photo credit: I believe in lucky pennies
It’s difficult, time-consuming, and expensive to change the swimming pool water everyday. That is why most pool owners will only put cleaning chemicals for the swimming pool. If you have a pool in your house also, and it’s your first time to have one, better have the three most important chemicals that pool owners should have.
Chlorine Tablets
Chlorine tablets are perhaps the most common chemicals for swimming pool. These are used to kill the germs in the swimming pool water. You can find this chemical in different dimensions named as 1 inch and 3 inch. You’ll usually put three to four tablets of chlorine every time. But how often should you put chlorine tablets for your swimming pool?
During summer, say you use the swimming pool everyday, the ideal frequency to change the chlorine tablets is every week. Each skimmer will need one set of chlorine tablets, which will be 3 to 4 tablets each set.
Now, you might already be imagining how many chlorine tablets you’ll need for your swimming pool. Better buy chlorine tablets by the bucket. One bucket contains about 30 to 50 chlorine tablets. Every bucket is priced around $80 each so it’s really more expensive if you’ll use the swimming pool more often.
Alkaline Powder
Using chlorine tablets will surely raise the acid level of the pool water. When that happens, the metals in the swimming pool will start to corrode. You’ll notice if there is a need for alkaline water if the water turns to misty green color.
But don’t put too much alkaline powder to the pool because it will make the water look cloudy. When the pool water is cloudy, that means the germ level has increased, which could lead to hazardous health issues.
Alkaline powder should be used as how the manufacturer recommends it. Carefully follow the manufacturer’s instructions so you’ll only give the proper amount of alkaline for your swimming pool.
Chlorine Powder
Use this chemical to kill germs like bacteria and algae that might have been in the pool or developing in the pool. Doing this will also prevent multiplication of germs and algae at a fast rate.
For the chlorine powder to be effective, you need to consume a large amount of it than other chemicals. Worse, chlorine powder can be expensive so it is important that you determine how much you need before buying in bulk.
Anyway, it’s okay if you’ve already bought some sacks of chlorine powder since you’ll regularly need it for your swimming pool.
Before you buy or use these three necessary chemicals, make sure first that you know the dos and don’ts of using and handling these chemicals. You should not mix any chemicals so better place them in one container for each chemical. Don’t add water to any dry chemical as well because doing so will change its composition. Also, make sure you won’t hold the chemicals using your bare hands.
Always remember, no matter how helpful, chemicals are still hazardous especially when used wrongly. So take extra precautions before you put anything to your swimming pool. Always consult the manufacturer’s recommendations—better safe than sorry.