How To Maintain Perfect Chlorine Levels

Firstly, congratulations! You are a true pool master of your time. Sanitisation is important and you've conquered it brilliantly. Now, let's maintain your chlorine levels to keep your pool safe and sparkling.

Actually, this post is not only for the pool masters, but for the pool beginners as well. If there's only one level that we need to monitor above everything else, it's your pool chlorine!

We're glad you asked! 1-3ppm or the "OK" range on the Water TechniX 7 in 1 Test Strips (which is the easiest and quickest tool to use to test your pool water at home) or at the "Ideal" level with the Water TechniX 5-in-1 Pool test kit (If your kit doesn't have "Ideal" written on it, it will have numbers, so don't worry if your kit doesn't have words written on it).

SEE ALSO: How To Treat Pool Water For The First Time

Well, seeing as though you asked so kindly, here are some of the best ways to maintain that perfect chlorine levels for your pool.

This chemical goes by a few different names, but UV Blockout is the chemical that keeps your existing chlorine in the water rather than being evaporated by the sun. Keep your Cyanuric Acid level healthy (30-50ppm) for optimum chlorine-keeping results.

Cyanuric Acid doesn't need to be added too often, we recommend checking and balancing levels once per month.

Warning: Unlike chlorine that dissipates/gets burned up by the Sun's UV rays, cyanuric acid stays in your pool. The only time that cyanuric acid levels reduce is when water is taken out from your pool (in the form of splashes, draining, or backwashing) and is replaced by fresh water. Never add cyanuric acid "in the blind" and always check the level before adding more because once your stabiliser levels are over 50ppm, your chlorine's effectivity goes down.

P.S. If you're using stabilised chlorine or chlorine pucks, we suggest that you closely monitor your cyanuric acid levels to make sure that you don't go over the level. If you're nearing (or at) the maximum level, switch to unstabilised chlorine.

If for any reason your cyanuric acid levels go above the recommended levels then you can consider adding some Bio-Active Cyanuric Acid Reducer to your pool to get the stabiliser level back down. For more information on the Bio-Active, check out our product spotlight here.

We recommend keeping your Chlorinator at 80% output year round. Ensuring that your salt level is healthy (5000ppm) and the your Chlorinator Box and Chlorinator Salt Cell are working correctly, 80% output will provide your pool with enough Chlorine to keep it sanitised while not over-doing it.

During heavy usage days or when it's unnaturally hot (we'll leave that determination up to you) turn up your chlorinator to 100% to ensure that your pool water is properly sanitised.

Also give your salt water cells a good cleaning every few months even though your chlorinator is marked as "self-cleaning" to ensure that they're operating at maximum efficiency.  

SEE ALSO: How To Maintain Chemicals In Peak Season

Still thinking of switching over to a salt water chlorinator? Read up on of best selling model, the Water TechniX Atomic Salt & Mineral Chlorinator here.

We recommend adding 2 x 20kg bags of salt once a month for an average 60,000L pool to keep your salt levels at an optimum level. Each 20kg bag of salt will raise your salt level by 500ppm.

Most Chlorinators work best when your Salt level is sitting at 5000ppm (parts per million). To give you a yard-stick, the ocean is around 35,000ppm(ppm).

Your Chlorinator uses salt in the water to produce chlorine, so low salt equals low chlorine output. Saltwater testers can be expensive, so it's best to take a sample of water down to your local pool shop to see what your level is.

Tip: Lay your bags of salt over the side of your pool (over the steps preferably), slice the top of each bag open and watch the salt run into the water. This saves you from spilling salt everywhere and hurting your back in a fumble to pour it in the water!

Run your Pump and therefore your Chlorinator at night time. If noise isn't an issue, we recommend running your pump in the middle of the night. This is for a few reasons:

• We always recommend dosing your pool with chemicals at dusk or night time if possible. By chlorinating your pool at night time this will keep all your core chemicals in the water for as long as possible, rather than being evaporated by the sun as soon as it is produced or added.
• We all like saving some money, and running your pump in off-peak periods during night time will do just that.

Caveat: Running your pump at night time is only applicable when the pool is not in heavy use or if you're just trying to maintain the perfect pool chlorine levels. During heavy usage or during unusually hot days, you'll need to run your pool pump during the day to compensate for the chlorine usage.

P.S. If you're keen on keeping your pool water circulated but you're worried about energy costs, it might be a great idea to upgrade your pool pump to an energy-efficient variable speed pump.

For more in depth discussion about chlorine and how much does your pool really need, click here.