Sanitisation options for swimming pools are ever-growing, and one of the more popular ones is saltwater. If you own a saltwater pool or you're about to, here's how you can manage and maintain it to keep your water gleaming year-round.
Did You Know?
Many are under the impression that salt is solely used to clean a saltwater pool in place of chlorine, but this isn’t the case. Salt is added to a saltwater pool and converted via electrolysis into chlorine. Chlorine is the active ingredient that kills bacteria and pathogens in the water which makes it safe and sanitary to swim in. The difference between a traditional chlorine pool and a saltwater pool is the level of chlorine that is needed to clean the water. Saltwater pools use less chlorine than a traditional chlorine only pool.
What Are The Benefits Of Choosing A Saltwater Pool?
1. Gentler on the body. As the dose of chlorine is less in the water, saltwater pools don’t give swimmers red eyes or itchy skin. Many claim the water feels softer than traditional chlorine pools.
2. You don’t have to handle or store potentially hazardous chlorine. The saltwater system correctly doses the pool, saving you from having to manually do it.
3. The maintenance is much more straightforward.
4. No bleaching clothing or turning hair green.
5. Saltwater pools don’t have the strong chlorine smell that traditional pools are notorious for.
6. The ongoing expenses are generally cheaper.
To simplify your saltwater pool maintenance, we’ve broken it down into weekly, monthly, and quarterly jobs.
Weekly Maintenance
While saltwater pools are generally less maintenance than chlorine pools, that doesn’t mean they are maintenance-free. Each week you should aim to:
1. Remove any debris or leaves from the pool with the pool scoop. Do this more than once a week if your pool has more organic matter than usual. This often occurs after strong winds or a heavy downpour.
2. Empty the skimmer basket and rinse with a garden hose if necessary to remove smaller pieces of debris.
3. Your pool cleaner should be set up to vacuum the pool during the week but, if you have a manual vacuum, this should be done once a week.
4. Test the water using a testing kit or take a sample to your local pool shop if you don’t have one.
5. Check your pools pH level, this should be between 7.2-7.6.
6. Check the chlorine levels, they should be between 1 to 3 ppm.
How To Fix Unbalanced Chlorine Levels
Unbalanced chlorine levels are a common issue, and seeing to it quickly can prevent significant disruptions to the quality of your water.
If your chlorine levels are only slightly out, you may be able to rectify the problem by fine-tuning the chlorine generator via the output control.
If your pool has too much free chlorine, reduce the output setting on the chlorine generator, or you could try running your pool circulation system for a shorter duration.
If your pool has nowhere near enough free chlorine, you can shock the pool to bring the levels back up. This will also help to prevent your pool from going green.
How To Fix Unbalanced pH Levels
To raise your pH levels, you can use baking soda or to bring them down, you can use an appropriate muriatic acid.
Monthly Maintenance
A big part of keeping your pool clean and healthy to swim in is maintaining the correct chemistry levels. It can be a bit tedious, to begin with, but once you get the hang of it, it becomes easier to determine what your pool needs more or less of.
Here Are Some Of The Chemical Levels You'll Need To Check Monthly:
Salinity
You’ll need to test the salinity of your pool. Recommended levels range between 2700 and 4500ppm. You can check the levels with a testing kit or by simply looking at the control panel on your saltwater generator if it has one.
How To Fix Unbalanced Salinity Levels
To fix a pool that has low levels of salt, you just add more salt. If there is too much salt, you can dilute it by adding fresh water using a garden hose.
Alkalinity
Proper alkalinity levels should be anything from 80 to 120ppm. Again, these can be checked using a water testing kit. Alkalinity levels that are too high can cause your pool water to go cloudy, and if they are too low, the water can become corrosive.
How To Fix Unbalanced Alkalinity Levels
To lower your alkalinity levels, use an appropriate dose of muriatic acid, and to increase the alkalinity in your pool, add sodium bicarbonate to resolve the issue. Always follow the instructions on your pools user manual.
Cyanuric Acid
Cyanuric acid, aka stabiliser, is a key chemical that plays a huge role in keeping your water in ideal condition. It essentially protects your chlorine and prevents the suns UV rays from degrading it. Without this chemical, it would be almost impossible to keep your pool clean and sanitary. To give you an idea, if your pool had only chlorine without cyanuric acid, around 90% of the chlorine in the pool would be broken down in a single day. You should aim for stabiliser levels of 70 to 80ppm.
How To Fix Unbalanced Cyanuric Acid Levels
We suggest only taking the following measures if the cyanuric acid levels are unbalanced quite a bit, if they are only slightly, give it a couple of days to see if they rebalance before taking action. To increase the level of cyanuric acid in the water, add more product and to lower the cyanuric acid, you’ll need to dilute the water by adding fresh water from a garden hose. Once you have done this, retest the water and adjust any chemicals if necessary.
Calcium Hardness
Calcium hardness is another chemical that should be checked monthly. When the water has the incorrect dose, it can be detrimental to the pool and can cause problems such as corrosion and scaling to your equipment and gel-coat finish. Ideal levels of calcium hardness are between 200 to 400ppm.
How To Fix Unbalanced Calcium Hardness Levels
When the pool water doesn’t have enough calcium hardness, adding calcium chloride should bring them back up. If the pool has too much calcium hardness, you can bring it down by diluting the pool with fresh water or by adding a floccing agent. A flocculant works by binding to calcium in the water and sinking them to the bottom of the pool. They can then be removed much easier by your pool cleaner.
Please note: The levels mentioned above should be used as a guide only as they can vary slightly. Always refer to your pools user manual for accurate pool dosing.
Quarterly Maintenance
At the beginning of each season, it’s a good idea to check out your salt cell generator for any build-up. If there isn’t any, you can prevent it from occurring by removing the salt cell from the housing unit and giving a quick rinse and returning it. If there are signs of build-up, you can try lifting it with a soft brush, but if this doesn’t work, you may need to soak it in a salt cell cleaner to remove it. Repeat if necessary.
Conclusion
With a little TLC, you can have your saltwater fibreglass pool looking its best every day of the year. If you’re in the market for a new fibreglass swimming pool, contact us here at Barrier Reef Pools Perth!
Sanitisation options for swimming pools are ever-growing, and one of the more popular ones is saltwater. If you own a saltwater pool or you're about to, here's how you can manage and maintain it to keep your water gleaming year-round.
Did You Know?
Many are under the impression that salt is solely used to clean a saltwater pool in place of chlorine, but this isn’t the case. Salt is added to a saltwater pool and converted via electrolysis into chlorine. Chlorine is the active ingredient that kills bacteria and pathogens in the water which makes it safe and sanitary to swim in. The difference between a traditional chlorine pool and a saltwater pool is the level of chlorine that is needed to clean the water. Saltwater pools use less chlorine than a traditional chlorine only pool.
What Are The Benefits Of Choosing A Saltwater Pool?
1. Gentler on the body. As the dose of chlorine is less in the water, saltwater pools don’t give swimmers red eyes or itchy skin. Many claim the water feels softer than traditional chlorine pools.
2. You don’t have to handle or store potentially hazardous chlorine. The saltwater system correctly doses the pool, saving you from having to manually do it.
3. The maintenance is much more straightforward.
4. No bleaching clothing or turning hair green.
5. Saltwater pools don’t have the strong chlorine smell that traditional pools are notorious for.
6. The ongoing expenses are generally cheaper.
To simplify your saltwater pool maintenance, we’ve broken it down into weekly, monthly, and quarterly jobs.
Weekly Maintenance
While saltwater pools are generally less maintenance than chlorine pools, that doesn’t mean they are maintenance-free. Each week you should aim to:
1. Remove any debris or leaves from the pool with the pool scoop. Do this more than once a week if your pool has more organic matter than usual. This often occurs after strong winds or a heavy downpour.
2. Empty the skimmer basket and rinse with a garden hose if necessary to remove smaller pieces of debris.
3. Your pool cleaner should be set up to vacuum the pool during the week but, if you have a manual vacuum, this should be done once a week.
4. Test the water using a testing kit or take a sample to your local pool shop if you don’t have one.
5. Check your pools pH level, this should be between 7.2-7.6.
6. Check the chlorine levels, they should be between 1 to 3 ppm.
How To Fix Unbalanced Chlorine Levels
Unbalanced chlorine levels are a common issue, and seeing to it quickly can prevent significant disruptions to the quality of your water.
If your chlorine levels are only slightly out, you may be able to rectify the problem by fine-tuning the chlorine generator via the output control.
If your pool has too much free chlorine, reduce the output setting on the chlorine generator, or you could try running your pool circulation system for a shorter duration.
If your pool has nowhere near enough free chlorine, you can shock the pool to bring the levels back up. This will also help to prevent your pool from going green.
How To Fix Unbalanced pH Levels
To raise your pH levels, you can use baking soda or to bring them down, you can use an appropriate muriatic acid.
Monthly Maintenance
A big part of keeping your pool clean and healthy to swim in is maintaining the correct chemistry levels. It can be a bit tedious, to begin with, but once you get the hang of it, it becomes easier to determine what your pool needs more or less of.
Here Are Some Of The Chemical Levels You'll Need To Check Monthly:
Salinity
You’ll need to test the salinity of your pool. Recommended levels range between 2700 and 4500ppm. You can check the levels with a testing kit or by simply looking at the control panel on your saltwater generator if it has one.
How To Fix Unbalanced Salinity Levels
To fix a pool that has low levels of salt, you just add more salt. If there is too much salt, you can dilute it by adding fresh water using a garden hose.
Alkalinity
Proper alkalinity levels should be anything from 80 to 120ppm. Again, these can be checked using a water testing kit. Alkalinity levels that are too high can cause your pool water to go cloudy, and if they are too low, the water can become corrosive.
How To Fix Unbalanced Alkalinity Levels
To lower your alkalinity levels, use an appropriate dose of muriatic acid, and to increase the alkalinity in your pool, add sodium bicarbonate to resolve the issue. Always follow the instructions on your pools user manual.
Cyanuric Acid
Cyanuric acid, aka stabiliser, is a key chemical that plays a huge role in keeping your water in ideal condition. It essentially protects your chlorine and prevents the suns UV rays from degrading it. Without this chemical, it would be almost impossible to keep your pool clean and sanitary. To give you an idea, if your pool had only chlorine without cyanuric acid, around 90% of the chlorine in the pool would be broken down in a single day. You should aim for stabiliser levels of 70 to 80ppm.
How To Fix Unbalanced Cyanuric Acid Levels
We suggest only taking the following measures if the cyanuric acid levels are unbalanced quite a bit, if they are only slightly, give it a couple of days to see if they rebalance before taking action. To increase the level of cyanuric acid in the water, add more product and to lower the cyanuric acid, you’ll need to dilute the water by adding fresh water from a garden hose. Once you have done this, retest the water and adjust any chemicals if necessary.
Calcium Hardness
Calcium hardness is another chemical that should be checked monthly. When the water has the incorrect dose, it can be detrimental to the pool and can cause problems such as corrosion and scaling to your equipment and gel-coat finish. Ideal levels of calcium hardness are between 200 to 400ppm.
How To Fix Unbalanced Calcium Hardness Levels
When the pool water doesn’t have enough calcium hardness, adding calcium chloride should bring them back up. If the pool has too much calcium hardness, you can bring it down by diluting the pool with fresh water or by adding a floccing agent. A flocculant works by binding to calcium in the water and sinking them to the bottom of the pool. They can then be removed much easier by your pool cleaner.
Please note: The levels mentioned above should be used as a guide only as they can vary slightly. Always refer to your pools user manual for accurate pool dosing.
Quarterly Maintenance
At the beginning of each season, it’s a good idea to check out your salt cell generator for any build-up. If there isn’t any, you can prevent it from occurring by removing the salt cell from the housing unit and giving a quick rinse and returning it. If there are signs of build-up, you can try lifting it with a soft brush, but if this doesn’t work, you may need to soak it in a salt cell cleaner to remove it. Repeat if necessary.
Conclusion
With a little TLC, you can have your saltwater fibreglass pool looking its best every day of the year. If you’re in the market for a new fibreglass swimming pool, contact us here at Barrier Reef Pools Perth!
