How To Clean Up Your Pool After a Hurricane

Pool salt levels can be tricky. If you are one of the many Floridians who have recently chosen to go with a saltwater pool for your home, then there are probably some pool maintenance questions that you may find yourself asking. Keeping your pool salt levels balanced in your saltwater pool is crucial to making sure that it stays clean and swimmable, so this article is going to go over everything you need to know about managing salt levels in your pool!

Why is this important?

So, you may be asking yourself why it’s so important to keep the proper balance of everything in your pool. The reasoning behind this is that your pool, like every other environment in the world, has its own ecosystem and delicate balance. In order for the pool to stay functional and the water to stay clean, there needs to be the correct levels of all of the cleaning agents. If the balance becomes off by even a little, there could be pretty gross results. Your pool could get filled with algae, the microorganisms that thrive in old, dirty water can start to grow and make you sick, etc.

There could even be other types of risks if your pool’s salt levels are off. That imbalance could cause wear and tear to your pool and its components. Too much pool salt can easily start to corrode any metal parts, and the wrong amount of salt could also break down the generator itself, which keeps the pool clean.

Now that we’ve gone over why keeping everything balanced is important, let’s get into how.

How to Balance the Pool Salt Levels

Managing the pool salt levels takes a balancing act. Just because you have a saltwater pool, which is lower maintenance than a chlorine pool, doesn’t mean that you don’t still have to keep it in check. There are certain tasks that do still need to be done on a regular basis.

So, what are the proper ranges that you should look for your pool to be within?

• Total Alkalinity: 80–120 ppm
• pH: 7.4–7.6
• Calcium Hardness: 200–400 ppm
• Cyanuric Acid: 30–50 ppm
• Total Dissolved Solids: No more than 1,500 ppm above your salt content

Now that we know what the pool salt levels need to be, let’s talk about how to get them there.

Weekly Tasks

Each week, you will need to test the levels of the pool’s pH and the free chlorine. This is usually done using test strips, and if either of these is outside of its proper range you will need to adjust them.

Monthly Tasks

Each month, you should check the rest of the aforementioned items to make sure that they are in their proper ranges. Many of these are connected to one another, such as pH and total alkalinity, so if you notice something off with a few you should try to treat them at the same time.

When it comes to the actual pool salt levels, there are ways to correct this. If your salt level is too low in your pool, this is an easy fix: add more salt to your salt cell or generator. If the salt levels are too high, it gets a bit trickier. Typically, your salt levels go too high if you accidentally add too much when trying to balance it before. You will need to partially drain your pool and refill it a foot at a time, testing as you go until you hit the right level of salt for your water volume.

Keeping the pool salt levels perfectly maintained will mean that you can enjoy it for longer. While it’s not a totally fuss-free situation, it is easier than a chlorine pool!

Now your pool should be ready for some family fun! We hope this guide has helped, and we’ll see you next time.

Now, we’re sure that you will thoroughly enjoy when your saltwater pool. However, we want to make sure that you take all of the safety steps we’ve mentioned here before doing so! This will help keep your home, your family, and your investment in maintenance happy and safe. Whether you’re new to owning pools or an old pro, remember that each pool is different, and each pool has its own safety and care needs.

Don’t forget to install a Baby Barrier Safety Fence. These are specifically designed for each pool to keep your family, pets and guest safer, even when you are not watching your pool. Check out all the safety fence options and schedule your estimate today!

Now get out there and make a splash!