How To Test Pool Chemicals- Everything you should know!

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Swimming pools need so much more than just cleaning with skimmers and pool cleaners.

Here, we will teach you how to test pool chemicals and a short guide on how you can balance them.

Pool cleaners will help you clean the larger debris in the pool or hot tub down to the smallest dust that was able to get in the water.

They can make the pool liner shine new and help clear the water.

Skimmers are for much larger debris such as leaves and small sticks.

Swimming pool filters do the same thing and are great for cleaning the debris on the surface of the swimming pool.

Although this debris may pose some threats, there is still unseen dirt in the pool that poses much more dangerous damage.

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These are the microorganisms and chemical reactions in it.

In order to eliminate these invisible threats, you will need to keep the chemical balances in check.

They help dissolve all the threats that microorganisms bring to you and your pool.

However, I say that the chemical reactions themselves are threats to the pool.

There are certain amounts or levels of chemicals that you should not exceed to keep your pool water healthy.

If you go above the limit, these chemicals might actually cause more damage to your swimming pool and health than the microorganisms that they are meant to kill.

So keep them in check.

In order to keep the balance of chemical reactions in the swimming pool, you need a deep understanding of what certain chemicals you need and what they actually do to your pool.

So in this post, we will be talking about the most important chemicals in the water and see how you can properly test them.

There will also be a guide on how you can balance them so read on.

Table of Contents

What Chemicals You Need To Test In Your Pool

There are a lot of chemicals in the pool that often cause reactions that might be beneficial or harmful to your health, the pool parts, and the pieces of equipment around the swimming pool.

If left untreated or imbalanced, the chemicals will start deteriorating the pieces around your pool.

From there, you will need repairs and replacements that might cost so much money and time.

That is why you need to know everything about them in order to keep the integrity of your pool and your overall health.

These are just some of the chemicals that you will need to test.

1. pH Levels

The pH level in your water generally refers to the amount or concentration of acidic materials in your pool.

These are the ones responsible for burning up the microorganisms in the water.

The pH level is often measured within the range of 1 to 14 levels.

The safe range for the pH level is between 7.4 and 7.6 so there is a very small margin of error when it comes to the pH level.

The reason for this is that the pH level is one of those chemical reactions that cause problems when it is too low or too high.

It directly affects the cleaning capacity of the water so checking it often is a must.

See, when the pH level drops down below 7, you will have a situation called acidic condition which means that you lack more acids in the water in order to kill the microorganisms in it.

Now, anything above 7 is called an alkaline condition where you have too many acid substances in the water.

This means that the acids can kill the bacteria but it is too high of a level for swimmers.

If you swim in a pool with high acidity, it can cause skin and eye irritation.

In the long run, you might also get other health conditions that are quite hard to treat or are actually untreatable.

Not only that but when the pH level is disrupted, it can cause structural damage to the pool.

It does not matter what your pool liner is, pH imbalances can damage any type of swimming pool.

So depending on the results of the test, you will either need a pH increase or a pH decrease.

That way, you will be able to keep the chemical reaction balanced and safe to swim in.

2. Alkalinity

Alkalinity or total alkalinity pertains to the total amount and concentration of alkaline substances in the water.

It is directly in relation to the pH level as well because it involves acids when reading it.

Instead of cleaning the swimming pool’s water, the alkaline materials are the ones responsible for balancing the acid.

They are the actual counter for high pH levels in the pool’s water.

Total alkalinity is measured with larger numbers where the safe reading is between 80 and 120 parts per million.

These are the neutralizers of acids in the water to keep it safe for swimming.

Adjusting the total alkalinity of the water is quite impossible without affecting the pH level.

So you need to be extra careful when you are managing these two chemicals as they correlate.

If you have high alkalinity in the pool, the acidic components in the water will often not work or kill the dirt in it.

Low alkalinity means that there are high acidic levels causing damage as we have talked about.

So you either need an alkalinity increaser to get the total alkalinity to a higher level, or acids such as sodium bisulfate to lower it.

That will also depend largely on the results of the test.

3. Water Hardness

This chemical reaction where you read the water as hard or soft is from the calcium within it.

This reaction is not as important as the total alkalinity or pH level but it can cause damage.

Before you test or treat the amount of calcium in the water, make sure to balance the alkalinity and the pH levels first.

Put the calcium hardness last as it will do damages at a slower rate.

Calcium might not sound like it can cause damage to your health but it does otherwise to your swimming pool.

It is able to scale off parts of the pool liner even if it is made out of concrete.

Calcium or water hardness is the measurement of all the dissolved calcium and some minerals in the water.

It poses a lot of threats to both the water and the pool equipment around it.

The same with the pH level, the calcium hardness affects the pool when it is either too high or too low.

The safe reading for calcium hardness is between 200 and 400 parts per million.

In order to raise the calcium hardness of the water, you will need to use calcium chloride.

It is the most effective and least damaging chemical in order to deal with low calcium hardness.

If your calcium hardness is too high, then there are some ways where you can treat it too.

Draining the pool partially and refilling it with fresh water will be the most natural way to do it.

Testing The Pool Chemicals

So now that you know all the most important chemicals in the water, you now have to treat them.

In order to balance the chemicals, you need to test the water first and foremost.

The most important thing that you will need is the Water Test Kit.

This will be the one responsible for giving you an accurate reading of the chemicals in the swimming pool.

The Best Water Test Kit

In my experience, the best test kit is the one with four different readings.

This is where you will be able to read four different chemicals all at the same time in strips to lessen the effort of the process.

Some even sell 5-in-1 test kits but I think I will stick to the 7-in-1 test kit from Aquacheck as it gives a more accurate reading.

Remember that accuracy is more important than the number of chemicals you test.

Some companies sell test kits that include virtual reading.

Meaning you can connect the actual test to an app or website calculator that will give you a more accurate reading of the chemicals on the test strips.

Just remember to always keep the test in bright and natural lighting to get the best color from the strips.

That way, you will have the most accurate reading from the strips that you dipped.

Take Water Sample

The first thing that you need to do once you have set up the pool test kit is to get a water sample from your swimming pool.

Go as deep as you can or at least a foot deep when getting the water.

The surface of the pool’s water might not have the same chemical reactions or substances compared to the water at the bottom.

So be sure to dip your whole arm if you can into the water.

Before getting the water, you should turn your pool pump off to let the chemicals settle.

So do that and then wait for about an hour before getting the water sample from the swimming pool.

Be Precise

Do not let the water on the test kit settle right away before checking the levels.

There will be some test kits that include a vial where you will add the chemicals to see the reactions.

If this is the test kit that you have, make sure to fill up the water up to the dedicated line.

Nothing more nothing less or your readings might go as accurately as you want them to be.

See, the precision and relation between the ratio of the pool water and the testing solution are very important.

This will give you the best and most accurate results from the pool water testing kit.

You will need to adjust and add chemicals based on the results so it needs to be precise.

If you know how to adjust the chemicals based on the shown results, the rest will be easy.

Test pool Chlorine First

Before the water can even settle, add five drops of solution 1 to the chlorine testing column to test the pool chlorine levels.

Do not leave the water in the vial for a long time as it may collect dirt and other chemicals.

As soon as you get the water to the vial, drop the solution into the column.

For most test kits to test pool chlorine, this will come in the form of liquid droplets while some might use dissolving tablets.

Put the cap on the vial and then shake the test kit to mix the solution.

Do not go too hard as you only need to turn the vial up and down a few times for the solution to mix evenly.

After about 15 seconds, compare the color of the vial to the color standards on the side.

Most test kits to test pool chlorine will tell you right away what chemical you need to add with a label on each color.

You can also test the chlorine levels on your drinking water to make sure it is not overloaded with chemicals.

Accordingly you can decrease or increase the concentration of free chlorine in the pool.

Test The Chemicals

With the same process, you will have to do it to the other chemicals.

There are different colors to represent the chemicals that are in the pool so get them ready as well.

Different companies will require you to clean and add more or fewer chemical solutions to the water sample.

So make sure to read them and add what the recommended drops are in the sample.

Again, shake the vial a little bit and then compare it to the color standards.

After using the test kit, wash it with fresh water and then let it dry before putting it in the storage container again.

Depending on the results, you will then need to clean and add chemicals to the water to get the chemicals balanced once again.

This will be an easy job to do as you just need to pour the chemicals slowly.

Conclusion

There are other chemicals that you need to test in the pool as well but they are considered special chemicals and these can be hard to adjust based on the composition of the water.

These are salt in saltwater pools, phosphates, Biguanide, and such.

You can adjust these chemicals based on some other guides but they are more complicated.

Testing your saltwater or fresh pool water daily is not necessary but it is a good habit.

Make sure to test them regularly to keep track of the chemicals, weekly or every after three days if you can.

Chemical reactions such as the pH level and total alkalinity news to be tested at least twice or thrice a week both with salt water and fresh water.

Calcium is a slower chemical so a monthly test for calcium hardness will do.

Just make sure to follow the kit instructions that the brand of test kit provided.

The guide above will be helpful to keep track of the accurate measurements of the chemicals in your pool.

There are differences between saltwater chemicals and freshwater so always make sure which you are testing.

Pool maintenance between the two can be very different.

These are your first line of defense against debris and bacteria so always keep them balanced.