple times. Let the cloud resettle before continuing.
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My Pool Is Green But Chlorine Is High: What Else Could Be The Problem
If your pool is green but chlorine is high, its possible that you arent running the pools filter often enough or for long enough to filter out algae and bacteria. In spring and summer, when its warm outside, pools should be filtered for eight hours a day, regardless of whether the pool is in active use. During cooler months, filtration time can be shorter four hours a day should be sufficient. Again, pools should always be filtered regularly, even if no one is swimming in them.
It is also possible that copper somewhere in your pool is causing the water to turn green, despite the pools chlorine content. Chelating agents for removing copper are available at most swimming pool stores, if youre tackling the problem yourself, or a pool specialist can apply the treatment for you.
Clean Or Replace Your Filter
Keeping your pool’s filter clean helps it work more efficiently and improves the overall appearance of your swimming pool.
The more debris and particles build up on a filter, the harder it needs to work.
Eventually, the filter can become so clogged that it can’t do anything to clear your pool.
We recommend using a commercial filter cleaner at least twice during swim season.
If your pool’s filter is gross and clogged up, the best option might be to replace it with a new one.
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Prime Your Pool Pump And Filter
To get your pool pump and filter ready take the following steps:
- To eliminate any air in the plumbing lines, make sure to add water to the suction lines with a garden hose.
- Open the filter gauge pressure relief. Then, mark or document your starting PSI.
- Inspect your controller for the correct time, hours of operation and programs for variable speed or variable flow pumps.
- After the filtration system is operational, inspect all components in the equipment area for leaks.
- Open all suction and return lines, utilize the multi-port valve and clean out any debris in the line by discarding to the waste position. Prior to operating the pool, remember to return the multi-port valve to the filter position.
What Exactly Is Free Chlorine
Most people, when they test their pool water chemistry, they make sure they look at the chlorine level in the pool. They often dont pay any attention to free chlorine at all. As a matter of fact, some test kits do not even test for free chlorine. This is not good for several reasons.
When you test a sample of your pool water and check the total chlorine level, it can be misleading. Thats because that reading includes all of the types of chlorine found in your swimming pool.
The problem is, some of that chlorine that the test kit indicates is in the pool is actually useless . Thats why you need to test for free chlorine. Its an actual measurement of the amount of chlorine in your backyard pool that is still available to act as a sanitizer.
Free chlorine is a measurement of what is called hypochlorous acid and the hypochlorite. These are the good parts of chlorine that are active and able to change chemically to sanitize your pool. Why do you want to measure free chlorine as opposed to total chlorine? Its because free chlorine is 25 times more effective at sanitizing pool water than used up combined chlorine is.
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Which Pool Filter Is Best
There are three types of filters: DE , cartridge , and sand. Each has its own pros and cons. A DE pool filter is the most efficient when it comes to filtration, followed by cartridge, and the sand filters. Here is my detailed guide on types of pool filters, how to select the best one, and how to properly maintain it.
Private Pools
DE and cartridge filters are recommended for home pools and may not be the best when it comes to public pools due to their tendency to clog. The filter medium for DE and cartridge filters also require frequent replacement.
Public Pools
A sand filter is always best when it comes to public or semi-public swimming pools, but the sand used in a sand filter also gets clogged and becomes ineffective, which may cause your water to be cloudy or dirty. Consequently, the sand should be replaced every year.
How To Make Your Pool Crystal Clear Again
Is your pool looking a little murky? Does it seem to turn a new shade of green every day?
Theres a solution to turn that water sparkling clean again. Read on to discover our tricks and tips.
Keep Up with pH and Chlorine Levels
Do you have a water testing device in your supply kit? If not, you might want to add it to your arsenal as soon as possible. Keeping up with the chemicals in your pool is the first step to maintaining crystal clear water.
Test the water a couple times a week and take note of what you find. Ideally, the chlorine levels should be at 1 to 3 parts per million and the pH levels at 7.2 to 7.6. Maintaining these levels helps to avoid cloudiness and bacteria growth.
Run That Filter
Its recommended that you run your filter for 8 to 10 hours a day when using your pool. Doing so keeps the water fresh and healthy. Without regular filter use, the water will grow stagnant, and bacteria will flourish. That means youll spend a lot more time scrubbing and cleaning than swimming and laying out.
Skim, Skim, Skim
Yes, something that simple can be the trick to clear water. Skimming the top of your pool only takes a few minutes but is totally worth it.
What makes skimming so effective? When you skim the water, you remove all that organic material lying around. Leaving that material in the water allows it to break down and cloud the water. Do this once a day for best results.
Shock the Pool Once a Week
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A Pool Cleaning Schedule
If it has proper circulation, youve already made cleaning your pool much easier. But youll still need to apply some good old-fashioned elbow grease. The basic tools youll need are:
Both Mother Nature and the folks using your pool bring all sorts of wild and wacky things into your pool, from leaves, mold, and the odd duck or frog to residues from shampoos, perfumes, and hair products. Add in the risks of bacterial contamination, and cleaning your pool becomes an absolutely essential part of safe swimming.
Skim, brush, and vacuum your pool weekly, at a minimum. This will keep debris out of your water, and your walls sparkling clean. Baking soda paste works particularly well as a basic scouring cleaner that wont damage delicate tile or a vinyl liner when you brush.
An automatic pool cleaner can significantly cut your pool cleaning time. It wont eliminate the need for regular skimming and brushing, but itll make both tasks easier, freeing you up to spend time enjoying your pool instead of cleaning it.
You can also make your cleaning life easier with a few unorthodox additions to your pool. Toss a few tennis balls into your skimmer basket, or even right into the pool, and theyll absorb surface oils left behind by suntan lotion, cosmetics, etc. You can also wrap your skimmer baskets with pantyhose to create an extra-fine filter thatll catch more contaminants than a skimmer alone.
Remove Leaves And Other Organic Debris
A resident pool is more often place in the backyard where naturally there are plants and trees present. Its inevitable for some dirt, twigs, or dead leaves to get in the pool. Although this is a cleaning problem thats easily solved by removing debris with a pool rake, it should be done promptly before debris sinks into the pool. This will make it a little more difficult to retrieve later. In addition, it may even introduce bacteria to the water.
If there are any trees close to the pool, consider trimming the branches to prevent any leaves from falling into the water.
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Pool Skimmers And Returns
If your pools filter is its liver, then your skimmers and returns are its veins and arteries. Your skimmersnot to be confused with a net skimmer, the cleaning tool attached to a telescoping polepull water into the filter for cleaning, while the returns push the cleaned water back into your pool. And like your veins and arteries, they work best when theyre clean and clear of obstructions.
No two pools are alike, and youll no doubt encounter pool maintenance challenges specific to your pool as time goes on. But if youve got a firm grasp on these four pool components, youll be well equipped to face down most upkeep challenges.
What Happened Reasons For Cloudy Pool Water
Why do pools get cloudy even after you add chlorine? Primarily for two reasons: first, because of over-shocking the water , and two, because of common debris and other natural contaminants falling inside.
Cloudy swimming pool water happens because of the same issues:
- Shocking the water too much or too high, which leads to imbalanced chlorine levels
- High pH and alkalinity
- A clogged or broken filter
- Algae development
- Debris, bugs, and microbes
The outdoor environment is naturally destructive to a pool of clear water. Rainwater, bird droppings, twigs and leaves, flying debris, garden debris, algae, bugs, and even the sun can alter the chemistry levels of the pool water.
When you add chemicals and organics to the water, the appearance and properties change. High levels of pH make the pool cloudy, as does high alkalinity, high chlorine, and high calcium hardness.
Not only can these chemical changes occur naturally because of outside elements, but even altering the chemistry yourself can give the water a milky and unattractive appearance.
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