Testing Your Pool Water

An important part of owning your own personal pool is testing your pool water for multiple factors and chemical levels. You want to ensure that you prepared to perform each of these important tests to have the highest quality pool water possible in your pool. The four main tests that are used are pH, chlorine, Total Alkalinity and Calcium Hardness.

pH is an important part of testing as it measures the acidity of the water found in your pool. Bad pH levels can render chlorine ineffective in disinfecting your pool, which is obviously bad for you and everyone who swims there. Ideally, your pool should be between 7.2 and 7.8 pH to have a balanced acidity in the water. Chlorine is another important chemical in your pool as it helps kill bacteria and keep your pool free of contaminants and viruses. Testing this will make sure that your pool is staying as clean as possible, chemically. In your pool, you should aim to have the chlorine levels at 1.0 to 2.0 ppm for the most effective disinfecting of your water. 

Total Alkalinity and Calcium Hardness are also important whenever you test your home pool levels. Total Alkalinity measures the pools ability to withstand changes in the pH levels, while Calcium Hardness measures how hard or soft your water is through the amounts of dissolved calcium and magnesium in the water. For Alkalinity, you should aim for levels between 80 and 120 ppm and Calcium Hardness should be about 200-400 ppm. 

For most effective testing routines, pool owners should test AT LEAST 2-3 times a week to ensure their pool water is the best quality it can be! 

If you need chemical testing or maintenance on your pool visit The Pool Guy's site here!