The ear's sincere thoughts on pool chemicals/care

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The ear's sincere thoughts on pool chemicals/care

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Post by fightinfrenchman »

As you may or may not know, I (as well as fellow Basement member Gustav) used to work in a pool store. It was there that I learned a great deal about pools and pool maintenance, but of course I learned from a biased perspective: that of the pool store! Some of the things they told me are not as important as they claimed, and here I want to share my real thoughts on pools and the maintenance of them for pool owners or those who are potentially interested in getting one. This is just the first part in a series of threads, so we won’t cover everything, but this should be the most important info.

First off: if you're not getting an inground pool, just stop. Above ground pools may seem like an attractive idea, with their lower price and the fact that they can be dismantled to make room, but it makes you look like a trashy loser, no matter what. We turned people with above ground pools on the regular, because we knew we didn't have the parts for their shitty Intex products. Just don't do it, the benefit of getting to swim on hot summer days is not worth the shame of being an above ground pool owner.

Now, onto the basics of pool care. The number one thing you have to take care is of course the chlorine level. But if you are measuring it yourself you may be confused: there are two chlorine readings! “Free chlorine” and “Total chlorine.” This can be very confusing to new pool owners. Basically, free chlorine is the chlorine that is actually available to clean your pool, while total chlorine is chlorine that is “used up” and has already combined with the dirt and debris in your pool. Ideally, these two numbers will be the same - if your total is much higher than your free, you need to “shock” your pool by dumping in some powder or liquid chlorine. This will not only add to the free but it will turn the combined chlorine back into free chlorine. This is the #1 thing you can do to help keep your pool looking beautiful. You want your free free chlorine around 1-3 parts per million (ppm) normally. If you have a mineral cartridge you can go as low as .5 ppm. You will likely use chlorine tabs to help maintain the chlorine level between applications of “shock.”

Next up is the cyanuric acid level. This is something people usually associate with pH, since it has “acid” in the name, but in reality this affects your chlorine more than anything else. Basically, cyanuric acid stabilizes your chlorine, helping it from evaporating. If you use liquid chlorine, you will need to add some of this to help keep it in the pool longer; most powder chlorines will have it built-in (but not all do: check with your local pool professional!). This can backfire though, if your cyanuric acid level (abbreviated CYA usually) is too high (above ~150 ppm) it can actually make it hard to hold chlorine, you want somewhere between 30 and 150 ppm.

Next up is pH. Typically you want around 7.2-7.6, although this can change under certain circumstances (if you’re trying to get rid of a stain or something). This can be regulated by the addition of pH down or pH up, or muriatic acid (which will drastically lower the pH). There is also the element of “alkalinity.” Basically, alkalinity keeps your pH from changing, which is why it’s often called “pH stabilizer.” Adding alkalinity increaser will increase your pH, which results in a dilemma for people with low alkalinity and high pH. Rain or any new water will usually lower alkalinity, so you normally want to add it when your pH is low. Alkalinity is not as important as pool stores will usually tell you; they make a great profit on selling alkalinity increaser (it is literally just baking soda). They recommend keeping it around 100-140ppm; personally I recommend 80-120.
Next up is the issue of metals. Pool stores will often measure the iron and copper concentrations of your water, and it’s true that when you have a lot of metals in your water it will often appear as stains on the surface of your pool. This can result from having too high or too high pH, which puts stress on the metal in your system (like a heater) and makes the metal come off. I personally don’t believe that metals are that big of a problem, and would not recommend the use of metal sequestering agents like Jack’s Magic (except maybe the Ion stuff). If you get a stain, there are a number of products to remove it; if it is an organic stain (like from algae) just use a chlorine tab. If it’s a metal stain, use a vitamin C tablet. If that doesn’t work, check with your pool store for a generic stain product. That will usually work; if not, use the Jack’s magic stain identification kit and prepare yourself to spend a bunch of time and money on an extremely small problem. Metal numbers will often be high if you have a mineral cartridge (this will be covered in a later post).

The next big problem you will be told about at a pool store is phosphates and nitrates. They both do the same thing: “eat up” your free chlorine quickly, forcing you to constantly add chlorine to your pool (a process called “shocking”). Nitrates cannot be removed: the only solution to nitrates is to drain the pool. Phosphates can theoretically be removed, but the chemicals meant to do so (Phos-X, Phos remove, etc.) are difficult to use and often don’t work, so draining is something you should keep in mind anyway. There are products that claim to prevent phosphate problems (like Jack’s Magic Magenta Stuff) but these don’t seem to do the job particularly well either. Either way, phosphates are not normally a problem even if they are high; nitrates are much more likely to make your chlorine disappear.

Finally, we get to the issue of total dissolved solids (TDS). This is the total amount of shit that is dissolved in the water of your pool. If it’s too high (above 1350ppm) it will make it so difficult for stuff to dissolve that chlorine won’t work properly. This state you want as low as possible normally, unless you have a salt pool (again, this will be covered in another post).

Really, I wouldn’t worry too much about metals or phosphates generally. Nitrates are a huge problem, but if you are able to hold chlorine even when you have nitrates just ignore them; same with phosphates. I would not try to treat the metal problem unless the numbers are extremely high; if you’re only at .2 or .3 ppm of iron or copper, it’s not a concern. Just keep your chlorine at a decent number and the pH within the range and your pool like most likely look great!

Let me know if you have any opinions or questions on pool care. Keep in mind there are some topics (salt pools, mineral cartridges, pool cleaners, etc.) that I will talk about in great detail later, so you can save your questions about those for later. :ear:
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Re: The ear's sincere thoughts on pool chemicals/care

Post by gibson »

How can i measure my chlorine levels when my pool is salt water?
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Re: The ear's sincere thoughts on pool chemicals/care

Post by JakeyBoyTH »

Thank you for sharing this Ear - I may invest in a pool now.
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Re: The ear's sincere thoughts on pool chemicals/care

Post by fightinfrenchman »

JakeyBoyTH wrote:Thank you for sharing this Ear - I may invest in a pool now.


I forgot to mention I actually think pools are generally a bad investment, they're so expensive. Find a friend who owns a pool instead.
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Re: The ear's sincere thoughts on pool chemicals/care

Post by JakeyBoyTH »

fightinfrenchman wrote:
JakeyBoyTH wrote:Thank you for sharing this Ear - I may invest in a pool now.


I forgot to mention I actually think pools are generally a bad investment, they're so expensive. Find a friend who owns a pool instead.


No one owns pool where I live - everyone has a small lake or river.
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Re: The ear's sincere thoughts on pool chemicals/care

Post by XeeleeFlower »

You live in the Northern Hemisphere. Wouldn't this have been better to post prior to our summer, or are you thinking of individuals who live in the Southern Hemisphere because our summer just ended?

In any case, it's quite informative, yet you don't swim. Perhaps your next post could be about overcoming one's fear of swimming. Surely there are other individuals here who do not swim and they could benefit from reading about your new adventure. :flowers:
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Re: The ear's sincere thoughts on pool chemicals/care

Post by fightinfrenchman »

XeeleeFlower wrote:You live in the Northern Hemisphere. Wouldn't this have been better to post prior to our summer, or are you thinking of individuals who live in the Southern Hemisphere because our summer just ended?

In any case, it's quite informative, yet you don't swim. Perhaps your next post could be about overcoming one's fear of swimming. Surely there are other individuals here who do not swim and they could benefit from reading about your new adventure. :flowers:


1.) I only posted it now because I've been (unfairly) banned for last few months).

2.) I will never get over my fear of swimming, I am incapable of self-improvement
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Re: The ear's sincere thoughts on pool chemicals/care

Post by Laurence Drake »

Great pool, thanks
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Re: The ear's sincere thoughts on pool chemicals/care

Post by momuuu »

Why does off topic show up in the 10 latest posts nowadays?
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Re: The ear's sincere thoughts on pool chemicals/care

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Post by dietschlander »

offtopic > treaty

I cherishe every day off bashment ppl presence here on esoc
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Re: The ear's sincere thoughts on pool chemicals/care

Post by Gendarme »

A lot of AoE3 topics are exhausted, and we have a strategy wall. Do you really still want to discuss British mirrors?
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Re: The ear's sincere thoughts on pool chemicals/care

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Then lets all migrate to reddit/shitpost.
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Re: The ear's sincere thoughts on pool chemicals/care

Post by dietschlander »

#Jeromchasingoodpplawayagain
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Anyway, nuancing isn't your forte, so I'll agree with you like I would with a 8 year old: violence is bad, don't do hard drugs and stay in school Benj98
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Re: The ear's sincere thoughts on pool chemicals/care

Post by fightinfrenchman »

gibson wrote:How can i measure my chlorine levels when my pool is salt water?


This will be explained in the next post, but salt pools actually still have chlorine. They just use the salt to produce to chlorine.
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Re: The ear's sincere thoughts on pool chemicals/care

Post by noissance »

I ended up moving out of that 3 bed house, now I live with my family again, commuting to grad school. The place had a pool and a hot tub, and excellent weather, but sadly terrible internet. My new place is much better internet wise, and the complex has a pool!
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Re: The ear's sincere thoughts on pool chemicals/care

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Post by Laurence Drake »

This thread needs to be stickied
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Re: The ear's sincere thoughts on pool chemicals/care

Post by n0el »

@fightinfrenchman what do you have against above ground? what if i don't have space for an inground
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Re: The ear's sincere thoughts on pool chemicals/care

Post by fightinfrenchman »

n0el wrote:@fightinfrenchman what do you have against above ground? what if i don't have space for an inground


Then don't get a pool. Above ground pools are trashy and dumb.
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Re: The ear's sincere thoughts on pool chemicals/care

Post by n0el »

What if it is 100 degrees outside and I want to cool off with no AC.
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Re: The ear's sincere thoughts on pool chemicals/care

Post by fightinfrenchman »

n0el wrote:What if it is 100 degrees outside and I want to cool off with no AC.


Please refer to my thread on how to "beat the heat"
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Re: The ear's sincere thoughts on pool chemicals/care

Post by JakeyBoyTH »

fightinfrenchman wrote:
n0el wrote:What if it is 100 degrees outside and I want to cool off with no AC.


Please refer to my thread on how to "beat the heat"


It was quite a useful thread!
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Re: The ear's sincere thoughts on pool chemicals/care

Post by evilcheadar »

My dad has a pool at his house, and I'm thinking of getting him to add ozone treatment technology. Have any reccomendations on thish?
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Re: The ear's sincere thoughts on pool chemicals/care

Post by Dr. D1CK »

Ear, as you know, I also worked in that famed pool establishment. You forgot a critical component to good pool care and maintenance. How should I properly maintain calcium levels in the water???? Also, I contemplating a mesh cover, what are the pros and cons? What’s more, I need a new o ring for my energy bowl, what are my options?
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Re: The ear's sincere thoughts on pool chemicals/care

Post by fightinfrenchman »

Dr. D1CK wrote:Ear, as you know, I also worked in that famed pool establishment. You forgot a critical component to good pool care and maintenance. How should I properly maintain calcium levels in the water???? Also, I contemplating a mesh cover, what are the pros and cons? What’s more, I need a new o ring for my energy bowl, what are my options?


I knew I was forgetting some part of the test when I drunkenly wrote this post! Don't worry I will include a section on Calcium in the next part of the series.
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