Pool water chemistry: Basic Pool Maintenance

How nice and easy it would have been if you could just fill your pool with clean water, and never have to worry about algae, bacteria and other contaminants growth, isn’t it? However, the truth is even if your pool contains clean water, and you scrub and vacuum your pool daily, it will still get dirty. Thanks to the twigs, leaves, bugs that fall into the pool on a daily basis, it won’t take long before your pool turns into a black lagoon. Also, another thing to keep in mind is the fact that after every swim, body oils, dead skin, and other things that our human body naturally segrates are left in the pool.

To ensure our pools remain clean and fresh. Firstly, we have to understand some basic pool maintenance steps.

Pool water chemistry

The cleanliness of your pool depends on the level of water attributes. For a clean and fresh pool water, owners have to understand the salt water pool chemistry. The water attributes like pH, alkalinity, and calcium hardness need to be at a balanced level.

Monitoring and adjusting levels
The first step in maintaining the cleanliness of our pools is regularly monitoring the levels of different water attributes namely: pH, alkalinity, and calcium hardness.

• pH
  pH is used to take measurement of how acidic or alkalinic your pool water is. In the case of low pH, your pool water becomes too acidic. When the water is too acidic it burns our eyes, and corrodes the equipment. While when the pH levels are too high, it results in scaling and calcium buildups around your pool and equipment.

           It is ideal if the pH level in your pool is between 7.4 and 7.6.

• Alkalinity
  Alkalinity refers to the amount of carbonates and hydroxides present in your pool water. These elements help in controlling and moderating the pH level of your pool. Usually, low alkalinity levels go unnoticed however it leads to lowering of pH levels that then turns the water acidic and corrodes the equipment.

          Alkalinity range is considered ideal if it is between the range of 60-200 parts per million.

• Calcium hardness
  It is essential to keep the level of calcium hardness balanced. Too much calcium hardness will make your pool water unstable, and lead to cloudy water and calcification. Whereas if the level is too little, your pool water will eat the calcium in the surface of your pool, and damage metal fittings.

          The range for dissolved calcium should be between the ranges of 80 to 600 parts per million.
          Having a regular schedule monitoring and adjustment of water attributes level ensures you have a balanced pool of water.

Sanitizer
After ensuring the water attributes essential for your pool water chemistry are in balance you can apply sanitizer. Remember it is because of sanitizer that our pools don’t turn into black lagoons. When sanitizers are added in the pool water, it ensures that your pool water remains free from bacteria, algae and viruses.

Probably the most popular pool chemical to sanitize your pool is chlorine. It is popular thanks to its efficacy and low cost, chlorine sanitizes your pool by oxidizing contaminants. Ideally, the chlorine level in your pool water is 3 parts per million.

Pool shock
Your sanitizers will need your help every once in a while. If a lot of people have been using your pool or if there has recently been a rainstorm, you need to make sure your pool stays clean. To aid your sanitizers to keep your pool clean you can add pool shock for your pool treatment on a regular basis.

Swimming pool water treatment tips.

Who doesn’t want a clean, clear and safe swimming pool that they can take a splash in when the sun becomes too unbearable? Everyone loves a great swimming pool and it is not that hard to effectively care for your swimming pool. Here are some pool water treatment tips to help keep your swimming pool water cleaner, clearer and safer:

• Make skimming and scrubbing your pool a part of life.
• Take care of your pool’s filter.
• Ensure the chemical levels are consistent.
• Regular pool shocks.
• Maintain appropriate water levels.
• Annual professional appointment for your pool.