Keep Your Ph Levels In Balance
It can be easy to neglect the pH balance in your swimming pool. But, the right pH balance is very important in maintaining a clean and clear swimming pool. When the pH in your swimming pool water is out of balance, your sanitizers will not be able to work as effectively to protect your pool. When chlorine cannot work effectively, your pool is more likely to develop algae, bacteria and cloudiness.
Test and balance the pH in your water weekly to ensure your water is comfortable and that your chemicals can work as intended. A reading between 7.2 and 7.6 is ideal and will help to keep your water sparkling and clear.
Limiting Outside Particles From Getting In
The bacteria from a swimming pool can lead to a number of illnesses. Common sense should have you making sure anyone who gets into the pool is relatively clean before allowing them to get in the pool. When you go to a public pool, they recommend that you go through the restroom to rinse off in the showers before entering the pool.
Buy a pool cover to keep animals, dirt, and leaves from getting into the water when the pool is not in use. A gate around the pool can also help to hinder children and animals from getting near the pool when it is closed up for the nice or during rainy weather.
Use a leaf skimmer to skim larger particles, like leaves and grass, from the surface of the water. A pool vacuum can help to get the dirt and algae off the bottom of the pool. A pool filter will do wonders to get anything floating below the surface that is being missed by the skimmer and the vacuum.
Cover The Pool When Not In Use
Itis also a good idea to cover the pool if you want to have a break from swimmingbut still want to use the pool later. And if you plan to use it every day forthe whole summer, cover the inflatable pool to prevent debris, bacteria, andother microorganisms from getting into the pool after using it, especially atnight.
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Make Sure Your Water Level Is Correct
Many pools automatically drain excess water on their own, but if yours does not youll need to remove some water to get back to the proper level before you start rebalancing the chemicals. You can open the drain, backwash the sand filter, or follow whatever the proper procedure is for your installation to get the water back down to around the center of the skimmer float.
How To Balance The Ph In Your Pool
To lower pH, you need to use a pH reducer , such as muriatic acid or sulfuric acid. Anything below a pH of 7.0 is too low, and apart from turning water cloudy, this environment brings about harmful bacteria causing ammonia and algae.
To increase low pH levels, you need to use a pH Increaser with soda ash.
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Consider Other Possible Trouble Makers
Outside of the usual suspects, keep an eye on things like:
- Copper: If your water looks cloudy or you have dark stains on your liner, excess copper might be to blame. The most common offender is a high level of copper in your tap water. To remedy this situation, you can use a product that goes after water-borne metals . You should test for copper about once a month or as needed.
- Iron: Too much iron will make your water look brown or rusty. The causes are similar to copper , as are the treatments .
- Calcium: If your calcium levels are too low , that can cause long-term wear-and-tear on critical components like your vinyl liner. If the levels are too high , that can be a problem for the plumbing . You can use a product like Spa Life Cal or Aqua CAL to increase the calcium hardness of your water or Aqua Cop-Out to bring levels down.
- Phosphates: These naturally occurring organic chemicals, which make their way into your pool through things like dirt and leaves, are a favourite source of food for algae. Ideally, you want to keep phosphates below 1000 PPM. If they get out of hand, you can treat them with Naturally Aqua Enzyme Plus or Aqua No Phos.
Ultimately, keeping your water looking and feeling its best throughout the season comes down to a few simple things: maintaining its cleanliness, watching its chemistry, and taking actions to nip any problems in the bud before they blossom into major headaches.
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Reasons Why You Might Have A Cloudy Pool
Before you set about clearing cloudy pool water, it helps to understand what is causing the problem.
In some ways, getting to the source of your pool’s cloudiness requires you to play chemist. We’ll try to break it down for you in plain English, though.
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Take a look at a few of the more common causes of cloudy pool water and then we’ll got over how to clear cloudy pool water.
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How To Keep Above Ground Pools Clean: Tips For New Pool Owners
Owning an above ground pool comes with responsibilities, and the most significant responsibility is keeping your pool clean. After all, how can you enjoy fun & games in your pool if it is not clean?
Maintaining the cleanliness of your pool happens on a daily, weekly, and monthly period, and knowing how to keep your pool clean is vital to help avoid more expensive maintenance or dangerous swimming conditions. In this article, we discuss the main reasons for cleaning your pool and the variety of ways how to keep above ground pools clean.
How To Keep Your Swimming Pool Crystal Clear
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Having a swimming pool in your backyard can be a fun way to keep cool during the hot summer months. But maintaining a pool is also hard work, particularly if you want to keep the water crystal clear all season long. If you neglect your pool at all, the water can turn cloudy, hazy and even green in a hurry. But it just takes a few key steps practiced regularly to keep your pool clear and sparkling so it’s always ready for family and friends to enjoy.
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Add Chlorine To The Water
If your pool is new and this is the first time to sanitize it with chlorine, ensure that you shock it first. Most pool manufacturers recommend shocking the pool after two weeks as often.
But, factors like the temperature and the frequency to use will matter. With time, you won’t need to shock it.
For small pools, add chlorine to sanitize the water if you don’t have time. The recommended amount is a quarter a teaspoon for 10 gallons of water.
Likewise, medium size inflatable pools will need about two and a half teaspoon for 100 gallons. Also, you can do this after several weeks to shock the pool.
How To Clean A Pool With Bleach
Did you know, bleach can also be used as pool shock? Shocking significantly raises the free chlorine level of the pool to kill off bacteria and viruses in the water. This should be done sparingly, however.
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The Systematic Dolphin M 500
For a meticulous and extremely thorough pool cleaning experience, you need a systematic robotic pool cleaner. The Dolphin M 500 assures an accurate scanning of your pool, making sure no corner remains uncleaned. With a triple active scrubber, this model is your safe way to know that you can enjoy your clear pool.
Why Is My Pool Water Cloudy After Opening A Pool
Depending on how carefully you closed the pool for the winter, at the beginning of summer, you may see algae and cloudy water.
The main cause is usually imbalanced chemicals. If your water is free of algae, all you need to do is test for all the chemicals and adjust. Starting with the pH, then the chlorine, and then other chemicals after that.
If the water still appears cloudy after adjusting all the chemicals, you can try using either water clarifier to remove the debris through the filter or use pool flocculant and then vacuum to remove any particles.
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How To Make The Pool Water Crystal Clear
Swimming in pools with crystal clear water is one of the best sensations in this world. If, in addition, the pool water does not irritate our eyes or dry our skin, surely, we would like to become fish to swim in the pool water as long as possible.
However, making the swimming pool water crystal clear can sometimes cause a lot of headaches.
At Gre, with more than 50 years of experience in the manufacturing of aboveground swimming pools, we have solutions for every problem the pool water may have.
But what can happen so that the pool water is no longer crystal clear and how can we make the swimming pool water totally clear and transparent to enjoy our pools both in winter and summer?
How To Clean A Pool With Rubbing Alcohol
Did you know, you can use rubbing alcohol to disinfect cuts and scrapes your kids may pick up if they trip and fall on your pool deck?
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Sanitize Your Pool Water
Sanitizing your water means exterminating the bacteria and bad chloramines in your pool with the addition of chlorine or other chemicals. Chlorine is the primary additive in pool water and can be the best and only sanitizer you need. You can decide how you add the chlorine, but one of the most popular ways of adding chlorine to a pool in a safe way is to use chlorine tablets.
Chlorine tablets are efficient because of how compressed they are. They dont fully dissolve into the pool water right away, and instead, they help add small amounts of chlorine to your pool a little at a time. This slower approach gives you a longer-lasting chlorine treatment, so you dont have to keep adding chlorine or shocking your pool unnecessarily.
Start With Fresh Water
If youre trying to fix already slimy or green pool water, save yourself the time and multiple chemicals and start with fresh water.
Make sure the pool itself is also scrubbed clean before filling. You should be able to do this with Dawn dish soap and a wash cloth. Rinse well before refilling.
Then, fill your pool with fresh, clean water.
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About That Filter Pressure
Davy Merino writes for discount pool supply and equipment provider In the Swim’s blog, and he notes in his post, “Pool Maintenance for First Time Pool Owners,” that irregular filter pressure shouldn’t be ignored. “Higher-than-normal pressure indicates a dirty filter or obstruction after the filter,” he notes, “and lower-than-normal pressure indicates a dirty pump basket or obstruction before the filter.”
How To Know If Your Chlorine Is Imbalanced
The wider the range between free and total chlorine, the more combined chlorine is present in the water. Combined chlorine should always read below 0.5 ppm or just 0 ppm, if possible. This means you should test chlorine levels on a daily basis and adjust it as appropriate before there’s excess chloramine, especially during the summer when it’s hot and the pool is used heavily.
Safe pH Level for Swimming
The correct level of pH in a swimming pool should be between 7.4 and 7.8, with 7.6 being the ideal level.
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Always Measure The Ph Value In Your Intex Pool
The pH value measures the acidity of the swimming water is. In principle, the lower the pH value, the better the disinfection of your pool, but the value must also remain healthy for your skin. The ideal pH value of swimming water is between 7.2 and 7.6. At a value of 7.0 the water is neutral at a higher value the water is basic and at a lower value the water is acidic.
The pH value of your swimming pool is relatively easy to check with the help of test strips. The colours on such a strip indicate whether the values are correct or not.
If you see that the pH value is too high, this means that algae formation and lime deposits can occur. In addition, a high pH value is unhealthy for eyes and skin. You will then have to add pH minus to lower the pH value.
Too low a pH value is bad for your health and skin. For example, you may suffer from irritation of the eyes and mucous membranes. To reduce the balance, you can add pH-plus to the water.
A correct pH value is very important and can prevent various problems. So, you should check your swimming pool regularly with the help of the test strips and read the guidelines that are supplied with the pH raisers and lowers.
Check Your Pools Water Chemistry Regularly
Ensuring your pools water chemistry is balanced helps to keep it safe , comfortable , and gentle on your equipment .
When you test your waters chemistry, these are the levels you want to look for:
- Chlorine: 2-4 PPM
- Alkalinity: 80-150 PPM
- Bromine: 2-4 PPM
If anything is outside of those ranges, youll want to add water balancing products to get everything back to where it needs to be.
Ideally, you should test your pH and chlorine levels daily and alkalinity weekly using at-home testing strips. You can also have your water professionally tested for free at Total Techs pool store . Well use our computerized water analysis centre and keep your results so we can reference them when we need to.
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How To Keep Your Pool Clean Throughout The Winter
Keeping your pool clean throughout the winter is a must. While it could be tempting to let things go throughout the winter, it is important to keep your pool clean even when you are not using it. Even though you are not swimming in your pool throughout the offseason, you do need to keep your pool clean or you may have challenges during the season that you are going to have the pool open. In this article, we are going to talk more about keeping your pool clean even though the winter months.
Create A Maintenance Schedule
As you learn more about your pool and how to care for it, your to-do list might start to seem a little intimidating. Creating a pool maintenance schedule makes it easy to stay organized and make sure important tasks dont slip through the cracks.
Not only will you be able to stay on top of basic upkeep, but youll be able to plan ahead for more advanced pool maintenance tasks like closing your pool, caring for it during the off season, or getting your swimming pool ready to roll when pool season returns.
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Wait Just How Cloudy Is Your Pool
Cloudy is a pretty vague term, and you should know that there are different stages of cloudy pool water. And yes, it goes from bad to worse.
Personally, Id break cloudy water into three categories:
- Flat. The least severe form, in that your pool water still has its color but it doesnt have the sparkle it once did.
- Hazy. The water is starting to lose its color and its now difficult to make out small details on the pool floor.
- Milky. The water is no longer translucent, meaning the pool floor is not visible at all. This is pretty much as bad as it gets.
Equipment Required For Pool Maintenance
When youâre creating a maintenance schedule for your pool, the first thing that youâll need to do is gather some equipment! Youâll want to have a skimmer or net handy, as well as a vacuum cleaner. A robotic pool cleaner is an automatic, self-contained device that has brushes, filters, and pumps for cleaning pools. They are generally programmed to run 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, or can be scheduled to clean your pool when you want it cleaned. These robots are very popular because they do not require human interaction, and they work automatically! Some will also have a remote control, so you can start them from a distance. These will make cleaning the water much more efficient! Youâll also need pH test strips, a chlorine test kit, and a brush for scrubbing the walls of your pool.
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