Three Easy Steps to Keeping Your Pool Water Clearer and Cleaner
As a swimming pool owner you want to be confident that anytime you take a dip your pool the water is clean and clear. This isn’t some elusive goal to lose sleep over. It’s possible by following three simple methods for maintaining great water all season long.
The first step: Keep your swimming pool pump running all the time. But you say: “That uses too much electricity and is too hard on my pump!” Well, that was back in the day. Our modern pumps are made to run and run and run… using relatively little electricity. You’ll actually be taking years off your pump by forcing it to start and stop, start and stop, start and… you get the idea. Continuous running of your pool pump is much better on your water because it’s all about circulation and filtration. If you have a higher horse power pump and higher grade filter, let them do their job in circulating and cleaning the water. It takes less that an hour of your pump not running to lower sanitation levels enough to allow algae to form in the water. You’re best off keeping the pump on 24/7.
Easy tip # 2: Put your shock into the pool after sunset. Whether you’re in the pool or not, your water will collect bacteria, algae and little organic critters. You know they’re there because the water gets cloudy and even picks up a funky odor. Chlorine and other sanitizers effectively kill those particles in your water—but they’re still in there! Shock oxidizes all these particles and takes them right out. The key is making sure your shock has the optimal condition to be effective. Normal shocks are not sunlight stabilized. As a result most shock added in daylight hours will dissipate too fast before being able to oxidize. They’re more like vampires that do their best work in the dark. So to get the full shock treatment—apply it after the sun has gone down.
Easy tip #3: The third and really magical way to having a clearer pool: Use a pool water sequestering agent regularly and keep some Ferri-Iron Tabs handy. Nothing causes terror in the heart of a new pool owner than to fill the pool and/or apply shock only to witness the water turning brown, yellow or light green. This is caused by a metal problem in your pool water, usually iron or manganese. But don’t panic. Just put in some Ferri-Iron Tabs that within a day will make the color disappear. Then by regularly adding your sequestering agent to the pool before putting in the chemicals you shouldn’t have that problem again. There are a number of good sequestering agents available by GLB, Natural Chemistry and BAQUACIL among other brands.
For more questions on maintaining great pool water, or to find any of the products mentioned above, please visit Aqua Palace or shop our online store. You'll find out just how easy it is to have your pool water consistently clean and clear.
