Pool Care and
Maintenance Tips
A few simple steps are required to keep your pool in top condition all year round without the need for many expensive pool chemicals or complex water monitoring. Our KEEP IT SIMPLE approach allows pool owners to enjoy the benefits of a sparkling swimming pool with simple routine water testing and maintenance. The pool water stays crystal clear once all algae is eliminated with our unique products and with correct pH and total alkalinity, other pool chemical work their best.
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Maintain correct pH
The pH balance is the most important factor to ensure all chemicals function at their best, especially chlorine which is many times more effective at killing bacteria at an ideal pH of 7.2 to 7.6. A pH higher than 7.6 might seem like a small difference, however chorine will take four times longer to kill bacteria and much more chlorine will be required to get the same results. To adjust pH, simply run the filter for an hour, test the water with your test kit or test strips and if required add small 250 ml doses of hydrochloric acid (to lower pH) or small 250 g doses of sodium bicarbonate (to increase pH). With correct pH, pool water sparkles and our unique pool algaecides work their best.
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Maintain correct total alkalinity
Bicarbonates act as a pH buffer to prevent rapid changes in pool pH and assist in keeping the pH in the ideal range of 7.2 to 7.6. Maintaining correct total alkalinity also assists in the efficient operation of chlorine either added to the pool or produced by salt chlorination. Importantly, total alkalinity protects concrete pool walls from erosion as acid added to the pool to correct pH is balanced against the bicarbonates rather than dissolving the walls. In fibreglass and vinyl pools, the total alkalinity should be between 60 and 100 ppm and in concrete pools between 90 and 130 ppm. Total alkalinity can easily be checked with PoolCheck 3 Way Test Strips, if the total alkalinity is low, add 500g doses of bicarb soda and if high, add 250ml doses hydrochloric acid and re-test in 6 hours.
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POOL BLOCKS or POOL DROPS Plus
These are an ideal first step in your pool maintenance regime to provide a constant low level of algicide which both protects the pool water and the pool walls from all forms of free floating and wall based algae growth. Once treated, the pool water stays visually clean and crystal clear even as the chorine level rises and falls. By eliminating all algae cells, spores and associated organic matter from the pool water and walls, much less chlorine is required to maintain correct sanitiser levels. Chlorine consumption and running times can be reduced by around 50% to just four to six hours per day. In the non-swimming months, POOL BLOCKS or POOL DROPS Plus are the most effective winterisers available and will control all algae even without chlorine. The principal task of chlorine is to destroy bacteria and much less is wasted on organic matter once the water is treated with with our long term products, a small dose of chlorine is required to kill bacteria alone.
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Run the pool equipment daily
As pool water should be filtered for around four to six hours per day in the swimming months. It is best to split the running time, to a few hours early in the morning and again in the late afternoon to ensure a constant level of free chlorine is maintained throughout the day especially in salt chlorinated pools. In the non-swimming months, run the pool filtration equipment a minimum of two to three hours every day which is enough to turn over the pool water volume, this also helps keeps your pool equipment in good order.
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Check free chlorine daily
Check free chlorine daily before the pool is used for swimming. Once the pool is treated with our long-term algicides, the water will not suddenly turn green even without chlorine, however chlorine is required as a sanitiser to kill bacteria so always maintain a minimum free chlorine level of 1.5 ppm in unstabilised pools and 2.0 ppm in stabilised pools (and an additional 1.0 ppm where the pool water exceeds 26 degrees Celsius) to ensure the water is safe and free of harmful bacteria and micro-organisms. At the end of the swimming season, pool owners then can add a weekly dose of chlorine to bleach leaf marks without worrying about the pool turning green.
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Maintain your pool equipment
In salt chlorinated pools, clean your salt chlorinator cell electrodes regularly to maximise chorine production. Our algicides tint the usual white calcium deposit on the cathode a light sky blue colour, which does not effect the performance or the life of the cell. In fact, the reduced running times with our products result in extended equipment life. Salt chlorinator electrodes are a consumable item and after three or four years, the chlorine production falls off markedly and they are best replaced to restore full chlorine production, rather than supplementing with chemical chlorine. Clean the leaf baskets regularly and backwash the filter often to ensure the maximum water turn-over rate. Modern efficient pumps and filters typically filter over 15,000 litres of pool water an hour which is enough to 'turn over' an average pool in just four hours.
