- Intex pool have all the same needs
as the bigger in-ground pools,
but water chemistry can be a bit confusing
so let's clear that up both the confusion
and your pool, word play.
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Quick disclaimer, everyone has a different way
of taking care of a pool.
At the end of the day we all just wanna help you
take care of your pool and make sure that it's clean
and clear and everybody has a good time swimming in it.
Everything in this video is from my personal experience
taking care of pools for a very, very long time.
Plus all the research we've done here at Swim University.
And if I missed anything in this video,
I apologize but if you just leave a comment,
I can address it there, thank you very much.
We're also talking about water chemistry
which means we're gonna be talking about pool chemicals
which means safety first people.
That means putting on chemical resistant gloves,
using a mask, using chemical resistant goggles,
and a chemical resistant apron, a nice apron.
The biggest difference between an Intex poll
and an inground pool or an above ground pool in that case,
is just size.
Intex pools have less gallons,
that's where the real confusion comes in
because a lot of companies that sell pool chemicals
are really selling it for above ground pools
and inground pools which are much bigger.
However, Intex pools are a little bit smaller.
That said, Intex pools have all the same things
as an inground pool or an above ground pool
and when we talk about Intex,
we are talking about the brand Intex.
They go by many names.
You can have Intex, you can have Quick-Set,
you can have Easy Set, you can have blow up pools,
they're all called the same thing.
The only thing that we're gonna talk about,
we're gonna address in this video
is your pool must have a filter system.
That means a filter and a pump that circulates the water.
If you just have a pool that you set up
and you add water to it,
that is not the same thing.
The pools that we're talking about have a filter system
and that makes them just like every other pool.
The good news about having an Intex pool
or one of these Easy Set pools
is that when in doubt, just change the water out.
I'm a poet and I didn't even know I was one.
What you're gonna have to figure out
before we do anything with water chemistry
is how many gallons of water are in your Intex pool?
The easiest way to find this out
is hopefully you still have the instruction manual
and it'll just tell you in there.
If not, you can go to our pool calculator
at swimuniversity.com/pool-calculator,
and you can just enter in the dimensions of your pool
and the height and it will tell you how many gallons
are in your pool.
This is the first and most crucial step
when it comes to pool chemistry.
Next you need to know how to run your filter system.
You need to know how the filter system works
which is basically water comes in,
the pump is sucking the water into your filter system,
it is filtering, it's usually in this case
a cartridge filter,
but you might also have a small sand filter,
so the pump is gonna suck water in,
pump it through the filter system,
and then back into your pool.
And so whenever you're adding chemicals to your pool,
you wanna make sure that that filter system is churning,
it's running, it's spinning the water.
How long can I do this?
It's like Arsenio Hall.
Uh, uh, uh, uh.
Just like every other pool,
you got your filter system,
you got your water, you know how many gallons,
it's time to test it.
You're gonna test by using either test strips,
a liquid test kit that you can buy,
both of these things you can buy at your local pool store
or online and you can even take a sample of your water
to a local pool store and they will check it for you.
You just need to know how many gallons
that you're working with so that they know
what kind of readings to give you.
Personally with a smaller body of water,
I recommend testing more often than you would
with a bigger pool
because a lot more things can affect the water.
Rain can real affect the water
and drastically change the pH.
People swimming in it can drastically change it.
So you're gonna be testing more often.
If you can do it three times a week,
that would be great.
Twice a week even.
But at minimum twice a week.
Now once we have our test, we have our readings,
we need to balance the water
before we do any sort of sanitation.
And balancing the water in this case
is just balancing the pH and the alkalinity.
You might get another reading called calcium hardness.
With an Intex pool or with an Easy Set
or a blow up pool,
you do not need to worry about adding calcium hardness
to your pool.
We are not trying to prolong the life of a liner.
We are not trying to prolong the life of a concrete pool.
You have an Easy Set pool, something that you take down
every single season and so therefore,
you really don't have to worry too much
about calcium hardness.
So we've talked about balancing
and now we wanna talk about sanitizing.
So once your pool is perfectly balanced,
your pH is at the right level,
your alkalinity is at the right level,
now we can add a sanitizer to your water.
And the reason we wanna balance the water
before adding the sanitizer
or before checking the sanitizer is
because a balanced pool
will make your sanitizer more effective.
And in this case, if you're gonna be using a sanitizer,
I just recommend using chlorine.
It is the easiest thing you can use.
For a smaller pool you can buy a chemical floater,
a little tiny floater
that you can add small chlorine pucks into,
or you can add a granular chlorine,
something that you can just toss directly into the water
and let it circulate.
You have your sanitizer,
we wanna make sure that the sanitizer,
in this case for a chlorine pool,
is at around three parts per million
and you're also gonna wanna shock it about once a week.
You can use a non-chlorine shock
and that's what I would record using for your pool.
You don't need as much, you don't need to pre-dissolve it,
you can just add it directly to the pool
and in 15 minutes you can be swimming.
So if you're gonna be shocking your pool
which I recommend to do every single week,
shock with a non-chlorine shock.
So if you have any questions about taking care
of these smaller pools, don't worry,
we have a sponsor on the show which is our own product,
the pool care handbook and video course
which will teach you everything you need to know
about taking care of your pool
whether you're new to this or you've been doing this awhile.
If you're new to this I highly recommend it,
it swimuniversity.com/pool-care-handbook.
It is packed with about 35 video lessons and counting
and we have a huge fully illustrated ebook
that you can print or you can reference
whenever you are in doubt you can just go
to that reference guide or watch one of our videos.
Once you get it, you have it for life.
So, because you're watching this video,
and thank you very much for watching it,
I'm gonna offer 10% off just by using the promo code VIDEO.
It's that simple.
All right, that's it.
Thank you so much for watching.
If I missed anything, please leave a comment below
and if you want more information on taking care
of your Intex, Easy Set, blow up pool,
go to swimuniversity.com.
That's it.
Thanks again for watching and happy swimming.
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