Balancing The Water
The most important part is stopping algae:
- Chlorine keeps your pool algae free by eliminating bacteria,
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Acid lowers the pool's pH to ensure chlorine works best,
- Ideal pH: 7.2 (Chlorine is 62.5% effective)
- Not great: pH 8.8 (Chlorine is only 9% effective)
It's quite a simple science. You need to add both of these chemicals on a regular basis to ensure the pool doesn't turn green (many Australians have a saltwater chlorinator where instead, they add salt for a machine to convert the salt; into Chlorine.
Every 2-3 months, you need long-term chemicals:
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Alkalinity (Sodium Bicarbonate) helps control pH levels (no rapid changes) and prevents the water from being corrosive.
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Stabiliser (Cyanuric Acid) slows down Chlorine burn off. Without this, an outdoor pool in summer can lose all of it's Chlorine in about 30 minutes (not needed during winter).
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Calcium (Calcium Hardness) primarily protects the pool surface from damage. Without this, water will balance this for you by pulling Calcium out of concrete based surfaces (Leads to white protruding stains known as "Calcium leeching" and surface damage).
Some chemicals will only be used situationally:
- Phosphate Remover can be useful in areas with many trees/animals/children urinating, as phosphates come from these sources, acting as food for algae
- Copper is the Chlorine alternative, killing bacteria at much slower rate, but lasting far longer in the water (can be months instead of days)
- Minerals like Magnesium, Potassium, and Boron improve the feel of your water, can be used interchangeably with salt
- Clarifiers bind fine particles together so your filter can pick them up
- Flocculant also binds fine particles, however it's much stronger, dropping sediment to the bottom to be vacuumed out
- Oxidisers are used to remove Dead Chlorine, which is the evil version of Free Chlorine; getting in the way when it tries to kill bacteria, it's also responsible for the "Chlorine smell" and forms due to an interaction with sweat/urine/impurities
- Bromine is used as an alternative to Chlorine in spas (more stable at higher temperatures)
Cleaning The Pool & Maintaining The Equipment
The most important part of cleaning is generally pretty obvious:
- Scoop Debris: Out from your pool on a regular basis
- Empty Baskets: Skimmer basket (built into the pool), pump basket (in the equipment area) and the cleaner's basket if it has one
- Refill Pool: At least halfway up the skimmer door; the pool can lose up to 10cm of water in a week of Australian summer
Every month you should:
- Backwash Filter to flush fine sediment to the sewer, the filter handle should be moved to "Backwash" for 2 minutes and then "Rinse" for 30 seconds (pump must be off when moving the handle). Read THIS guide for detailed steps.
OR
- Clean Cartridge if you do not have a media filter, simply hose the cartridge down, it's in your equipment box/area and you might actually need to do this weekly.
ALSO MAYBE
- Clean Salt Cell if there's calcification (this is generally required every 6-12 months), detach cell, flip upside down and pour in a solution (10% Acid, 90% Water), let it sit for 30 minutes, rinse and reinstall. Read THIS guide for detailed steps.
What Equipment is Actually For
A swimming pool needs to have fine stuff & debris taken out of it and bacteria killed, otherwise it will turn into a swamp. Your Filter catches the fine stuff and your Chlorinator makes Chlorine to kill bacteria. But the water's not going teleport to the equipment and back, so you have a Pump that pumps water to and from your equipment, that's really it.
- First Line of Defence: The skimmer and your cleaner pickup the biggest debris (sticks, branches, leaves)
- Second Line of Defence: Your pump has a basket to pick up smaller debris (stuff you don't want going through the equipment)
- Third Line of Defence: Finally, your filter picks up incredibly fine debris (things as small as 0.0005cm).
Absolutely Essential: Pump & Filter • Most People Have: Chlorinator & Cleaner • Optional: Lights & Heater
