To get the best out of your pool it is necessary to monitor the balance of your water. Improper levels of pH and other minerals can prevent pool treatments from doing their job, not to mention damaging your pool walls and equipment with stains, scale and corrosion. Things such as pH, Total alkalinity, Calcium hardness and stabiliser are the important elements of water balance. Maintaining an ideal range of these items will maximise your comfort in the water and extend the life of your pool structure and equipment.

pH: A low pH causes chlorine to be used up quickly and leads to corrosion. A high pH slows the effectiveness of your sanitiser therefore leading to cloudiness and scale formation. Use Acid to decrease your pH, a low pH will normally indicate a low Total Alkalinity level.

Total Alkalinity: This affects and controls pH. If total alkalinity is too high pH will be hard to adjust. If the level is too low pH will be unstable and difficult to maintain. This “pH bounce” can cause corrosion to your walls and lead to cracking. Total Alkalinity levels can be corrected through the use of Balance Pak 100.

Calcium Hardness: Your water requires a certain amount of calcium to be dissolved in it. The water will not tolerate levels too high or too low. High levels can cause scale and cloudy water as the calcium will not dissolve in the water and will therefore leave deposits and cause staining. High calcium levels are the result of excessive use of the cheaper calcium based chlorines. When the levels are too low the water will draw calcium from your walls and equipment causing harm to both. Calcium levels can be increased by using Balance Pak 300. To lower calcium the water will need to be refreshed, however adding a product such as Scale Inhibitorcan reduce the staining effects of high calcium.

Stabiliser: A chemical which prevents loss of chlorine from the suns rays.

IDEAL WATER BALANCE RANGES:   Concrete or tiled pools Vinyl or Painted pools Fibreglass Pools PH 7.4-7.6 7.4-7.6 7.0-7.4 Total Alkalinity 80-125ppm 125-150ppm 80-100ppm Calcium Hardness 200-275ppm 175-225ppm 150-200ppm Total Dissolved solids Under 2500ppm Under 2500ppm Under 2500ppm Stabiliser 40 - 150ppm 40- 150ppm 40 - 150ppm