How to Care for Your Pool – Pool Chemicals Tutorial

Once you’ve selected your favorite above ground pool model, you’ll need to know how to properly care for and maintain your pool. At Discount Pools Direct, we are committed to assisting our customers with pool care. Our team is here to help keep your pool in great shape all year long with these tips on how to start up your chlorine pool or saltwater pool and maintain your water’s chemicals. Get answers to some of your most commonly asked questions about setting up and maintaining your pool chemicals. 

How Do I Test My Above Ground Pool’s Chemical Levels?

Before you begin the process of balancing the chemicals in your pool water, you will need to know a few details about your pool. What is the water volume of your pool? Once you know how much water you have, you can take an initial reading of your pool chemical balance with a water test strip. These strips test the following for your pool water:

• Hardness
• Chlorine Level
• PH
• Alkalinity 
• Stabilizer

In order to use these test strips, you will remove one from the package, drip it down into your pool’s water until it is fully submerged, then bring it out of the water and read the results based on the chart that comes with the test strips. Once you have your results, you can use the charts on the back of each of the respective chemicals to calculate how much of each chemical is needed to get your pool water’s chemical levels where they need to be. 

One tip to keep in mind is that, when factoring the chemicals needed for your pool, it’s best to always calculate on the low end of what you need to get your pool’s chemical levels where they need to be. You can always add more of one chemical later to achieve balanced results, however, if you add too much of any one chemical, you may need to add more water to your pool to dilute that overage, resulting in more work and chemicals being needed to achieve the correct balance.

Balancing Pool Water

Once you have an initial reading on the condition of your pool’s water, you can begin the process of balancing the three key elements of your pool water. The amount of each of these chemicals is based on the water volume of your pool and by how much your pool’s chemical levels are out of balance. The three key chemicals involved in balancing your pool water are:

• Calcium
  • This product helps protect your pool parts against corrosion, helping to extend the life of your pool parts
• Alkalinity
  • This helps to prevent red eyes for your pool goers and keep your pool’s water sparkling and clear
• PH

Once your pool chemicals are balanced, this should stay relatively constant all summer long, unless your area sees a lot of rain that requires draining water from your pool. Note that when starting up a new pool, more chemicals will be required to get your pool up and running. Once your pool is well-balanced, the amount of chemicals required to maintain your water balance will be lower than when initially balancing untreated fresh water. 

How Do I Add Chemicals to My Pool?

Knowing how to add your chemicals effectively will help to get your pool up and running quickly and keep your chemicals consistent over time. Most pool chemicals are granular products and can be distributed in two ways. 

1. Add the granulated chemicals to a cup to measure them properly, then distribute into the pool water
2. Fill a bucket about halfway with water, then add the appropriate amount of chemical to the water in the bucket and use a stick to mix the chemicals before distributing the water and chemical to your pool

The advantage of mixing the chemical product with water prior to adding it to your pool is that this method tends to be less harsh on your pool’s liner. Should you choose to add the chemicals directly to your pool, be sure to use your pool brush to run over the liner of your pool and insure the chemicals are well incorporated and distributed throughout your pool. 

Sanitizing Pool Water

The next step in maintaining the chemicals in your pool is sanitization. This process will look a little different depending on whether you have a saltwater pool or chlorine pool. The chemical elements involved in sanitizing your pool include:

• Shock

• • Typically, one pound of shock should be used per 10,000 gallons of water in a pool. This product will help to jumpstart your pool’s chlorine level as it raises the chlorine level of your water significantly and quickly, however it does not have longevity, lasting only around 72 hours. Shock should be used in conjunction with chlorine tablets to maintain the appropriate level of chlorine for your pool

• Chlorine tabs

• • Adding chlorine tablets is typically the final step in your sanitizing process. The number of tablets needed and frequency at which they should be added will vary based on the size of your pool and the time of year as the sun will draw chlorine out of your pool at a faster rate during the heat of the summer versus the colder winter months. Chlorine tabs are dropped directly into the skimmer of your above ground pool. Chlorine tabs serve to maintain a steady level of chlorine in your pool over time

• Chlorine Stabilizer

• • This product helps to maintain the chlorine level in your pool, as the sun does draw chlorine out of your pool over time. Stabilizer plays a key role in reducing the frequency of adding and amount of chlorine your pool will need. Unlike some of your other chemicals, chlorine stabilizer should be added directly into your skimmer and should be added in doses, rather than all at once

• Salt (if your pool is a salt pool)

As with the balancing chemicals, sanitizing chemical amounts will be based on the amount of water in your pool. These will be maintenance chemicals that are used regularly to keep your pool looking great all year. 

For those who have opted for a saltwater pool, similar to the process of start-up chemicals for an above ground pool, the amount of salt needed to get your pool up and running after purchase will be much larger than the salt needed to maintain your pool in the long term. The amount of salt needed will again depend on the size of your pool and how much water it holds.

How Often Should I Add Chemicals to My Pool?

A simple way to maintain your pool’s chemicals is to pick a day of the week that works best for you and designated that as your chemical day. It’s best to add chemicals to your pool later in the day, at a time when there isn’t full sunlight. This process should take around five minutes to help you keep your pool in great condition. 

Be sure to try and not miss a week as the longer you go without maintaining the chemical levels in your pool, the more issues that could result down the road, leading to needing more chemicals to keep your pool well-maintained. 

How Do I Prevent Algae From Growing in My Pool?

Beyond these two main steps in setting up and maintaining your pool chemicals, an additional element to consider is an algaecide. Algaecide is a chemical designed to prevent algae from growing in your pool. Algaecide should be added approximately once per week and the amount of algaecide needed will be based on the amount of water in your pool. Algaecide is typically sold in quart-sized bottles. When setting up your pool for the first time, you will likely use an entire bottle for brand new water. Afterward, during your weekly pool maintenance, you’ll likely use somewhere between 6-10 ounces each week.  

These are the basics of pool chemical maintenance, though other situations may arise based on water and weather conditions in your area. Remember that you can always take a sample of your above ground pool’s water to your local pool store to get assistance on the exact chemicals required for your individual needs. The team at Discount Pools Direct is happy to help with your pool chemical questions as well. Feel free to contact us at 1-800-986-0748 with any questions you may have about pool chemicals and pool maintenance. We are proud to serve our Pennsylvania, Texas, Florida, and Georgia customers’ pool needs. 

DISCLAIMERS/SOURCES:

Discount Pools Direct | Chemicals Tutorial

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