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To the inexperienced, it might sound like you need a PhD in Chemistry to look after a swimming pool. Well, nothing could be further from the truth. It’s not complicated, and if you stick with BioGuard products and advice, you can keep your water healthy and sparkling clear all year round.

Why balancing is important

There are a number of reasons why you should keep your pool water in balance:

1. It prevents skin irritations and eye problems. The reason for adding chemicals to your pool is to keep it clean and to keep bacteria from taking over. Keeping bacteria and chemicals at the right balance is necessary if you don’t want to experience rashes or problems with your eyes.
2. An unbalanced pool can cause corrosion. Water must be balanced properly if you don’t want everything in your pool to corrode, including the pool ladder!
3. Equipment may be damaged if the pool water is not correctly balanced.
   The filter and pump are very expensive and essential parts of your pool, so you want to do everything you can to protect it and keep it in good working order. Unbalanced pool water can cause you to have to replace these expensive pieces of equipment earlier than you would otherwise have to.
4. Because looks are everything. There’s nothing more appealing on a piping hot day than jumping into a crystal-clear pool – and nothing more off-putting than cloudy, murky water. This is also a sure sign that something more serious is amiss, and it’s time to balance your water.

Balancing your pool

First of all, test your water. You want to do this once a week in summer. You can use an at-home kit, but once a month, enlist the help of your local BioGuard Approved Retailer. Their testing equipment and software is some of the most sophisticated in the world and will provide a detailed, easy-to-follow maintenance program for your specific pool’s imbalances.

These are the simple steps for balancing your pool water:

• Test Total Alkalinity
• Test pH level
• Measure Calcium Hardness
• Add sanitisation
• Shock your pool

The pH is probably the component in balancing that is talked about the most. Ideally, it should be sitting between 7.2–7.6, with the sanitiser level between 1–3ppm (parts per million). The most common impacts on pH is pool usage and weather conditions, but there can also be a chemical imbalance. The other components in balancing are just as important – alkalinity, calcium hardness, stabiliser and chlorine. Each of these chemicals plays an important role.

When it comes to balancing your pool BioGuard has a whole host of specialised products including:

• Balance Pak 300 for increasing calcium hardness
• Balance Pak 200 for raising the pH
• Balance Pak 100 for raising Total Alkalinity
• Lo’N’Slo for lowering Total Alkalinity and pH
• Stabiliser that prevents chlorine loss due to sunlight

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