When opening a swimming pool too many people forget to TEST THE WATER before adding chemicals… Whether you choose to test the water yourself w/ test kits like the eXact Micro 7+ Pool Testing Meter or Pool Check Test Strips, or visit your local pool supply store and have them test your water at the beginning of the season, you will want to test for all or as many of these water quality parameters as possible. Note:

• Alkalinity – Not having the correct amount of alkalinity in your water will make getting and keeping the pH of your pool water very difficult.

• Calcium Hardness – Having too much calcium in your water could result in deposits forming and could also make it harder for other chemicals to dissolve in the water. Too little calcium in the water could result in pool water becoming aggressive and starting to attack various pool surfaces.

• Chlorine (Free) – If you use chlorine as your sanitizer, check to see if you have any left over from last year… or risk adding more than you need to add at the beginning of the year and ‘wasting’ money.

• Chlorine (Total) – If you use chlorine as your sanitizer and shocked your pool at the end of the previous season (as you SHOULD have), then you may have a lot of combined chlorine in your water that needs to get ‘burned out’ w/ a non-chlorine shock. Combined chlorine does little good when it comes to keeping pool water clean.

• pH – Incorrect pH levels drastically reduce the effectiveness of important pool chemicals such as bromine, chlorine, clarifiers, algaecides, etc.

• Metals – Having unwanted metals such as copper and iron in your pool water when you shock it w/ an oxidizer like chlorine or bromine at the beginning of the season could cause the metals to precipitate out of solution and stain pool surfaces.

• Stabilizer – Also known as cyanuric acid, having too little of this compound in pool water makes it difficult to maintain a free chlorine residual. Having too much of it can keep chlorine in a pool from doing its job.

• Total Dissolved Solids – Too many total dissolved solids in pool water will result in the water not accepting additional material… such as the chlorine powder (granules), tablets, sticks, or pool chemistry balancing chemicals.

So, get your water tested before adding start-up chemicals. Any questions?

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.

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!

We get this question countless times… because some pool companies either don’t do a good job explaining to customers what they will need to do when swimming season rolls around again OR because people have purchased homes that have a pool — and the former owners didn’t leave instructions.

In either case, we get this question a lot. Below you will find links to four areas of interest for pool owners in the Spring:

And, of course, an area that too many pool owners neglect: Pool Water Test Kits.

Can’t I just dump a bunch of chlorine in and call it a day?

Sure… but then you will more than likely waste money correcting the problems you’ve created or didn’t solve by simply adding chlorine.

Testing your pool water for at LEAST the basics (metals, pH, alkalinity, free chlorine, total chlorine, calcium hardness and cyanuric acid) will give the knowledge you need to purchase the correct pool chemicals and add the correct amounts so you can get your pool started properly and avoid annoyances such as staining caused by the addition of chlorine to water containing high levels of metals, algae caused by poorly balanced water in which chlorine cannot do its job, etc.

Consider This : 99% of the time it costs MORE money to fix a pool water chemistry issue than it does to test in the first place and add the correct chemicals the first time!

Many people ask this question because as far as they know, their public water supplier keeps a close watch on the levels of metals in drinking water… so then why does copper show up in their pool when they don’t use copper based algaecides?

Unless filtered or otherwise purified, most water contains at the very least SOME dissolved minerals and those levels will depend on where the water came from and/or passed through on its way to your pool. As an example, most well water contains dissolved minerals so that means if you fill your pool/spa with well water, your pool/spa water will contain dissolved minerals, too.

You can test for dissolved metals in well water with Water Metals Check, an easy-to-use test for metals in water with a low detection level of 10 ppb (parts per billion).

Earlier we mentioned that some algaecides contain small amounts of copper in them which serves as an algistat, or algae growth inhibitor. Under the right conditions copper introduced by copper based algaecides will remain suspended (in solution) and you will not know they exist unless you test for them with a copper in water test kit.

Metal fixtures (such as ladders) and swimming pool heaters in and around the pool get continuous exposure to sometimes very harsh conditions such as high or low pH and/or extremely high chlorine (or other oxidizer) levels which cause corrosion of the metal surfaces and allow metal ions to enter the water. These ions can create interesting color patterns in water and difficult to remove stains when they fall out of solution and land on the bottom of the pool or other surface.

Many times, though, copper discoloration and staining comes from the heat exchanger in a pool heater. As water passes over its multi-tubed, copper finned heat exchanger at a rate faster than the exchanger can handle or in a corrosive form due to high/low pH levels and/or unusually high oxidizer levels, ions of copper come off metal surfaces and enter the water.

Another (obvious) problem presents itself when copper heat exchangers start to erode away: Their walls get thinner and thinner and eventually holes develop. Replacing heat exchangers can cost a LOT of money.

So therefore, if copper stains and high pool/spa heater repair bills don’t strike your fancy, keep a close watch on the pH, sanitizer levels and from time-to-time copper levels to make sure nothing has started to eat away at your heat exchanger.

And finally, some sanitizer systems, such as the Pool Frog Mineral Purifier System, actually USE ionized copper as part of their chemical system as well as ionized copper. Copper ions serve as an algistat and silver ions serve as a bactericide.

Manufacturers of mineral-based sanitizer systems strongly suggest testing pool water regularly for critical water parameters such as pH, alkalinity, sanitizer level, etc. so that the minerals do not ‘drop out of solution’ and cause staining.

Test strips such as Pool Check Copper 3 in 1 make routine pool testing quick, simple and safe.

For the longest time pool and spa owners had to rely on the chemical testing skills and expertise of their local pool and spa professionals but those days have passed. Now homeowners can test their own pool and spa water for metals — without having to take a year’s worth of chemistry courses!

* The Pool Check^TM Copper test strips offer fast, accurate test results for copper, pH and alkalinity at a reasonable cost.

* The Pool Check^TM Pro Metals test strips offer fast, accurate semiquantitative test results for ‘all’ metals at once. It does not specify which metal(s) it detects, but it does give pool owners a better idea of how much staining potential their pool water has.

* The eXact^R Micro 7 pool and spa testing meter tests for many parameters including iron and copper.

* Other testing methods include using ‘wet’ chemistry kits from companies like Lamotte and Taylor, but they typically involve slightly more advanced testing techniques such as titrations. Wet kits also make use of messy dpd liquids, difficult to dissolve dpd tablets, and awkward dpd powder pillows.

For those who suspect that their source water contains metals, the SenSafe^TM Metals Check test strip will work quite well. It detects the metals commonly found in tap water and well water and provides accurate metals testing results in under 3 minutes.

Can Metals Stains in Pools be Removed?

For the most part, yes. The task will take effort, though, in some cases.

Vinyl liners typically resist staining quite well but the stains that do set in will not come off without a fight. Pool owners must use sequestering compounds and/or chelating compounds which attach themselves to the metal stains/deposits and more or less pull them back into solution. (See Jack’s Magic)

Owners of concrete and gunite pools suffer even worse fates when it comes to metals staining. Typically they must wash the stains away using diluted muriatic acid — and in some cases that means draining the pool completely before they can begin.

Due to the annoyance, expense and inconvenience associated with the removal of metals stains from pool liners and plastic fixtures, swimming pool professionals recommend testing for metals on a regular basis if the pool has a heater, uses a copper or silver ionizer, or has recently had water added to it that may have contained dissolved metals.