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.
Chlorine For Pool Start Up
This might be the most important pool chemical that you have to use. Chlorine keeps your water clean and safe for use.
Too much chlorine though, can make your water sting and damage the skin of anyone who swims in it. This is definitely something you want to avoid. Fe people are convinced that the stink of chlorine is worth it for a cleaner pool!
You need to raise your chlorine level quickly during pool start up. This is a type of shock treatment that should get your water clean without degrading any of your other chemical levels.
When adding chlorine, you need to follow the instructions of the manufacturer for dosage and how long to leave the chemical before adding more. It is important to be careful with it.
Shock The Pool To Remove Bacteria And Contaminants
Shocking your pool is the final step for getting rid of all the bacteria, algae spores, and other organic contaminants that may have entered your pool during the winter off-season. To shock your pool, use 2 pounds of shock for every 10,000 gallons of water, which should raise your chlorine levels to 10.0 ppm. Depending on your pool, you can use either Leslies Power Powder Plus or Leslies Chlor Brite. After shocking the pool, run the circulation system for at least 2 hours before adding an algaecide.
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Pool Chemicals: The Key To A Clean Pool
You could fill your pool with fresh, clean water, and then skim and vacuum it every day, and the water would still get dirty. Leaves, twigs, and other debris fall into your pool. Bugs take their last swims in it. Birds fly overhead and bomb it.
And every time someone swims, they leave behind body oils, hair, dead skin, shampoo, soap, everything we humans put on our bodies and slough off on a daily basis.
The only thing keeping those contaminants from turning your pool into a black lagoon is sanitizer, probably the most important pool chemical youll ever use.
And in order for the sanitizer to work, other water attributes must be balanced: pH, alkalinity, and calcium hardness.
Finally, youll add pool chemicals to treat algae, to clear your pool, and to prevent staining, if you have hard water.
All of these factors work together to create balanced pool chemistry so you can swim in peace, so knowing what to use and how is crucial.
Pool Chemicals: How Much Of What Is Needed
How much, and which pool chemicals are needed, for an entire season?
In an ideal world, pool closing would come as you finish the last few tablets, clarifier, algaecide and everything else. But as we all know, thats rarely the case.
So I went to see Dr. Pool, who is friendly with mathematics and always loves a puzzle. I explained my query, as he peered at me over his glasses.
You want to know how a pool owner could calculate the exact amount of chemicals needed, for any given pool, he repeated back to me.
First calculate the number of weeks that the pool will be open. Secondly, you must know your pool size in gallons, give or take a few hundred gallons, he said.
We settled on my pool as an example, a 25,500 gallon inground pool. My pool is open from May 1 October 1, or a typical 20-week season.
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First Time Pool Owner
shannonelaine1120 said:Hello, I just got a new pool, a 27×54 round, above ground pool and I was wondering, after the pool is filled up, what chemicals will it need at the very beginning? I live in FL so I should be able to swim in it for about another month or so, but then I will be covering it. Should I just put a couple of gallons of chlorine intially? Or should I also put shock in it also? This is my first pool, so this is all new to me and I have a few different people all giving me different advice! 😕 Any input would be greatly appreciated! 😀
What Chemicals Do I Need To Maintain My Pool
Many of the chemicals used to open your pool will also be useful for keeping your pool sparkling cleanall season long. For routine pool maintenance, add these chemicals weekly:
- Chlorine in granular or tab form
- Bromine as an alternate to chlorine or as one of the important startup chemicals for hot tubs
- Soda ash, baking soda, or muriatic acid to balance total alkalinity and pH
- Shock after a heavy rainfall or group swim
In addition to these standard chemicals, you may need other specialized pool chemicals at times. If youhave trouble with algae or metal staining, try one of these solutions:
- Algaecide. This chemical prevents and kills algae growth. Keep your pool from goinggreen even in sunny environments by adding algaecide after a shock treatment.
- Metal Remover. During the off season and when filling with high-metal water, metalscan build up in pool water and stain your pool. To remove these stains, add metal remover to yourpool water.
To make sure that chemical levels are balanced throughout the swim season, test your pool water once ormore weekly with a home testing kit or take a water sample to your local pool company for professionaltesting.
Handle Pool Chemicals Safely
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Reconnect And Maintain All Pool Equipment
At pool opening time, you will want to reconnect all the equipment that you disconnected before the winter season. This usually includes the pool filter, pump, heater, automatic pool cleaner, in-line chlorinators, and all other pool equipment. This is also the time to reattach any ladders, hand rails, and other pool accessories that were taken down for winter.
When connecting your equipment, it’s a good idea to lubricate all o-rings, seals, and hardware with a silicone lubricant. This will keep the equipment working properly all year, and will make it easier for you to disassemble them when you close your pool.
Stain And Scale Remover
If you have metals in your water, like copper and iron, you can use a metal remover or stain and scale remover to keep those metals in solution so that your filter can filter them out.
If metals come out of solution that can attach themselves to the walls and other parts of your pool and produce unsightly stains.
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Before Starting Please Remember To
1. Read entire label of each bottle and use in accordance with precautionary statements and directions.
2. All chemicals should be handled by adults only, and kept out of the reach of children. Filter system must always be on and running when adding chemicals to pool.
3. All chemicals should be added to pool separately and must not be mixed together.
4. For existing pools, remove cover, connect filter to pool and remove any winter plates and plugs. Add water if needed, and clean and vacuum pool.
What Pool Chemicals Do I Need And How Much
When it comes to sanitizing your pool water, you have a few different options:
Chlorine Tablets
Each 3-inch chlorine tablet can add up to 5 ppm of free chlorine per 10,000 gallons of water.
Directions: Use 2 chlorine tablets for every 10,000 gallons, per week
Example chlorine tablet dosages:
- 2 chlorine tablets per week
Pool Shock
A single 1 lb. bag of pool shock can increase your pools free chlorine by 8-10 ppm, per 10,000 gallons.
Directions: Use 1 bag of pool shock for every 10,000 gallons of water, per week
Example pool shock dosages :
- 10,000 gallon pool
Biguanide
This is a non-chlorine, hydrogen peroxide based alternative to chlorine tablets. Although gentler on the skin, it can only be used with Baquacil pool chemicals, so its not compatible with any of the other chemicals in this list.
Directions: Add enough biguanide to reach a sanitizer level of 30 50 ppm
Bromine
Bromine is another gentle alternative to chlorine. But unlike chlorine, its not stabilized. This makes bromine best suited for indoor use, where sunlight wont burn it away.
Directions: Add enough bromine to reach a sanitizer level of 3 5 ppm
Salt
If you own a salt water pool, this section is for you.
Two pounds of pool salt increases your salinity level by 1,000 ppm for every 10,000 gallons of water. The ideal pool salinity level is around 3200 ppm.
Pool salt dosages:
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What Pool Closing Chemicals Do You Need
Aside from your water balance chemicals used to adjust pH, alkalinity or calcium hardness, these are the chemicals most commonly used to winterize pools.
Its no coincidence that our Winter Closing Kits contain these exact chemicals, plus a Winter-Sorb to absorb floating oils. The only other chemical you may need is our non-toxic Pool Anti-Freeze, used to protect skimmers, and pool plumbing pipes from freezing.For even more protection from stains, scale and algae growth, our Pool Closing Kits are also available with Natural Chemistry treatments shown above, and with the Winter Pill, both recommended for clearer and cleaner spring openings.
Below is an FAQ for YOU Top 9 questions about pool closing and Winter Pool Chemicals.
Time To Bring Out The Chemical Test Kits
I knew the chemicals would take around a day to work. So, I put up a makeshift pool cover, to protect the water from dirt or sunlight, during the next 24 hours. On the third day, I switched on the pool pump to filter the water. Once it was done, I allowed the water to rest for eight hours. Then I pulled out my chemical test kit to check if everything was in order or not. My efforts paid off, and the chemical equilibrium was exactly as I wanted it to be.
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Use Recirculate When Adding Floc To Your Pool
When your pool is cloudy and you want to clear it fast, flocculant, rather than a clarifier, is the right pool chemical to use. The flocculant will clump together the microscopic solid contaminants and sink them to the floor.
You do not want the clumped debris finding its way to the filter medium and clogging it. Yet you want the flocculant to circulate throughout the pool. Run your pool filter on the Recirculate mode at this time.
So you can use the Recirculate position on the multiport valve of your sand filter, anytime you have to add pool chemicals and broadcast them evenly throughout the pool, but do not want the contaminants to clog up the filter medium.
In the Recirculate mode the solid debris remains inside the pool while the chemicals are circulating. These can then be vacuumed to waste.
When Would You Use Recirculate On Pool Filter
Have you checked the settings on the multiport valve on your pool sand filter? The 7 settings are Filter, Backwash, Rinse, Waste, Recirculate, Winter & Closed. You may have never used the Recirculate setting. Why is it even there? When Would You Use Recirculate on Pool Filter?
The Recirculate setting is used to circulate the pool water without filtering it. You would need to use it if your pool has gone green with an algae bloom.
Circulation is required for shocking the pool but the filter would get overwhelmed by the extraordinary quantity of algae.
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Prevent Algae All Season Long
For a clean and algae-free swimming season, we recommend to start treatment before the first swimmers even jump into the pool. After shocking your pool, it is a good idea to add either Leslies Algae Control or Pool Perfect + PHOSfree to your water. Both of these products will prevent the growth of most types of algae, and help keep your pool clean, clear, and fresh all year long. Once you’ve added the algae controller, the last step is to take a water sample into your nearest Leslies location for a FREE AccuBlue® Water Test. Once they give your pool the OK with a professional water test, you are ready for a summer of fun in the sun!
Leslie’s is your go-to resource for all the pool opening supplies you need this spring. If you have any questions or need help opening your pool, stop by your local Leslie’s store to speak with a knowledgeable pool expert.
Chemicals Needed To Start Your New Pool
So you just had a new above-ground pool added to your home and you are dying to test it out? Well, unfortunately, you probably wont be opening your pool tomorrow. Or the next day, or the next day, or the day after that. But whenever Mother Nature does finally allow us to open our pools this spring, youre going to need to make sure your pool has all the proper chemicals it needs, right off the bat. This not only keeps your pool fresh and healthy, but it keeps you and your family safe as well.
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Stain & Scale Prevention:
For pool owners that want to protect their pool surfaces from metallic stains and mineral scale. Sequestering agents lock minerals and metals in solution, to prevent stains and scale.
Initial Dosage: 16 oz. per 10000 gallons.Maintenance Dosage: 2 oz. per 10000 gallons, weekly.Example: Using our Super Stain Away, 48 oz initially, then 5 oz per week, for 20 weeks.Recommendation: 4 1 Qt bottles or save with our 4 x 1 Qt bundle. See also Natural Chemistry Metal Free or Scale Free.
There are other chemicals that may be needed, such as Filter Cleaner, or DE Filter Powder, and dont forget to replace your test kit reagents and strips!
Many of our customers like to buy our Chemical Value Packs, for spring start-up kits and summer chemical packages. You may find all you need in one box!
With over 100 different pool chemicals available, the choice can be overwhelming! Thats probably why I like to group pool chemicals into 3 bucketsSanitizers, Balancers and Specialty chemicals.
However, many pool owners only use 3 or 4 pool chemicals on a regular basis and another 2 or 3 chemicals less frequently. So you can just buy what you need.
Now is the time for stocking up on summer pool chemicals. Check our home page for specials later this week on our Top Chemicals for summer!
In The Swim Blog Editor
Use Ph Adjusters For Your Swimming Pool
Adjusting your pH is relatively straightforward.
While following normal pool maintenance routines, it should be taken care of. If not, then use one of the following.
Alkaline Tablets:Suppose the pH level has risen to high. If that is the case, then at an alkaline tablet. Afterward, it should lower quite a bit.
Pool Shock:On the other hand, if things have become too basic, then you should talk about the water. That way, its pH will rise.
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Pool Waters Vs Regular Water
When my parents moved to the city, my brother and I were rather young. We did not have a private pool, but my fathers friend, Mr. Collins did. We used to visit his place during the summers. I was in the same class with his son, and we were buddies.
Wondering why I am taking a stroll down memory lane? Well! You need to read a bit more to figure it out. As I said, I knew nothing about pool or pool water back then. One day, we were playing by the side of the pool. Yes! It is dangerous, but boys will be boys. Anyways, I felt thirsty and scooped up a glass of water from the pool.
As I was about to drink it, Mr. Collins stopped me. He was the first person who told me that pool water was far different from regular tap water. I did not understand what he meant back then, but now I do.
Regular tap water contains minerals, which are good for health. But pool water contains chemicals, which can upset your stomach if you swallow it. I regularly check the chemical balance in the pool to ensure safety and water quality. I empty my pool and refill it after every six months.
I attach a big hose to the fire hydrant and fill in the pool. It is less expensive. You can opt for water delivery trucks, or get water from a nearby well or lake. Make sure to filter pool water before you pour it in the pool.
If You Have A Lot Of Calcium In The Water Use A Water Softener
Water becomes hard when there are too many free-floating calcium ions. These can leave scale on the walls of your pipes. Thus, creating maintenance problems. To soften your water, use a water softener.
We hope our guide and tips going over what chemicals you need for your above ground pool and also how to put chemicals in your swimming pool for the first time have been helpful to you.
Whenever you are about to add a new chemical to your swimming pool, we always recommend reading the chemicals instructions carefully and making exact measurements.
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