Just because your pool water appears clean, it doesn't always mean that it's healthy and
safe for swimming.
Your pool water may appear clean, but actually contain contaminants which are invisible to
the naked eye.
And often, the only thing that stops these contaminants from turning your beautiful pool
into a swamp is your sanitiser or chlorine.
In order for sanitiser to work effectively, it's important that other pool attributes
such as pH, alkalinity and calcium hardness are correctly balanced.
If you want your pool to look beautiful and be safe for swimming, it's important to know
a little bit about the role that these pool chemicals play in your pursuit of a healthy
pool.
Joining me today is our resident pool water quality expert, Tess, who's going to give
us a beginner's guide to pool water chemistry.
Should we start with pH?
Yeah, pH levels refers to the acidity of your pool water.
A lower pH reading means that your pool is acidic, which can cause etchings on the sides
of your pool, and even erode your metal fixtures.
A high pH reading is basic, and that can cause scaling on your pool surface and your plumbing.
What would you recommend as a pH for pool owners?
The recommended pH is surprisingly the same as the human eye, which is pH 7.4.
I would recommend keeping your pool levels between pH 7.2 and pH 7.6.
Products I would use to do this pH Vitalyse Up and Vitalyse pH Down.
What about alkalinity?
Alkalinity works as a buffer to help regulate the factors that can throw your pH levels
off balance.
The recommended levels are between 80 and 120 parts per million.
And depending on if your alkalinity is low or high, I recommend using Alkalinity Up or
pool acid.
And calcium.
We all know calcium is important for our body, but what about calcium hardness in our pool?
Calcium in our pools works to keep your pool water clean and keeps the surface of your
pool in good shape.
Low calcium hardness can make your pool water feel slimy and can even corrode the surface
of your pool.
The recommended levels of calcium hardness of between 150 and 400 PPM.
And if you'd like to raise your calcium hardness levels, I recommend using Calcium Up.
How can our viewers know this integral information about their pool water chemistry so they can
buy the correct pool chemicals for their pool?
That's a great question.
While you can conduct your own water tests at home, if you have any concerns about the
health of your pool water or feel that your chemicals may be out of balance, it's best
to get your water professionally tested, especially if it's cloudy or green.
And conveniently, pool water testing is available for free at your local Poolwerx store.
At the very start of this video, I mentioned a pool chemical that's very important for
the health of your pool, and that's sanitiser.
Sanitiser is a product that keeps away bacteria and algae that can make your pool water unhealthy.
The most common type of sanitiser is, of course, pool chlorine, but there are other kinds of
sanitises such as bromine.
And an order for your sanitiser to work correctly, your pool's pH levels, alkalinity and calcium
hardness must all be balanced correctly.
Now, chlorine comes in three forms: liquid, granular or tablets.
It's an effective and inexpensive way to sanitise your pool.
If you have a saltwater pool though, just add bags of salt to your pool.
The salt goes through a chlorinator which uses the salt to produce chlorine.
If you have salt water pools, instead of using a chlorine product such as the tablets you
mentioned, the sanitiser is actually continuously produced by the chlorinator.
And what about mineral pools?
As the name suggests, mineral pools contain extra minerals, commonly including magnesium
chloride, sodium chloride and potassium chloride.
These minerals work together to not only help keep your pool clean, but they provide a range
of health and skin benefits.
There you have it, a beginner's guide to pool water chemistry.
I hope you've enjoyed this pool water chemistry lesson.
We've covered everything from the role of chlorine through to the ins and outs of saltwater
pools.
Now, remember at Poolwerx, we offer free pool water testing.
Just bring in your pool water sample, and we'll tell you exactly what pool chemicals
you need to maintain a healthy pool.