If you’ve been struggling with your balancing your water chemistry, this quick tidbit should help you…
Let’s face it – no one likes to play the role of “mad scientist” and who enjoys chemistry anyway? 
Well, fortunately, a pool owner doesn’t have to play any of those roles, but we do need to know some basics when it comes to maintaining our water. OK, so what are the most important elements to manage water chemistry effectively…and, without breaking the bank?
I like to call these “Core Components”. These are really the stepping stones for most of what takes place in your pool water – managing these items effectively creates a much more enjoyable swim season and will save you money too…
Let’s dig in: “Core Components To Successful Water Chemistry”
1. Free Chlorine – pretty obvious. Not much commentary necessary here. No pathogens/bacteria = reduced/eliminated algae flare ups.
2. Total Alkalinity. One could call this the “heart” of their water chemistry. Perhaps even the most important single element of proper chemistry because so many things in your water can be impacted by this one variable. Ideally, this should be between 80 and 120 ppm (only varying a bit based upon the surface of your pool), and is essentially a measure of the ability of a solution to neutralize hydrogen ions.
Total alkalinity is the result of alkaline materials including carbonates, bicarbonates and hydroxides – mostly bicarbonates.
Putting aside all the “technical jargon”, TA is essentially a “buffer” to keep the pH from swinging wildly all over the place. If it’s too low it can cause the pH to change rapidly…ultimately causing “etching” and corrosion. Too high and you can get cloudy water, the pH becomes difficult to adjust and can reduce the effectiveness of chlorine (and other sanitizers as well).
3. The 3rd and final “Core Component” is…you got it, pH. This is essentially a measurement of the amount or strength of hydrogen in your pool water. It also can cause a reaction to practically every other area of your water when it gets out of whack.
Without getting too technical here, let’s break down the process just a bit of what pH really is…
(bare with me as I throw my pocket protector on real quick)…
It indicates the relative acidity or basicity of pool water. pH is measured on a scale of 0 (strong acid) to 14 (strong base) with 7 being the neutral pH. Ideally, you’d like to see it within the range of 7.4-7.6.
When the pH is too low, the water becomes acidic, your residual chlorine loses its effectiveness rapidly, etching can take place, corrosion of equipment can take place and your TA is impacted.
Too high and the chlorine also becomes inefficient, scale can take place on the tile line and pool surface and you may experience cloudy water.
What’s the bottom line here…
Be proactive on especially these 3 items – the outcomes of these being out of whack can take days to correct and also force you to spend on items that easily could have been avoided.
I truly hope you’ve enjoyed this piece on “Core Components”.
All the best,
Terry Duff
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Do you have a chart of what to add for different situations such as
total hardness (they told me to add more water)
algae(what percentage of algai additive is good)
ph
what is bromide for and when to add it
when to add baking soda
what do you add to keep equipment clean and running well
Have added many chemicals that I think it didn’t need. HELP
First time pool person; here from AZ trying to help my mom
Hi Kathy,
Sodium bicarbonate (or baking soda) will raise Total Alkalinity levels.
I assume you mean “bromine”? Bromine is a sanitizer – used to kill off pathogens/bacteria in a body of water.
I’ll be posting a report on chemical adjustment charts in the next week – stay tuned for that.
Here’s a report on equipment maintenance that should address what you’re looking for – if not, let me know here or by shooting an email to support.
Good luck neighbor!
http://fireyourpoolguy.com/pmr/pmr.pdf
(may need to copy/paste above link)
Terry
If Sodium Bicarb raises TA what lowers TA? Also, my pool always shows a low free chlorine level, anything I should be doing? Thanks for all your help.
Scott
Hi Scott,
Muriatic acid or sodium bisulfate to lower TA. The first thing I’d check is the CYA (conditioner) – this is what protects the chlorine from the sun. There are other possibilities, but this is the most likely issue. Keep me posted.
All the best,
Hello … we opened our pool about a month ago and have been battling phosphates … we have gone thru a 2 litre bottle of PhosFree, about a litre of Pool First Aid and now just used a litre of Sea Klear Phosphate Remover, along with their Natural Clarifier. We have a paper filter system, it is an inground pool (approx 32,000 litres) … no backwash system and have been vacuuming daily and rinsing the filter twice daily and are getting rather frustrated. 48 hours ago, the phosphates measured 900 …48 hours before that … according to a local pool testing system, the phosphates measured 500 … I just don’t get it … one time, they say there is a bit of free chlorine … the next time, no free chlorine … as I said this has been going on for a month … we also have to keep an eye on our budget as we are retired. Previous years, when we opened the pool, we almost emptied it and added new water and I guess that did the trick, except for a brief treatment for phosphates … this year, the water didn’t look so bad, so we’re been trying to treat it without emptying the pool.