Of all the things that a pool owner should worry about, water balance and chemistry is probably the most important.

While basically anybody can take care of cleaning a pool (vacuuming, netting, brushing), only a Certified Pool Operator (CPO) can take care of the water balance.

There are many different variables that have to be taken care of in the water balance, and most people think that is only a matter of pouring chlorine, acid, and conditioner to the water. Nothing could be further from the truth. Chlorine, acid and conditioning levels are only separate components of much complex and important ratios, namely Total Alkalinity and Total Hardness.

Total Alkalinity is directly connected with Ph levels, but this does not mean that acid is its only regulator. A pool with low Total Alkalinity will mainly generate too low Ph levels, corrosion and red eyes. When water has a high Total Alkalinity it will keep the Ph levels too high and makes the water cloudy.

What happens when the Ph levels are too high (alkaline) or too low (acidic)? Many different things, such as: equipment destruction, scale forming, hair loss, red eyes, irritation, staining, deterioration of pool surface, etc.

The other ratio, Total Hardness, has to do mainly with water hardness determined by Calcium and Magnesium levels in the water. When you have low Hardness in your pool you can expect things such as etching of plaster and corrosive water.

When the Hardness is high you can expect scale formation, filter calcification, cloudy water and eye irritation.

As you can see, not keeping the water balance in the ideal range may be either bad for the people using the pool, and / or bad for the life of your pool and your pool equipment, which may mean something “simple” such as replacing a pump, or something much more complex and costly such as re-plastering the pool or replacing a heater.