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Keeping Your Pools Clean: Equipment and Chemicals First and foremost, it almost goes without saying that no one wants to swim in a green and murky pool. People also don't have the time or energy to do it themselves- that's where you come in! The quality of the service you perform here determines how successful your business is, and the amount of money you end up bringing in. Do your job well, and your customers will do your advertising for you. Do it poorly, and before you know it, every potential customer you reach will already know of your poor reputation. Step 1: Chlorine Everyone knows chlorine is the integral part of keeping a pool clean. What everyone doesn't know, however, is that chlorine comes literally in many different shapes and sizes. Should you go with the three inch, or the one inch tablet? Should you even go with tablets at all? To be honest, these choices are totally up to you. If used properly, they all perform exactly the way they should. My personal recommendation is a different story. By far the easiest method of chlorine distribution is to load the 1-inch or 3-inch tables into a floating chlorine spreader (easily purchased), and place it in the pool. It will dissolve on its own, allowing the proper amount of chlorine into the pool. If you do go with tablets (or sticks for that matter), look for a concentration of about 90 percent. If you go with granular chlorine, look for about 60 percent. ***As an interesting side note, one may consider using bromine instead of chlorine as an active pool cleaner*** Step 2: pH Levels There are two primary ways of measuring pH levels: a drop kit, and a test strip. The drop kits are the preferred choice as test strips are easy to misread. Optimally, you are looking for a pH of around 7.2, but anywhere from 7.2 to 7.6 is acceptable. Once you get outside this range, the red eyes sensation begins to kick in and irritate pool-goers. To regulate pH, first you must perform a simple pH test (as described above). Next, you must use a pH plus or pH minus agent depending on if the pH is too high or too low. Add this in with the pool pump is on to circulate the agent, and check back in a couple of hours to see how the pH has adjusted. To start, use small amounts of agent until you get a feel for how much you need to add based on pH and pool size. This will come with experience. Step 3: Alkalinity Measuring the total alkalinity of a pool system is a crucial, yet often overlooked aspect of pool maintenance. If the measure is off, the pH will continually be unpredictable or "bounce" over short periods of time. If it's too low, metals will corrode and eyes will hurt. If it's too high, the water will appear cloudy. Sodium bicarbonate is an excellent way of lowering the alkaline level of a pool. This a terribly slow process, and one must stick to the directions when adjusting the alkalinity. A quick search at your local pool supply store will give you proper chemicals for both raising and lowering the total alkalinity of a pool. As a general rule of thumb, a range between 80 and 120 ppm is preferred for total alkalinity. Step 4: Pool Shock Periodically, it is paramount that you "shock" a pool with a pool shock agent that can be purchased at a pool supply store. This gets rid of many compounds that will irritate anyone using the pool and cause general discomfort. Although many people think it is acceptable to pour in excessive amount of chlorine in place of a trusted pool shock agent, this couldn't be further from the truth. Stick with the well-known pool shock systems, and understand that this is not a place to scrimp on. While necessary in killing bacteria, chlorine will, after a set amount of time, combine with other things in the pool and lose its power to clean. This compound, besides smelling bad, will be irritating to swimmers. Pool shock gets rid of this chlorine compound and makes the pool comfortable again. Step 5: Algaecide This is mainly for green and murky pools, however it can be used any time. As the name implies, algaecide is used to kill algae and other such organisms in a pool. These organisms upset the pH level and frankly make the pool look disgusting. It's commonly believed that the most effective algaecides are used in conjunction with a pool shock, however this is an area where an aspiring pool cleaner needs to do a little trial and error testing. If the algaecide works, keep it! If it doesn't work as stated in the review, then find a new one. Read some online customer reviews and check out the ratings each received before making your choice. Step 6: Manual Cleaning Although all aforementioned chemicals do their job very well, you still need to manually rake and scrub the pool. To start, you should get a pool net for gathering leafs and other debris. There's no secret here: it just takes time to fish everything out of the pool that's floating around. Long sweeps should generally improve your efficiency, but as stated before, it's just going to take a while. After all of the floating debris are out of the pool, you need to locate the algae on the side of the walls. Next, grab your pool wall scrubber (also easily obtained at a pool supply store), and start scrubbing away! Again, there is no easy way to do this, so just put in a little elbow grease and time and you will gain the respect of your customers. Next, go around to all of the baskets and thoroughly clean them. Have a trash bag ready for anything you clean out. Then you will need to clean out the filter in the same way.
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