Much ado is made about how hard it is to maintain a balanced pool, with some people claiming that it’s all but impossible (usually frustrated owners of unbalanced pools) but in reality it’s not that difficult. You’re really only focusing on three key areas, so as long as you keep your water level in the recommended levels for those areas, your pool should be balanced.
ph: pH is a measure of how acidic or basic the pool water is. pH is measured on a scale of 0-14, with 7 being neutral. Anything below 7 on the scale is considered acidic, with anything above 7 called either basic or alkaline.
It’s recommended that you test weekly and keep your pool’s pH in the range of 7.2-7.8, so you’re shooting for a slightly basic state. That makes sense, since you’re going to be swimming in it, and it would be odd if it was recommended that you swim in slightly acidic water, wouldn’t it?
The problem is that lots of things enter your pool that can change the pH and make the water more acidic or more basic, including rain, sweat, and urine. So some times you’ll have to introduce bases to counteract acidic things entering the pool, while at other times you need to add acids, if a lot of bases have been added to the pool.
Alkalinity: Alkalinity is a lot like pH, and is a measure of how much carbonate, bicarbonate, hydroxides, and other alkaline substances are in your pool water.
Alkalinity should be tested for weekly and maintained in the 80-120 ppm range, and can be raised and lowered much like pH. To raise the alkalinity level, add a base such as sodium bicarbonate; to lower alkalinity, add an acid.
Calcium Hardness: Calcium hardness is basically how hard or soft your water is. Hard water is bad as it leads to scale building up, while soft water can corrode pool surfaces. It’s recommended that you keep the calcium hardness in the 200-400 ppm range, and, like the other factors mentioned above, it should be tested each week.
