Six Chemicals to Open Your Pool
Opening your pool is an exciting time of year: and it is almost here! After months of looking at your winter cover it is now time to remove it. After removing your winter cover, you are now ready to get your water sparkling clean. Make sure your pool is ready for the first party of the season by following these best practices for opening your pool.
1. Concentrated Mineral Remover
Whether you drained your pool during winterization or it lost water over the winter, water may need to be added to your pool to bring it up to the proper level. After adding the proper amount of water to your pool, a mineral remover such as Robelle Metal Out should be added to remove any minerals in your water. This will need to circulate for 24 – 48 hours before you add any other chemicals. If you are in a high mineral content area, a second dose is recommended.
2. Alkalinity & pH
Alkalinity is very closely related to pH and proper alkalinity levels are a key factor in maintaining pH. A low alkalinity level can cause rapid pH fluctuations. Maintaining the proper balance of pH and alkalinity is essential to keeping your pool water in good condition.
The proper range for Total Alkalinity is 80 – 120ppm. If your water tests too low, add an alkalinity increaser like Robelle Alkalinity Increaser and if your water tests too high, add a pH Lower.
Your pool’s pH should measure between 7.2 – 7.6 and should be brought into range by adding pH plus or pH lower.
3. Water Hardness
Next you would need to test and adjust your hardness level. Calcium Hardness is the measure of how hard or soft your pool water is. If it is too hard your water can more easily produce scale, cloudy water and stains. When water is very soft it can foam easily, or corrosive damage can occur to plaster, metals and vinyl liners.
Calcium Hardness for pools should be in the 200-400 ppm range. When calcium hardness is too low, add a calcium increaser such as Robelle Calcium Increaser to the pool to increase the hardness. When water is too hard and calcium is very high, the usual solution is to replace some of the water with softer water.
4. Shock
Now that the pool water is properly balanced, you are ready to shock your pool. You can choose to use a multi-purpose shock such as Aqua Chem 4 in 1 Shock Plus which has blended additives or use a chlorine shock such as Dry Tec Extra that has 73% available chlorine.
5. Algaecide
Every swimming pool should be treated with an initial dosage of concentrated algaecide at this point in opening your pool. We recommend the Robelle Black Algaecide which is the strongest algaecide and treats all algae types. You should use algaecide routinely all season long to prevent algae growth and build up. The Robelle Algae Control is a good maintenance algaecide that is also non-foaming.
6. Sanitizer
Now you can finally begin using the sanitizer of your choice. There are several choices for chlorine sanitizers. The Robelle Chlorinating Granules has 56% available chlorine and is applied daily. If you are looking to use chlorine tablets we offer multiple options. The Robelle 5 in 1 Multi-Purpose tabs are our most popular 3” chlorine tablets and contain blended additives. We also offer 3” Robelle Jumbo Tabs and 1” Robelle Feeder Tabs that have 90% available chlorine. Each of these chlorine choices are stabilized chlorine. Your stabilizer (cyanuric acid) levels should measure between 30 – 50 ppm. Your pool water may be brought within this range by adding a chlorine stabilizer, such as Robelle Chlorine Stabilizer & Conditioner. This will greatly increase your chlorine’s effectiveness by reducing chlorine loss from the sun’s ultraviolet rays.
Now that your pool is opened and balanced, it is time to relax and enjoy your pool. Don’t forget to send us an invite!!!