There are a few key differences between Saltwater Pool maintenance and traditional pool care. You'll still need to keep your water balanced and clean, but you'll also need to pay extra attention to things like high pH levels and calcium buildup in your saltwater generator. Once you do understand how to take care of your saltwater pool, you'll be able to avoid issues like fluctuating water chemistry and erosion. So here are the seven steps to Saltwater Pool maintenance.

Let's Dive In Real quick. If you want more help taking care of your pool, be sure to grab our free saltwater pool cheat sheet at Swimuniversity.com Saltwater It's totally free and will help keep your saltwater pool clean and clear throughout the year. There are seven key components to Saltwater Pool maintenance: One add the right amount of salt, two test and balance your water once a week, especially your pH three set up your circulation, four prevent erosion and calcium buildup, five check your salt cell every three months, six shock your pool regularly, and seven clean your surfaces once a week before we cover each one. Remember that a saltwater pool is still a chlorine pool.

Your salt water generator, also known as a salt chlorine generator, turns salt that's added to your water into chlorine. but instead of adding chlorine directly to your water to keep your chlorine levels up, you add salt to the water and your generator does the work. Okay, let's go through each component of Saltwater Pool maintenance. Number one: Add the right amount of salt.

The good news is you only need to add salt to your water once or twice a year. That's because the salt won't evaporate and is recycled back into your water after it's used by your salt water generator. So you'll likely only need to add salt at the beginning of the season after a heavy rain or whenever you just added fresh water, your salinity levels should be between 2700 and 3400 parts per million. usually 3 200 parts per million is ideal.

But Be sure to check your owner's manual most. Saltwater Systems Require a minimum amount of salt in the water before they start producing chlorine. While you only have to add it to your water once or twice a year, you will need a lot of salt. If you have a 20 000 gallon pool and you're adding salt for the first time, you'll need about 14 bags of pool salt and pool grade salt is sold in 40 pound bags and be sure to only use pool grade salt to add salt.

First, turn on your pool filter system, then pour the salt directly into the deep end of your pool, Use a pull brush to brush the salt around the bottom of the pool to help it dissolve in the water, and then allow your pump and filter to run 24 hours to help distribute the salt, Test your salt levels with a digital salinity tester, and continue to add salt. If the levels are still low. remember, you can always add more later, so start slowly. Number two: Test and balance your water every week, especially your pH With a saltwater pool.

There are some nuances and challenges you'll face with your pH and free chlorine levels. One test your free chlorine levels regularly while your saltwater generator tells you how much chlorine is in the water. It's worth running a quick 15 second test each week to make sure it's measuring things properly. The ideal level for your free chlorine should be three parts per million.

Number two: Test and balance your pH levels weekly. Azure Salt Water Generator runs. It will naturally raise the pH in your water and pH above 7.6 can cause eye and skin irritation and scaling on your pool equipment. So test and balance your pH weekly and if you do need to lower your levels, use a PH decreaser or muriatic acid.

Be sure to check out our other video on how to lower pH in your pool if you need more help with this process. Finally, double check the run times on your saltwater generator because running your system causes high pH Decreasing your salt system run time should help. Just make sure your chlorine levels stay within range. Number three: Manually test your salinity levels each month.

Most salt systems show you how much salt is in your water, but it's always a good idea to test your salt water levels manually to make sure everything is accurate and your salt isn't concentrating in one place. Use a digital salinity reader to check your salinity levels once a month after a heavy rainstorm, or if you've had to refill your pool with fresh water. Number four: Test and balance alkalinity, cyanuric, acid, and calcium hardness regularly. Your alkalinity, cyanuric, acid, and calcium harness don't need to be tested and balanced as often.

But if you're already using test strips for your pH readings each week, keep an eye on these levels too. Total alkalinity acts as a buffer to protect your pH from fluctuation. but because running your saltwater generator naturally increases your pH level, your alkalinity has less of an impact. Zion Arc asks.

It also known as Cya or stabilizer helps prevent the chlorine in your water from breaking down under the Sun's UV rays. Your Cya should be between 30 and 50 parts per million. Just be cautious adding too much stabilizer to your water since it's hard to lower once it's in the water. Your calcium hardness level should be between 200 and 400 parts per million.

If you have high calcium hardness levels, the mineral can calcify and damage your salt cell. So if you have high mineral levels in your water, use the hose filter when refilling your pool. Number three set up your circulation. If your pool water isn't circulating, well, your salinity levels can get too high in different parts of your pool.

Test your water in multiple areas, using a digital salinity reader to make sure that the numbers are consistent. If it's high in certain spots, Angle your return Jets towards those pockets of salinity to help them circulate and make sure your filter is running enough. All of the pool water should pass through your filter at least once a day. That usually means running your pump and filter for at least eight hours daily.

For more help on pull pump run times, check out our video on how long to run your pool. Pump Number four: Prevent erosion and calcium buildup. Splashout can cause high concentrations of salt outside of your pool and that can corrode those surfaces especially Limestone or soft. Stone Coping Hose down the area around your pool once a week, rinsing tiles, exposed liner, concrete, and any area where salt water might build up.

You'll also want to hose down your automatic pool cover if you have one. Any exposed metal is at risk of corroding, so rinse off your automatic covers, metal tracks, and Hardware every week. Another issue with salt water pools is calcium buildup. If you see white flakes in your pool, that's usually not salt, it's a buildup of calcium carbonate.

Calcium flakes are caused by high ph and scale formation inside your salt cell. This can happen when you first turn on your saltwater generator at the beginning of the season and it usually resolves after it runs for a bit. But saltwater generators are naturally prone to calcium buildup, so avoid using chlorine shocks with cow calcium. like cow hypo shock and be sure to regularly clean your salt cell.

number five. Check your salt cell every three months. Calcium can build up on your salt cell over time. Even if you don't see calcium flakes in your water, you could have a buildup in your cell that may stop your system from working properly or generating enough chlorine.

Inspect your salt cell every three months and clean it by hand. Look for white and Flaky spots on the metal inside. If there are no deposits, reassemble the system and check again in another few months. But if you do see visible deposits, remove any large deposits by hand without using a lot of force, rinse the cell with a hose to remove the remnants.

If you can't remove the deposits by hand, you can soak the cell in a solution of five to one water to muriatic acid. Be sure to wear protective gear like a face mask and gloves when handling muriatic acid and follow any cleaning directions that come with your salt Water generator. Number Six: Shock your pool regularly. Shocking is the act of super chlorinating your water and it helps kill algae growth or bacteria buildup.

Using your salt water generator Raiders boost or super chlorinate setting once a week will add extra chlorine to your water. You can also add oxidizer or non-chlorine shock to your pool to help your chlorine stay active. Do this once a week after heavy pool use or a heavy rainstorm, but if you're experiencing bigger issues like algae, you'll want to add a more powerful dose of chlorine shock your pool with dichlor shock or liquid chlorine to help tackle problematic water. When using dichlor shock, keep an eye on your Cya levels afterwards and avoid using cow hyposhock because it can cause calcium buildup in your salt cells.

Number seven: Clean your surfaces once a week. Like any pool, you'll want to make sure your water is free of debris and your pool surfaces are clean. So once a week skim your water, brush your surfaces, and vacuum your pool. and be sure to empty debris from your skimmer basket and pump basket.

And like we mentioned earlier, you'll also want to clean the areas around your pool to prevent erosion, so spray down your pool deck tiles, concrete surfaces, or exposed metal with a garden hose and that's it. If you want more help, grab our free saltwater pool cheat sheet at Swimuniversity.com Saltwater And if you found this video helpful, subscribe for more pool care tutorials throughout the year. That's it. Thanks again and happy swimming.