Not everyone has the opportunity or ability to open their swimming pools right when Summer starts to peek around the corner. Travel plans, work, attending school graduation functions, weddings and a host of other events can quickly fill up a family’s free time… and make opening the pool a waste of time — until it gets REALLY hot out and all those other activities come to a screeching halt!

The questions quickly becomes, “Does opening a pool later in the Summer mean adding different pool chemicals?”

In most cases, no, with the exception of chlorine or your primary sanitizer. Warmer water temperatures may have ‘driven off’ winterizing chemicals and allowed the water to turn some shade of nasty. You may find that you need an extra amount of your sanitizing system’s shock treatment to get your water back to a pristine, clean and clear state.

If you normally require pH, alkalinity and calcium hardness balancing chemicals when you open earlier, you will most likely still need them now. Proper use of algaecides and metal removing chemicals goes with out saying… right?!?

Didn’t see what you needed? Take a look at the pool chemicals section of the Pool Center Web Site for additional pool opening and pool maintenance chemicals.

As we expected, the number of questions we received recently about swimming pool water has definitely increased. Today’s inquiry comes from a Water Testing Blog reader who hails from Pakistan and he/she asked:

Dear Sir/Madam,
hope you will be fine.i need some information regarding digital chlorine tester for swimming pool water .i read about extech cl200 testing metre.kindly send me the literature and price for it .
thanks
an early response is appreciable
farhan

Now before any of you go and criticize this person’s grammatical skills when typing in English, think more about the person’s commitment to keeping a proper chlorine level in swimming pool and the time it took to submit a question to this site.

WE commend ‘Farhan’ for his/her efforts and for transcending the language barrier to ask a question about proper chlorine testing in pool water.

On the topic of the “Extech 1200C” for chlorine testing in pool water, we took a look at the ExTech web site and did not find a meter in the chlorine/fluoride in water detection called the ‘Extech 1200C’… so we found ourselves a bit puzzled by your question.

We DID, however, see the ExTech CL200 Chlorine Testing Meter which uses Extech (CL203) Exstik ExTab™ Chlorine Reagent Tablets, a undoubtedly a proprietary blend of DPD-1 & DPD-3 reagents, to test for ONLY total chlorine concentrations in water.

The obvious problem we see with this meter for pool water testing, despite its USEPA credentials for total chlorine testing (in waste water), deal with the meter’s INability to test for free chlorine concentrations in water.

Proper Pool Water Testing Requires Free AND Total Chlorine Testing!

That heading said it all. Proper pool water care requires both free AND total chlorine testing.

Why? Quite simply, it does little good for the sanitation of a pool to have an in-range total chlorine reading with a very low, or non-existent, free chlorine reading. When that happens the pool contains mostly, if not entirely, chloramines (aka: combined/used chlorine molecules) which possess very little (limited) oxidizing power… and limited oxidizing power means limited sanitizing capabilities.

Improperly sanitized pool water can EASILY become a home in which various bacteria, parasites and viral ‘issues’ which will flourish, breed and infect swimmers if left unchecked.

Repeated Moral of the Story

Invest in a meter that test for both total chlorine concentrations AND free chlorine concentrations.

We suggest using a meter like the eXact Micro 7+ Pool & Spa Meter because it tests for not only free AND total chlorine, but also for Total Alkalinity, Bromine, Calcium Hardness, Copper, Ozone, Permanganate, and pH… all with the same meter!

Earlier we talked about the Extech’s USEPA credentials so naturally we figure you want to know if the eXact Micro 7+ Meter has credentials, too — and it does! When used with DPD chemistry (and the appropriate procedures, of course) the meter qualifies as an EPA Compliant device for testing free an total chlorine in drinking water.

“But Wait! There’s More!” Screamed the Announcer

As an added bonus, the eXact Micro 7+ Pool Meter also has the ability to test for Ammonia, Chloride/Salt, Chlorine Dioxide, Chromium Hexavalent, Cyanuric Acid, Iodine, Iron, Low Range Total Hardness, Manganese, Nitrate, Nitrite, Acid pH, Alkali pH, Potassium, Sulfate, Sulfide, and Turbidity — when operated in ‘% Transmission’ mode with the appropriate eXact Micro 7+ Reagent Strips.

A common mistake made by new and veteran pool owners alike: Assuming their tap or well water contains no dissolved metals. This mistake often results in the formation of ugly, hard to remove metal stains on pool water surfaces once chlorine shock gets added to the water.

What happened?

Simply put, the metals ‘hooked up’ with chlorine molecules to form insoluble precipitates (solids) that dropped out of solution, landed on surfaces and took up permanent residency.

On an unrelated note, we never thought we’d get to use the term ‘hooked up’ to describe a chemical reaction, but alas, we most certainly just did. One point for us!

Getting rid of pool stains?

Definitely NOT a fun task! Often times getting rid of stains will require multiple applications of pool stain removal chemicals and a LOT of elbow grease. Therefore we suggest NOT getting pool stains in the first place and pool owners have several ways to prevent pool stains at their disposal.

Preventing pool stains caused by metals?

Step number one involves testing source water for dissolved metals with a product such as Water Metals Check. One COULD use a more sophisticated method such as a ‘wet kit’ from Taylor, but those kits require a bit more skill and certainly cost more money.

Don’t get us wrong, though. Taylor Test Kits have a definite place in the world of metals testing. If the Water Metals Check test strips indicate the presence of dissolved metals, some of the Taylor Test Kits will help determine which metal your source water contains.

Step number two involves adding a ‘sequestering compound‘ to your pool water BEFORE adding the initial dose of chlorine shock. The sequestering agent will, in the proper dosage, bind with all dissolved metals in the water and render them incapable of forming precipitates (insoluble solids) with chlorine molecules.

Oh no! I’ve already got stains! Now what?

You, my friend, FIRST need to figure out what insidious metal has invaded your precious pool water using a kit such as the Jack’s Magic Pool Stain ID Kit. Otherwise you may find yourself doing a whole lot more scrubbing than needed and buying far more Pool Stain Treatment Products than needed.

Once you’ve pinpointed the offending metal, select the correct treatment option. Jack’s Magic, an industry leader in the field of preventing and eliminating pool stains makes specialized products designed to remove stains in pools caused by pretty much any metal commonly found in water used to fill swimming pools.

And after the stains are gone?

After you’ve wiped out ugly pool stain caused by the intrusion of dissolved metals, you have NOT finished the job! Now you must figure out how metals got in your pool and eliminate those sources. Next, we suggest the use of something like Jack’s Magic Blue Stuff to help prevent future staining.

While we all would LOVE to believe swimming pool water contains no harmful bacteria, in reality many swimming pools — despite the apparent presence of chlorine odors — actually DO contain harmful bacteria.

Granted the levels of contaminants often pose no danger to swimmers, also called bathers (hence the term ‘bather load’ rather than ‘swimmer load’ when discussing a pool’s usage), but for people with compromised immune systems, the elderly and/or the extremely young these levels may pose a health risk.

In other swimming pools, however, the levels do sometimes become dangerous for the general population and waterborne bacterial and/or viral contaminants may spread from bather to bather without anyone knowing until later on when the contaminant has worked its way into bloodstreams, reproduced and starting causing stomach pains, cramping, diarrhea, etc.

Some cases of bacterial contamination by swimming pool have resulted in hospitalization and, in rare instances, even deaths.

So… Can the average person (or pool operator) perform some sort of test on their pool water that could help to determine if the pool water sanitizer has effectively killed off any potentially harmful water bacteria?

Of COURSE someone makes a test kit for bacteria in swimming pools!

The WaterSafe Rapid Bacteria Test Kit provides reliable positive/negative results for ‘popular’ pool water contaminants such as Pseudomonas, Aeromonas, E.coli, species of Salmonella, Shigella, Enterobacter, Klebsiella, and other Coliform and non-Coliform bacteria.

If you want more information on this product, you can find it on FilterWater.Com.

A common question we have heard many during our tenure working in pool stores over the years: “How does a pool clarifier work exactly?”

Despite our knowing a bit more than the average person about chemistry and wanting to share that knowledge, we usually refrained from going into a lecture about polymers and such… for fear for of scaring the poor customer half to death and causing them to have horrible nightmares that night about their experiences in high school chemistry class.

Instead we told people to imagine that the bottle of pool water clarifier in their hand contained millions of little greedy squid and octopuses that had a craving for small particles in pool water. Simply pour the little buggers into the pool and in a short period of time each of them would fill up their arms (tentacles) with as many particles as possible until full and get so big that the pool filter would catch them or they would fall to the pool floor waiting to get vacuumed out.

Sounds silly, and almost stupid, but we sold a LOT of pool clarifier using that little story. Something about the imagery of small animals doing all the work for people seemed appealing… but that’s just our best guess.

Moral of the story?

Adding live sea creatures to pool water will have BAD consequences… but adding some sort of pool water clarifier to your pool water will put advanced chemistry (in the form of greedy squid and octopuses) to work for you, help clear up cloudy pool water, and/or help keep clear pool water sparkling clear.

Yep. The phantom reagent thief struck again. Happens every year to 10′s of thousands of people worldwide. Lucky for you we know where a place that will deliver a whole new kit right to your doorstep.

Total Chlorine & pH 2-Way Test Kit for Pools and Spas

What’s that? you say you don’t need a whole new kit? Sad to say, but in most cases a whole new kit will cost about a buck or two more than purchasing just the reagents. Don’t blame us, though. We just have the gun task of delivering the news.

While the majority of pool owners use some form chlorine to keep their pool water clean and sanitized, a good number of people use bromine tablets or bromine powder in place of chlorine.

As a general rule bromine offers more disinfecting power than chlorine because even its combined/used form (bromamine) still has the power to help keep water safe and clean. Additionally, by shocking once a week w/ an extra dose of bromine pool and spa owners effectively ‘free’ bromine molecules up to return to their assigned task of oxidizing biological contaminants.

Do bromine pools require stabilizer?

Despite bromine’s superior stability in water compared to chlorine, pool experts suggest maintaining a cyanuric acid level between 30 and 60 part per million. Note: As with chlorine, excessively high stabilizer levels can restrict bromine’s ability to do its job effectively.

What form does bromine come in?

Bromine usually comes packaged in tablet or granular form. Most people use tablets in a floater or feeder of some sort for everyday purposes and granular bromine for weekly shock treatments. One may also use granular bromine as a means of establishing a bromine level in fresh water so that it will begin to draw off of bromine tablets in a feeder or floater.

Who sells bromine?

Pretty much EVERY pool and spa store carries bromine in one form or the other, thought usually most will not carry bromine powder in large containers.

As far as online retailers go, we know that In the Swim carries different sizes of bromine tablet pails ranging from 3.5 pounds all the way up to 500 pounds.

In the Swim’s “Americas Strongest Bromine”…

• 3.5 lbs. of bromine tablets
• 10 lbs. of bromine tablets
• 25 lbs. of bromine tablets
• 50 lbs. of bromine tablets
• 100 lbs. of bromine tablets
• 200 lbs. of bromine tablets
• 500 lbs. of bromine tablets

A question you may have at this point: “How do I test for bromine?”

As usual the easiest method involves the use of test strips manufactured by companies like Aquachek or Pool Check. Test strips offer fast, reliable test results without the need for complicated testing procedures or messy powders and liquids.

Although not often (these days) that we get many questions pertaining to pool water, this one question does tend to get asked at least five or six times a year: “What does cyanuric acid do for pool water?”

Honestly, cyanuric acid does more for the chlorine in your pool water than it does the pool water itself. As an element in water chlorine LOVES to more or less run wild and leave the water first chance it gets if not controlled (stabilized) by a compound like cyanuric acid.

In the absence of a chlorine stabilizing compound things like sunlight, wind and just plain chlorine’s tendency to ‘off gas’ would make it extremely difficult to maintain a free chlorine residual in pool water. Without a free chlorine residual pool water can easily turn green with algae, become cloudy and most CERTAINLY become a breeding ground for water dwelling bacteria and other pathogens.

Two forms of cyanuric acid?

Back in the day you could only get cyanuric acid as granules that you had to mix in a pail to form a slurry and pour down the skimmer (slowly!) with the pool pump running.

Now, however, you can purchase cyanuric acid as a concentrated liquid… which we can ASSURE you saves a lot of time!

Anyone who has ever had to mix, swirl, pour, mix, swirl, pour, mix, swirl, pour, etc., etc., etc., over and over again for a large pool will know EXACTLY what we mean by that last statement. Pouring too much of the cyanuric acid granules into the skimmer too quickly could result in dangerously high levels of pressure in the filter.

We recently got asked for information about the best ‘brand’ of 3-inch chlorine tablets for use in floating chlorinators and chlorine feeder systems and quite honestly we do NOT have an opinion — except that we suggest avoiding using chlorine tablets purchased from large retail chains such as T#rg#t, W#lm#rt, To#s’#'us, K#a#t, etc. if possible.

Will chlorine from those (and other large retail) stores work? Yes, but you will go through more of it faster because it typically has a lower available chlorine content than 3-inch chlorine tablets purchased from pool stores. Why? Last we heard it has something do with the chemical licenses held by large retailers which take into account the ways (and places) in which they store/display chlorine products.

Another thing to consider: Chlorine Stabilizer (cyanuric acid). Most floating chlorinators and chlorine feeder systems do not work properly if you attempt to use non-stabilized chlorine tablets in them. Plus, non-stabilized forms of chlorine tend to volatilize out of the water quickly making it harder to maintain free chlorine residuals in the water.

Also, do NOT use fast/rapid dissolving tablets in chlorine feeder systems. Dangerous situations involving the rapid (no pun intended) formation of dangerous pressure levels in your pool’s plumbing may result!

So… Where can you purchase stabilized 3-inch chlorine tablets that will provide the higher level of available free chlorine? In the Swim carries a quality product that comes in a variety of sizes:

• 10 lbs of Stabilized 3-Inch Chlorine Tablets

• 25 lbs of Stabilized 3-Inch Chlorine Tablets

• 50 lbs of Stabilized 3-Inch Chlorine Tablets

• 100 lbs of Stabilized 3-Inch Chlorine Tablets

• 200 lbs of Stabilized 3-Inch Chlorine Tablets

• 500 lbs of Stabilized 3-Inch Chlorine Tablets

Given how BUSY most people get during the rest of the year, why would Summer offer them a break in their hectic routine? Therefore it definitely didn’t shock us one bit when ‘Mary12Adam’ wrote in and asked,

“My husnband and I both work 2 jobs and take turns shuffling the kids around to all their school, soccer, band and scout stuff. We don’t have time to run back and forth to the pool store every week for more pool chemicals. Do you know a chemical kit that will last us most if not all summer long?”

We certainly empathize with your situation, Mary, since we have kids, too, and have to create time to do ANYthing other than work, housework and drive them hither and yon.

We typically stock up on chemicals from our local pool supply store early in the season and don’t have to make a trip back until at least 3/4 of the way through the season, though sometimes a bit sooner if we get a lot of rain or have 2 or 20 more social gatherings at the homestead.

Since it sounds like you clearly don’t have a lot of time on your hands, Mary, for going to the pool store even ONCE, we suggest that you look into a pool chemical package like the Chemical Season Supply Kit (Large) from Amerimerc.Com, a leading online retailer of pool chemicals, pool test kits, pool supplies, and, of course, pool toys.

What does the kit contain? So glad you asked!

• 50 lb.3in Tablets — Great for day-to-day chlorinating
• 1 qt. Poly 60 Algaecide — A necessary tool for fending off unwanted algae
• 1 qt. Conquest Super Rust & Scale — Keep pesky metal stains out of your water
• 24 x 1 lb. bag Dura Shock — Excellent for shocking & superchlorinating
• 4 lb. pH Increaser — Effective way to elevate the pH of your pool water
• 6 lb. pH Reducer — Effective way to decrease the pH of your pool water
• Aqua Chek Chlorine 3-Way Test Strips — Fastest way to test your pool for vital parameters

Looking for other chemicals and supplies for your swimming pool and want them delivered right to your door? Check out the latest offerings on Amerimerc.Com!