Balanced Chemistry is Vital For Your Swimming Pool

As summer continues, hot days linger which means a balanced chemistry is vital for your swimming pool. Let’s face it as 100 plus degree temperatures continue and warm water in your swimming pool results from it so can a lot of other issues that you aren’t going to want to deal with. That’s why checking and balancing your chemistry weekly during the summer time is extremely important for the health of your water. There are many factors that can cause chemistry to change, i.e. numerous bathers, direct sunlight on the water and debris to name a few and we hope this blog post helps to better explain why a balanced chemistry is vital for your swimming pool. In the end, when it comes time to swim everyone will choose to swim in a pool that is blue and clear of debris that’s why we want to discuss our tips on how to achieve the best water chemistry.

First and foremost, we recommend purchasing a good water test kit. There are many choices today and we prefer Taylor Test Reagents for accuracy. All vital water tests can be completed with Taylor Test Kits and if you’re looking for the best accuracy they are the smartest choice. Unfortunately, test strips can’t deliver the same accuracy and because of that, there isn’t the clarity necessary to determine how to add or reduce chemicals to balance your chemistry the right way!

Chlorine – having the proper amounts of sanitizer in your swimming pool is extremely important to prevent algae/bacteria from growing. During the summer time, you will need to have a minimum of 3 parts per million (ppm) chlorine or higher in your swimming pool. The most optimal range is between 3-5ppm. This should be checked regularly and definitely after a storm if it left a lot of debris in your pool which will eat up the chlorine.

pH – having a balanced pH can make a big difference in your water. Typically, you will want to have pH levels to be between 7.4 – 7.8. Be careful to prevent the pH from falling below 7 as it can become acidic and if you have heating elements in your swimming pool/spa it will ruin them. If you allow your pH to climb above 8 the water will become cloudy and chlorine effectiveness will decrease. If you have a salt water chlorinator balancing your pH is vital to prevent scaling on the electrode plates. On a side note, salt pools will naturally cause the pH to rise so be mindful of that.

Total Alkalinity – as you are already aware, pH can fluctuate up and down. And when it does, the pool is constantly working against you. Having the right level of total alkalinity (between 80-120ppm) is a good thing because it helps to keep the pH stabilized. To help understand this better, total alkalinity’s role is that it neutralizes the acid.

Cyanuric Acid – this is the part of chemistry that is often overlooked but extremely important to maintain. If you want to prevent rapid chlorine loss you will need to keep your CYA levels between 30-50ppm. CYA prevents chlorine loss due to the sun’s ultraviolet rays.

There are other factors that go into proper chemistry which is calcium hardness and phosphates but these don’t need to be checked weekly like the above. In the end, chlorine, pH, and total alkalinity are the most important ones to check each week. As a side note, if you own and operate a salt water pool, please refer to the manual as each system requires different levels of the above.

If you should have any questions on the above, contact us today to learn more!