A Guide to Water Balance For Swimming Pool and Maintenance

February 9th, 2010 Posted in Outdoors

Attention: Water balance is very important to ensure that your swimming pool chemicals work properly and for as long as they should

You must be familiar with the way your pool or spa works before adding any swimming pool chemicals A clear, clean fresh spa or pool is only possible if you have good filtration and clear water flow

Water balance is the first thing to establish when treating your pool or spa. This helps make sure the later stps like sanitation are effective and use the minimum chemicals required The main criteria affecting water balance are calcium hardness, pH and Total Alkalinity.

Calcium hardness

Hardness depends on the levels of calcium salt in your water. This depends on where you live Low calcium hardness levels (soft water) can lead to corrosion of the materials of construction. High calcium hardness levels (hard water) often leads to the formation of scale in pipe work and equipment.
Calcium Hardness Guide Measures
•    Calcium Hardness should be between 100 – 200 ppm (mg/l).
•    When the measurement is below 75 ppm (mg/l), use Hardness Plus
•    When the measurement is above 200 ppm (mg/l), apply Scale Inhibitor.

pH

The pH scale has a range of 1 – 14 with 1 being very acidic, 7 being neutral and 14 being very alkaline. Make sure you keep your water within the 7.2-7.6 range which, because it is slightly alkaline, will protect equipment from corrosion and provide the best conditions for the people enjoying the pool or spa and also gives  maximum sanitiser efficiency.
•    Ideal pH level for spas is between 7.2 – 7.6.
•    If the measurement drops below apply pH Plus
•    If the measurement is above 7.6 use pH Minus
Note
These things] will cause the pH to fluctuate.

As a consequence rises in pH will lead the performance of chlorine (HOCl) sanitisers such as chlorine shock to drop dramatically. Significantly greater doses of chlorine sanitiser are then needed avoid this problem by using Bromine. Bromine works effectively over a wider pH range than chlorineIt is also less volatile than chlorine and will remain in the spa for a longer period reducing your spa chemicals usage and ensuring hygienic conditions prevail.

Total Alkalinity

pH Changes are buffered by total alkalinity If TA levels are too low the pH will fluctuate widely.
If Total alkalinity is too high then water clarity can be affected but it also makes it difficult to make changes to water pH levels
•    optimum Total Alkalinity is 100 ppm (mg/l) When it drops below 80mg/l use Alkalinity Plus
•    When Total Alkalinity is greater than 140mg/l remedy it with pH Minus to reduce it
The balance of the water needs to be monitored regularly because it is essential to the effectiveness of your other treatments

Testing your water is easy, you just use test strips which are available online