Cleaning your pool doesn’t have to be a huge chore, especially if you make it a regular routine that you follow each and every week. As long as you don’t let your pool go neglected for weeks and weeks, it should take relatively little work each week to keep your pool clean and sparkling.
1. Balance your pool on a regular basis. This simply means that you regularly test the pH, alkalinity, and calcium hardness, and add the necessary pool supplies to keep those levels balanced.
2. Chlorinate the water regularly, especially if the pool is in heavy use and the temperature is high.
If you’re adding chlorine granules by hand, follow the package directions, transfer them to a plastic bucket first, wait until sundown, and with the filter on, pour the chlorine in as close to the middle of the pool as possible. Test the water before allowing anyone to swim, ensuring that the chlorine level is below 3.0 ppm.
You should also shock your pool every 1-2 weeks, which is essentially superchlorinating the water to kill any built up bacteria, algae, or ammonia.
3. Keep the water free of debris. This one is straightforward, as you’ll need to regularly skim out leaves, vacuum the sides and bottom of the pool, and thoroughly clean any skimmer baskets, filters, and filter cartridges on a regular basis.
Keep your pool cover on as much as possible, as it’s always easier to keep dirt and debris out of your pool in the first place than it is to fish it out of the water later.
