| Have you ever come out of the pool and felt like a dry | | | | bicarbonates and hydroxides - mostly bicarbonates in |
| sponge? Maybe that feeling is a little too common in | | | | your pool. Alkaline water is acid neutralizing, meaning |
| what's supposed to be your backyard oasis. The | | | | that it helps prevent wide variations in pH. |
| reason for the uncomfortable residue, clothes | | | | In a few words, Total alkalinity is a measure of water's |
| discoloration, eye irritation, staining, cloudy water, and | | | | resistance to change in pH. |
| even scale buildup is that your water is off balance. | | | | Same as pH, if the Total Alkalinity is low, the result is |
| Get your water right on the scale by balancing your | | | | "pH bounce", meaning that the pH will tend to "bounce" |
| water. This simple procedure will lengthen the life of | | | | in and out of range. If the Total Alkalinity is too high, |
| your water, pump, heater, filter, and other equipment. | | | | yes you also have problems. This will make your |
| Balancing and testing your water will also make your | | | | water to become very difficult to adjust to a normal |
| pool care a breeze.pH is the most important factor in | | | | pH. |
| water balance. The pH range is used to measure the | | | | Not to worry, any alkalinity problem can be fixed. See |
| relative acid or base of the water. This you probably | | | | chart for exact information. |
| learned in your basic chemistry class in high school. | | | | The third factor in balanced water is measuring |
| Here are the exact fields in which you should see your | | | | Calcium Hardness. The normal range for Calcium |
| water: | | | | Hardness is between 175 and 275 ppm. This is |
| The range runs from 0 to 14, with a pH of 7 being a | | | | referring to the amount of dissolved minerals, mostly |
| neutral. Readings between 7.2 and 7.6 are considered | | | | calcium carbonate, in water. |
| acceptable, or in the comfort zone, for swimming pool | | | | Although under normal conditions this is not a problem |
| water. Balanced water must be held safely between | | | | in a properly operated pool, this chemical imbalance |
| two harmful extremes. | | | | also heads up problems. For example, a low Calcium |
| If your water comes on the low side of the scale, it | | | | Hardness can lead to corrosion of equipment or the |
| becomes corrosive and starts to attack pool surfaces | | | | etching of a plaster finish. Like everything else we |
| and equipment. We call this your corrosion zone. Ha! | | | | have discussed, the other side of the scale says that |
| Now you know why your water heater is corroding. | | | | a high Calcium Hardness level causes cloudy water |
| On the other hand, if your pool water tips the scale on | | | | and scaling. |
| the high side you will start to notice scale buildup, and | | | | Calcium Hardness is also a very controllable element in |
| this is your scaling zone that will leave unwanted | | | | your pool. See chart to adjust your Calcium Hardness |
| deposits in your pool. | | | | levels. |
| Unbalanced water not only brings bad news but also | | | | Lastly, Stabilizer is an important factor in your pool |
| may put a hole in your pocket. How's that? Your | | | | water's "health". Without this factor the sun's rays |
| sanitizer's effectiveness will be hindered if your water | | | | would quickly destroy the chlorine in your pool. |
| is off balance. So this is probably your answer if you | | | | Stabilizer is Cyanuric Acid that acts as a "sun shield" to |
| start seeing an increasing amount of chlorine to keep | | | | make the chlorine last longer. This means that your |
| your pool clear. | | | | chlorine could last up to 3 ½ times longer!! Imagine |
| The second factor you must look at is at the Total | | | | the savings! |
| Alkalinity of your pool. Total Alkalinity measures the | | | | Proper stabilization requires 30 to 50 ppm of Cyanuric |
| alkaline materials dissolved in the water, and the | | | | Acid, and outdoor pools should start by raising it to a |
| acceptable range is between 80 and 150 ppm. | | | | minimum level of 40 ppm Cyanuric Acid. Afterwards, |
| Expressed in parts per million (ppm), total alkalinity | | | | you can simply use stabilized chlorine to maintain the |
| results from alkaline materials including carbonates, | | | | proper Stabilizer levels. |