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Having a swimming pool in your backyard can be a fun way to keep cool during the hot summer months. But maintaining a pool is also hard work, particularly if you want to keep the water crystal clear all season long. If you neglect your pool at all, the water can turn cloudy, hazy and even green in a hurry. But it just takes a few key steps practiced regularly to keep your pool clear and sparkling so it’s always ready for family and friends to enjoy.

Maintain Chemical Levels

Maintaining proper chemical levels in your pool is the most important step in keeping the water crystal clear. The key levels to monitor are the chlorine and pH. Chlorine is used to kill germs and bacteria in pool water, so it plays an important role in keeping the water clear. The pool’s pH level, which measures how acidic or alkaline the water is, influences how effective the chlorine is in keeping the water clean. Use a water testing kit to measure the chlorine and pH levels approximately twice a week – the chlorine should measure between 1.0 and 3.0 parts per million, while the pH level should read between 7.2 and 7.6. If the level chlorine level is low, replenish your chlorine supply. If your pool’s pH is too high, you need to add acid to the water to help lower it. Muriatic acid and sodium bisuphate are the most common acids used to lower pool water pH. If your pool’s pH is too low, add an alkali like sodium carbonate to reduce the acidity.

Administer Shock and Algaecide Weekly

Even if you maintain proper chlorine and pH levels in your pool, the water may need a little boost to keep it clear and sparkling. Once a week, you should shock or super-chlorinate your pool to kill any lingering bacteria or algae that may be growing. Shock treatments are available at your pool supply store; make sure to read the package instructions carefully to know how much shock to add to the water since it varies based on the size of the pool. If you’ve noticed algae growing on the walls of your pool, you should also treat the water with an algaecide, a product designed specifically to kill algae. Algae can turn your pool water green, yellow or cloudy, so it’s important to prevent the growth.

Backwash

Your pool filter plays a key role in keeping the water crystal clear since it removes dirt and microscopic debris from the water to keep it clean. If you want your filter to remain working properly, however, you must clean it regularly too. This process is called backwashing and involves the water flowing through the system in the opposite direction to clean out the filter. If your water starts to look cloudy, it’s time to backwash your filter. You can avoid cloudiness, however, by making note of your pool’s normal pressure gauge reading and backwashing whenever the pressure is 5 to 7 pounds per square inch above the normal reading.

Skim Regularly

To keep your pool water clear and sparkling, you must remove organic materials like leaves, insects and other debris. While your filter will remove smaller particles, large items may not make it into the system. If they’re left to sit in the water, they can break down and leave the pool dirty and cloudy. Make a habit of skimming the pool regularly to remove larger debris. Depending on the landscape that surrounds your pool, once or twice a day may be sufficient.

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Stains are one of the most irritating detriments to their investment that a pool owner can endure. To address this problem, the source of the stain must be identified, and the appropriate solution introduced as soon as possible.

Pool stains generally fall into two categories:

Metal or rust-based: Metals can accidentally be introduced into pools from well water or corrosion from copper pipes.
Organic: Leaves, berries, and other organic debris can also leave stains if allowed to settle on pool surfaces.

The best way to distinguish metal from organic stains is by color. Different color combinations provide good indicators of exactly what substance is causing a given stain:

pool-stains

Green and Brown Stains

These stains are most likely organic stains caused by leaves or other plant matter.

Red and Blue Stains

These stains are more than likely from brightly colored berries; check the area around the pool for the offending bush.

Blue, Green and Black Stains

When a stain is a mixture of dark blue, green and black, and there is no evidence of organic matter, it is likely to have been caused by copper.

Green, Brown and Red Stains

This combination indicates iron as the culprit.

Brown, Black and Purple Stains

This dark color combination is caused by manganese.

Once you’ve got a good idea of the cause of a stain, it’s time to test the theory and confirm the source of the problem. If an organic stain is suspected, try applying a small amount of chlorine directly to it. An organic stain will come away easily.

Metal stains, on the other hand, react best to ascorbic acid, which is vitamin C, most often found in citrus fruits. The best method is to apply some ascorbic acid powder to the stain, and see if it is removed or lightens.

How To Get Rid of Pool Stains

For Organic Pool Stains

Organic stains are best addressed by super chlorinating the water, then brushing. First, test the water to ensure the balances of pH and alkalinity – pH should be between 7.4 and 7.6, while alkalinity should be between 100 and 150 ppm (parts per million). Use can use test strips to test the water.

For multiple or large stains, the water should be triple shocked by adding 3 pounds of calciumhy pochlorite pool shock for every 10,000 gallons of water. Remember always to shock at dusk, or at night, for best results.

Once it’s been shocked, thoroughly brush all the stains, then let the pool circulate for at least eight hours. Continue to brush the stains intermittently, and keep the chlorine level high until the stains are finally gone.

For Metal Pool Stains

Metal stains can be a little more difficult to get rid of, but they’re not impossible. The first step is to take a water sample to your local pool care retailer to determine exactly what kinds and levels of metals are plaguing your pool.

After that, you can use a metal stain remover to treat the stains on your liner. Use the remover according to manufacturer’s instructions, brushing the stain to help the process along.

Future Prevention

Preventing pool stains is as important, easy, and important as any other facet of pool maintenance.

To keep organic stains from forming, make sure to keep the correct level of sanitizer (i.e. chlorine) in the pool at all times.

Make sure pH and alkalinity are balanced, to keep the sanitizer working properly. Keep your pool clean by regularly vacuuming (manually or with an automatic pool cleaner) and skimming the surface of the water.

The best preventative measure against metal stains is to test water regularly for the presence of metals, and address it before stains form. If your pool is prone to metal contamination due to well water or other factors, be sure to use a metal sequestrant to prevent metals from binding to pool surfaces.

In the case of a copper problem, it’s worth noting that low pH can also cause a recurrence of stains. Low pH indicates acidic water, which corrodes copper and introduces it into your pool. Adjust pH levels accordingly.

Happy Swimming!

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