How to maintain your pool like a pro

Follow these easy pool care tips to bring the enjoyment of swimming back into your life.

Test, test, test

Keeping your pool water at the correct levels doesn't just keep the water sparkling, it helps keep the structure of your pool, vacuum, pipes and pump in good condition. Get yourself a testing kit or testing strips, which are more user-friendly, and monitor your chemical levels. Do this on a weekly basis during summer and every second week in winter. Remember, when checking the levels, you want to test water from 25 – 30cm below the surface.

• pH: A balanced pH level is essential to the health of your pool water and equipment. Your water should ideally register between 7.2 and 7.6. Interestingly, a low or high pH level is most often the cause of irritated eyes and not the chlorine levels.
• TA: Having the correct total alkalinity level helps keep your pool's pH levels under control. The ideal range is 80 – 120ppm.
• FC: Free available chlorine is required to keep your pool water safe and free of germs and bacteria. A strong chlorine smell is often a product of chloramine build-up and could be an indication that your pool is in need of chlorine. Aim for 1 – 3ppm.

Treat

Now that you know the chemical levels of your pool water, you'll be able to determine which products are needed to get it back to optimum levels.You will need to have the following products on hand:

• pH increaser/Alkalinity increaser/Soda ash (for increasing pH levels)
• Pool acid (for reducing pH levels)
• Pool shocker/Chlorine 

Giving your pool a weekly shock with chlorine is also required to keep your water clean and clear. You may also want to do an additional shock after a pool party, a storm or if you notice a strong chlorine smell or irritation to the eyes. Use this process to shock your pool:

• The best time to shock your pool is once the sun has gone down.
• Disconnect your pool vacuum.
• Turn your pump on 20 minutes before shocking.
• Follow the instructions on the chlorine packaging for preparation.
• Walk around the pool while pouring the chlorine to make sure all areas of the pool get treated. Do not pour the chlorine into the weir or skimmer.
• Leave the pump running for approximately 8 hours to circulate the chlorine. Do not swim during this time.
• Test the pool water to check chemical levels are optimal.
• Reconnect your pool vacuum, swim and enjoy.

Clean and skim

If you have a pool vacuum there is no need to manually clean your pool, right? Wrong. Your vacuum plays an essential part in keeping your pool clear of residue, but it is not really geared to deal with loads of leaves and other debris. Regularly skimming debris from the surface of the pool is essential to keeping your pool unstained, filters clear and pump in good working order. Take the time to give the steps, walls and tiles a good clean with a scrubbing brush on a regular basis. 

Depending on your pool size your vacuum needs to run for approximately 4 to 6 hours a day. You should skim your pool at least once a week or more often if you have overhanging trees. You will also need to skim and treat the pool as soon as possible after a storm to prevent it from going green and murky.

Toss a few tennis balls into your pool to soak up oil in the water and prevent it from clogging up the filters and straining your pump. When they begin to look slimy or dingy, it's time to replace them with new balls.

Filters, baskets and backwashing

Having clogged up catchment baskets and filters places strain on your pool pump and prevents your vacuum from operating optimally. Make sure to empty and clean the basket at the weir or skimmer and the filter at your pump at least once a week or more often if you notice high levels of build-up.

You should also backwash your pool on a weekly basis by following these steps:

• Turn your pool pump off
• Disconnect your pool vacuum
• Turn the lever on the pump to backwash
• Turn the pool pump on and run for 2 to 3 minutes or until the water runs clear.
• Turn the pool pump off
• Turn the lever on the pump to rinse
• Turn the pool pump on and run for 1 minute
• Turn the pool pump off
• Return the lever to the filter position
• Reconnect your pool vacuum
• Turn the pool pump on

Maintain water levels

Remember to keep your pool water level to halfway up the weir or skimmer (commonly halfway up the tiled section). Maintaining this water level is essential as the skimmer cannot function if the pool is too full and low water levels could damage the structure of the pool and break the pump.