Q: What is pH?
A: It's a way to measure the acidity or alkalinity of water. This is the most important part of the chemical balance, because it protects the equipment, allows the sanitiser to do it's best job and increases swimmer enjoyment.
Q: What is Total Alkalinity?
A: It's a measure of the waters ability to resist changes in pH. It can be affected by environmental factors like, acid rain, pollution, run off from the surrounding land and fertilizers just to name a few. Keeping TA at the proper range will help prevent the pH from fluctuating and help prevent scale and cloudy water.
Q: What is Calcium Hardness?
A: It's the amount of dissolved calcium in the water. Keeping the CH at the proper range will help protect equipment and keep the water sparkling. It also helps to prevent cloudy water.
Q: What is the purpose of Sanitising my pool?
A: Sanitising pool water kills bacteria that can be harmful to swimmers and aids in controlling algae. You need to constantly check and maintain your sanitiser level because bacteria enters the pool continuously from many sources.
Q: What is Free Chlorine?
A: This is the active chlorine in the water that has not been combined with organic matter and is available for killing bacteria and algae. The proper range for free chlorine residual is 1-3ppm. Below 1ppm can cause the swimmer irritation, cloudy water and even allow algae to grow. You should test often throughout the summer when the pool is used most.
Q: What is the purpose of Clarification and Flocculation?
A: When pool water is labelled "cloudy", there are usually two possibilities:
The first is that there is a microbial build-up due to a failure in maintaining adequate sanitiser levels. The solution is straight forward - the water needs a shock dose of chlorine to destroy bacteria and restore clarity.
The second possibility is that there is a suspension of finely -divided particles in the water. These may be organic (like plant, animal or human sources) or inorganic (like calcium, copper or iron), or a combination of both. The solution is to use a clarifier, or in a case of extreme cloudiness a flocculent.
Q: So to Clarify or to Floc?
A: The basic mechanism by which a clarifier or a flocculent work is similar- the small particles that make up the suspension are bought together, forming large aggregate. The pool industry defines the difference by how the chemical product works after application:
Clarifier: aggregates are eventually large enough to be trapped by the filter.
Floc: The chemical continues until the aggregates are so large and heavy that they settle onto the bottom of the pool where they can be vacuumed to waste.
If your pool water is out of balance or you are experiencing difficulties like cloudy water, algae bloom, scaling or staining, your best course of action is to bring in a water sample. We can test your water using the latest technology and provide you with personalised instructions to bring your pool to tip top condition.
At Poolcare we have our own branded range of pool and spa chemicals, all are great quality and provide you with the best value chemicals in the Bay. In addition we are proud to be selected as an approved retailer for the BioGuard ® range of products. BioGuard® has developed an extensive range of patented premium Pool and Spa Water Treatment Products, their customised programmes are designed to cut down the time you spend on maintaining a beautiful sparkling clean pool. These programmes are also convenient and effortless.