Keeping your pool’s water chemistry balanced is important. But you actually don’t have to buy every chemical that’s recommended. In fact, you can find cheaper substitutions in the laundry aisle at the grocery store. And there are some pool chemicals you can avoid buying altogether. Even chlorine. So here are 6 pool chemicals you can stop buying right now and what you should buy instead.
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⏰ Timestamps:
00:00 - Stop Buying These Pool Chemicals
00:37 - #1. Alkalinity Increaser
01:05 - #2. pH Increaser
01:51 - #3. pH Decreaser
02:27 - #4. Chlorine Stabilizer
02:48 - #5. Calcium Hardness
03:04 - #6. Phosphate Remover
03:21 - How to Stop Buying Chlorine
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Swim University has made swimming pool and hot tub care easy for more than 10 million homeowners. And each year, we continue to help more people with water chemistry, cleaning, and troubleshooting. We know taking care of a swimming pool or spa can be difficult. And it’s hard to find a trusted source of information. We get it! This is the reason we created Swim University.
😎 Visit our website for more in-depth information on swimming pool maintenance: https://www.swimuniversity.com/
💦 Download our pool maintenance video course and get 10% off by using the promo code VIDEO: https://www.swimuniversity.com/pool-care-handbook/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description'>https://www.swimuniversity.com/pool-care-handbook/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description
🏊♂️ Our Favorite Pool Maintenance Gear: https://www.swimuniversity.com/pool-maintenance/'>https://www.swimuniversity.com/pool-maintenance/
⏰ Timestamps:
00:00 - Stop Buying These Pool Chemicals
00:37 - #1. Alkalinity Increaser
01:05 - #2. pH Increaser
01:51 - #3. pH Decreaser
02:27 - #4. Chlorine Stabilizer
02:48 - #5. Calcium Hardness
03:04 - #6. Phosphate Remover
03:21 - How to Stop Buying Chlorine
📡 Subscribe to our channel if you want more information on swimming pool and hot tub maintenance: https://www.youtube.com/swimuniversity
Swim University has made swimming pool and hot tub care easy for more than 10 million homeowners. And each year, we continue to help more people with water chemistry, cleaning, and troubleshooting. We know taking care of a swimming pool or spa can be difficult. And it’s hard to find a trusted source of information. We get it! This is the reason we created Swim University.
😎 Visit our website for more in-depth information on swimming pool maintenance: https://www.swimuniversity.com/
- Keeping Your pool's water chemistry balance is important,, but you actually don't have to buy every chemical that's recommended. In Fact,, you can find cheaper substitutions at the grocery store, and there are some pool chemicals you can even avoid buying altogether, even chlorine.. So Here are six pool chemicals you can stop buying right now and what you should buy instead. Let's dive in.
Real Quick, if you want more help taking care of your pool, be sure to grab our free pool care cheat sheet at SwimUniversity.com/CheatSheet. It's totally free and will help keep your pool clean and clear all season long.. Number One, alkalinity increaser.. This Chemical has just one active ingredient, sodium bicarbonate.
And Sodium bicarbonate is just baking soda. Adding Baking soda to your water will raise your alkalinity levels and it's less expensive than alkalinity increaser that's sold at the pool store. If You have a 10,000 gallon pool, it'll take about 1.5 pounds of baking soda to raise your alkalinity by 10 parts per million. Keep In mind, that baking soda will also slightly raise your pH.
Number two, pH increaser.. This chemical's active ingredient is sodium carbonate. This is also known as soda ash, and you can buy this cheaper alternative in the laundry aisle and use it to raise your pH. You can also use borate, aka Borax, to bring up your pH levels.
Just Make sure you get the pure form of these chemicals without any additives. Soda ash will also slightly raise your alkalinity, while borax will only raise your pH. So Use soda ash if you need to bring up both your pH and your alkalinity and borax just to stabilize your pH. Finally, you can bring up your pH levels without any chemicals at all.
Aerating The water with a water fountain or water feature will naturally raise your pH levels without affecting your alkalinity and without having to add anything to your water.. Number Three, pH decreaser, also known as sodium bisulfate or dry acid, pH decreaser helps to bring down your pH. But You can also use muriatic acid for the same effect. If You already have muriatic acid on hand for cleaning surface stains or pool filters,.
you can use it to lower your pH as well. Just Keep in mind that it is more hazardous to handle than pH decreaser.. If You have a standard-sized pool around 15,000 gallons and your pH is above 7.8, Start by adding one quart of muriatic acid. If You have a smaller pool, add one cup of muriatic acid at a time.
Number Four, chlorine stabilizer. Chlorine stabilizer, also known as cyanuric acid, helps to protect your chlorine from breaking down under the sun's UV rays.. But If you're already using chlorine tablets or granules in your water,, your chlorine is already stabilized. And If you have an indoor pool or a bromine pool,, you don't need to worry about your cyanuric acid levels.
Number Five, calcium hardness. Keeping Your calcium hardness balanced is important for the long-term health of your pool. But If you take down your pool every year, you don't need to worry about adding calcium hardness. That's because the erosion from low calcium hardness levels happen over a longer period of time. Number Six, phosphate remover. This Chemical is marketed as a way to starve algae by removing its food source, in this case, phosphates.. But If you regularly clean your pool, balance your water chemistry, and shock your water weekly,, algae won't grow and shouldn't need phosphate removers.. Finally, here's a bonus tip on how to stop buying chlorine.
While You need some sanitizer in your water, Here's how you can avoid buying chlorine, or at least a lot less than normal. Number One, use a saltwater system. You Can stop buying chlorine altogether by making it yourself with salt. That's right..
Saltwater Pools are actually still chlorine pools. When Salt is added to your water, it passes through a saltwater generator and gets converted to chlorine. So While technically you still have a chlorine pool,, you can stop buying and adding chlorine directly to your water and use salt instead.. Number Two, install a mineral system or ozonator.
Both Systems reduce the amount of chlorine you need. You'll only need 0.5 to one part per million of chlorine compared to the normal three parts per million. So While you still need to buy some chlorine,, it'll help drastically reduce the amount.. If You need more help with pool maintenance, Be sure to grab our free Pool Care cheat sheet at SwimUniversity.com/CheatSheet.
And If you found this video helpful,, subscribe for more pool maintenance tutorials throughout the season. That's it. Thanks Again, and happy swimming.
Muriatic acid also lowers alkalinity along with the pH no? Are you in Nepean ?
Wow finally someone coming out and giving you honest tips about chemicals I've been using Myriadic acid and baking soda for years
I’m curious about the different types of dechlorinators. I’ve only dealt with sodium thiosulfate. Recently at my new pool job, chlorine levels spiked up to 15ppm in the spa. Someone added a whole bunch of what I thought was thio. I thought for sure the chlorine was gonna zero out, it didn’t. In fact it seems like it actually didn’t have any effect. The chlorine kept increasing up to nearly 20ppm within 30 mins of the chemical being added (note that noone turned off the chlorinator). When I looked at the bin the chemical was in, all it had written in sharpie was “dechlor”.
I looked into other dechlorinizers trying to figure out what it is (no one actually knows at this moment what chemical was put into the pool; they just know its supposed to lower chlorine). I’m wondering if it is sodium bisulfite. I read that it isn’t as stable as thio and can degrade over time. Maybe that’s why it didn’t lower the chlorine.
But what about the sudden spike up to 20ppm? Is it possible that when the chemical was put in the water, it zeroed out the chlorine levels where the chlorine sensor for the cat controller is, and as a result it started speed feeding more chlorine? The cat controller was reading like negative 400ppm in chlorine. Calibrating it to the right level wasn’t working. Just trying to figure out what happened that caused levels to spike. And why didn’t tbe dechlorinstor they use work.
During the pool season I use Chlorine, Sodium Bicarbonate and Soda Ash. Normally don't have to use the Soda Ash much. I use Algicide once when I open the pool but it is probably not necessary. I use both Trichloro tablets and liquid chlorine(Sodium Hypochlorite) during the season. If you rely solely on Trichloro tables then by the latter part of the pool season your stabilizer levels will be extremely high. They do make non stabilized tablets but I don't see much info on those. I think they would be a better option to use once your stabilizer levels are where they should be.
Do we need muriatic acid labeled for pools or does standard construction grade work?
Thanks
Pool pro here and algae will grow if you phosphates get high it will eat your chlorine. What you are saying about phosphate remover is none sense! Are you in Kanata ?
My above ground pool installer used round up landscape and weed granules under my liner. After a big rain fall my entire liner bottom has yellow stains in the pattern of how he distributed the granules. I can smell the chemical. After researching the ingredient Pendimethalin, Ive learned it contains a yellow die which stains and it is oil based and toxic! Does anyone know if this could be eating through my liner into my swimming water? I am concerned more about safety than aesthetics. He said he will replace my liner but it will take him a while to get to it. I don't know if it is safe to swim in? Are you in Barrhaven ?
We do some swimming pools turn green ? I'm not referring to algae . Clean fresh water , indoor pool , turns foggy and green .
Raising alkalinity and raising PH is the same thing I thought?? Low ph is acidic high PH is more alkaline…video makes no sense
Love your short to the point videos.
How much baking soda do I add to my small above ground pool of 2,217 gallons?
How much and how do I add borax to my 2,217 gallon pool?
Wouldn’t like to add to much. Norax isn’t a product I would like to miss calculate.😮😊
What about for smaller above ground pools? How much should I use for a 2,217 gallon?
Liquid chlorine is CHEAP compared to installing a salt system. It would take 8-10 years to recoup the cost of adding a salt cell. Same is true for ozonator or mineral system because even though they are less expensive you still need to buy chlorine.
I don’t agree with never adding calcium hardness. If you change water every year the calcium level will ALWAYS be too low. Years of low calcium will erode the surface of a plaster pool leading to a huge expense. Better to spend $30 a year on calcium than $7,000 to resurface your pool! Service area Orleans??
Hey @swimUniversity I just moved into a home I am renting, because of my job I move around alot. and the pool maintenance is the home owners responsibility. so when Informed him that the pool has backswimmers. He just laugh it off. but I am not cool with swimming with back swimmer. how can I take care of this problem myself. what item would I need to get rid of the algae that is bring these backswimmers?
Do you happen to have any statistics on how many pool owners pay service companies compared to maintaining the pool themselves?
hi, I have a pool spa set in one system, I have an alge problem in both. How can I shock both? Should I turn on valves to put my system part pool and part jacuzzi? I don’t know how to get chlorinated water to all pipes when my pool always on pool mode?
Should I turn the spillover and water feature on to make sure that no part of the pipes isolated with a valve! I don’t want part of the circulation pipes to trap some alge then release it back to the pool if I use the spa and contaminate the pool again with alge.
Hopefully I’m explaining enough.
I searched everywhere and couldn’t find anything that addresses the shocking of pool/spa combination
Advice will be greatly appreciated
I have a very small pool, 600 gal. 8ft round with no pump. Do I need to buy anything to keep it clean for the next few months? And, if so, what?
Thanks for the heads up, just started with the process you recommended to get rid of algae. Just waiting for tomorrow to see if it helped. Once I get the water clean, then I will try this. Anyway…thanks again!!! / Update 06/30/23: This morning the water was cloudy blue!!! Now the 2nd application of chlorine. Hopefully it will be sparkling blue before the 4th! No more embarrassment!!! Thanks!!!
I dunno man.. pool professional here.. and about the phosphate removers. I do believe that it does help a lot especially in Florida. Because even with chlorine,ph, alk, etc at the correct levels algae will still form.. been using natural chemistry phos free and there perfect pool line of products and haven't had an algae outbreak since… Love your content
If you don’t use a water feature will it lower your pH?
why does my chlorine always seem high … we add 1 puck a day in the skimmer basket and chlorinate (non salt pool) once a week. Our pool is 18X36
Ez pool all the way
My logic against Phosphate Removers is Cow's (algae) can't eat the grass (phosphates) if the air they're breathing is poisoned (chlorine). Just keep the pool properly chlorinated and you shouldn't ever care what your phosphate levels are.
I have a fiberglass pool and was told never to use Muriatic acid as it can break down the gel coat, only dry acid. But I can’t find anything definitive to back that up. Is that true?
I knew about all these except the Phosphate and it never crossed my mind. Thanks for pointing that out.
Great tips to save money especially with tablets being the price of gold. Thanks!! Are the alternatives on the cheat sheet too? Service area Ottawa??
How much Soda Ash or Borax per 10,000 gal.?
Awesome stuff, keep in mind though..chlorine levels are based on what your stabilizer levels are. The higher cynuric acid is, the higher your chlorine level will have to be. 3ppm may not sanitize correctly if stabilizer is too high.
Great video but I think you might need to clarify about the c y a in indoor pools. While you don't need to worry about it. You also don't want it in your pool if it's an indoor pool. I've seen in many cases where people say. They don't use c y a in their pool so they don't check for it. CYA ended up at 80 because the pool guy wanted to cheap out on the chlorine. smh.😶
Baquacil
You are awesome and so helpful thank you kindly from Don Martin Voigt with starlight painting inc in montpellier Virginia