Cleaning and sanitizing a pool requires balancing alkaline and acidity and keeping a pH between 7.2 and 7.8. Achieving the water’s needs is possible without treating it with chemicals. There are plenty of methods created to maintain a clean and safe swimming pool water.
Can a pool be safe without chemicals? Keeping a pool clean without using chemicals will double your efforts, but it is possible. Some alternatives for pool chemicals are baking soda, UV light rays, and floating sphagnum moss.
A Must Read: What Is The Best Pool Brand?
In this article, you will have ideas on how you can correctly maintain a balanced water pH level in your pool without using chemicals.
Cleaning Your Pool Without Any Chemicals
I understand that chlorine may be an effective yet inexpensive way of disinfecting your pool. But, chlorine can be aggressive to skin and eyes and has an unpleasant smell. Chlorine is the common chemical used for cleaning the pool, but it is possible to sanitize your pool without this.
Few ways to clean your pool are to use baking soda, use ionization capsule, robotic cleaner, and replacing chlorine with bromine.
Keeping Your Pool Clean
Have a freshwater swimming pool in your backyard without the need to resort to harsh pool chemicals. Packed with effort and patience, you can keep your freshwater swimming pool clean and safe.
- Regularly clear surfacing debris in your swimming pool. Skim the pol for dirt, leaves, trash, and pollens every day. Every time a foreign or unwanted object lands on your pool, immediately skim it to avoid contamination.
- Often clean the liner and underwater surface of the pool. Remove soil from the bottom of the ground by vacuum, frequently brush the ladders and liners. Clear all sediments and other contaminants.
- To avoid turning the water to unattractive colors, use an ionizing pool cleaning system. It will pulsate electricity to change the electric structure of your water.
- Consistent water circulation.
- The use of floating sphagnum moss can naturally prevent and kill algae and bacteria living in your pool.
- Frequent water level testing. Use pH strips to test the pool water for accurate results. If, in any case, the pool becomes acidic and causes skin and eye irritation, quickly resort to chemicals.
Keep A Pool Water Clean With Baking Soda
Baking soda is used for plenty of things. It can be used for the skin, hair, and especially for cleaning. This product will help clean your swimming pool with minimal to no amount of chlorine.
Sodium bicarbonate has a pH of 8, considered as a natural alkaline. By applying baking soda, you will both alkalinity and pH. It will improve clarity and water stability.
Increasing Alkalinity In Your Pool With Baking Soda
Follow these steps and procedures to test and raise the pool water’s alkalinity and pH.
- Daily, test your pool’s alkalinity. Balanced water pH is between 7.2 and 7.8, and the alkalinity is between 110 and 150 ppm. 80 ppm of alkalinity level indicates that you need to raise the pool’s alkalinity level.
- You will need tons of baking soda. I am strongly suggesting buying by bulk because you will be using anywhere from 1.5 lbs to as many as 8-10 lbs – depending on how low the water’s alkalinity level is.
- The rule is to add 1.5 lbs of baking soda every 10,000 gallons of water. This amount is enough to raise the alkalinity of the pool water by 10ppm.
Retest the pool water’s alkalinity. If the alkalinity is below 7.2, add another 3-4 pounds of baking soda.
- You can directly apply the baking soda to your pool by sprinkling them. The best advice is to sprinkle baking soda around the pool in wide acres and avoid dumping the product all in one spot.
- Leave it for 6 hours. Turning on the pool’s circulation system will help it disperse faster.
- After 24 hours, retest the water, and repeat if needed. If the alkalinity level is below 10ppm and pH level is below 7.2, repeat these steps until you achieve the correct water balance.
Correcting Pool Problems With Sodium Bicarbonate
Murky Pool Water
There are multiple reasons as to why the pool water gets murky.
- Broken filtration system
- The hardness of the water
The broken or defective filtration system is the most common reason why pool water gets cloudy. Consult a pool professional for repair and maintenance.
If there is no problem with the filtration system, there’s a big possibility that the water is hard by nature. The water may contain a heavy amount of minerals, consider ending the use of any product that has added calcium and always maintain low alkalinity level (lower than 110 ppm but higher than 80 ppm)
Algae (Green, Blue or Yellow)
Slippery pool surface, dull green pool water, slimy pool bottom, and walls are indications that you have algae living in your pool. With this level of the problem, you have to treat it with algaecide and chlorinate the entire pool. Afterward, test pH water level and alkalinity and add baking soda to raise the level of alkalinity to 100 ppm and pH between 7.2 and 7.8.
Pool Corrosion
Very low water alkalinity causes pool and ladder corrosion, or pits on the pool liner or tiles. You will need at least 8 lbs of baking soda for this.
Scaling Buildup
Scaling of the surface is the result of too much calcium, an unbalanced pH level, and a high alkalinity level. Put an end on using calcium-based disinfectants and maintain an 80 to 110 ppm level of alkalinity. Carefully add pool acids to lower pH, and add baking soda sparingly to reach correct levels.
Eliminating Black Algae
Black algae have the longest and stubborn roots from the algae, making it difficult to remove.
Use a brush and baking soda for blocking algae. The most active ingredient in baking soda is sodium bicarbonate. It is an efficient spot treatment to kill algae and remove it from the walls.
Ionization Capsules
The Ionization capsule is considered to be economical since it requires no plumbing or electrification to operate. It keeps your swimming pool water clean and pure from chlorine chemicals. It prevents and kills algae and bacteria by ionizing the pool water.
Use an electronic pH meter to test and control the level of alkalinity or water acidity.
Replacing Chlorine
A pool can be disinfected with bromine of PHBM. Bromine is more reactive than chlorine. It is equal to the affectivity of chlorine, but gentler on the skin and eyes.
However, Polyhexamethylene biguanide (PHBM) is rare and expensive. Bromine of PHBM is not sensitive to temperature and pH water changes.
Robotic Cleaner
A robotic cleaner is the latest technology of pool cleaners. It is the fastest and easiest way to pick up surfacing debris and dirt from your swimming pool. It is considered the fastest and easiest method. Also, it features one or two brushes that scrub the dirt from the surface, including the walls, floors, and corners of the pool.
With an excellent robotic cleaner, you can achieve a crystal clear pool water.
Salt Sanitizer
Saltwater pools have become a popular alternative to the off-the-shelf chlorine swimming pool.
Plot twist, saltwater do sometimes use chlorine chemicals. Instead of using the typical chlorine wherein you manually add chlorine to the pool water, a salt system converts salt into a form of chlorine gas.
A salt sanitizer is an electrolytic converter that converts salt to chlorine like regular table salt – It dissolves in water and passes through the system. This process kills contaminants in pool water and works on a cycle of regeneration.
The advantage of saltwater pools is that they require less maintenance than that of a chlorinated swimming pool.
Maintaining A Pool Without Chemicals
Keeping a pool clean without any chemicals can be a challenge for some, it’s not as easy as it sounds. You can choose several ways to make sure that your pool will still be clean even without the chemicals.
A chemical-free swimming pool offers more benefits that are beyond the chemical method applied to clean the pool. The effect is almost the same, whereas the cost is lesser.
Pool chlorination requires more costs and maintenance. You also have to bear with the effect of chlorine on your skin, hair, and clothes.
New technology has been developed using the non-chemical pool treatments that make use of natural oxygen requiring no maintenance at all.
Another important thing about cleaning your pool with this newly developed technology is that it uses copper to kill bacteria. Copper is safe for swimmers and even used for drinking water.
There is yet another successful way of maintaining a chemical-free swimming pool – the chemical-free pool cleaning system. This process works by taking in oxygen and converting it to ozone.
Ozone is a potentially even powerful and safer method for eliminating viruses and bacteria in the pool’s water. The maintenance of this ozone chemical-free pool cleaning system is easier than cleaning a pool with chemicals.
Beneath are the new technologies to maintain pools:
Ultraviolet Pool Sanitizing Light
This method uses short-wavelength UV light (UV-C) to eliminate microorganisms by interfering with the DNA. Ultraviolet light kills bacteria, viruses, and even pathogens that are resistant to chlorine.
UV light uses a physical process to interfere with the DNA of harmful pathogens. The water is sanitized by powerful UV light inside the pool equipment in an enclosed chamber.
Ozonator
Ozone purifies water over 3000 times faster than chlorine. Ozone does not leave any harmful chlorinated products by-products in the pool water – quickly turning back to oxygen if unused.
With a lesser amount of chlorine and bromine, you will have lesser skin irritation and lesser amount spent on chlorine. Pool Ozonator works by injecting ozone gas to the pool plumbing.
Essential Notes In Keeping A Healthy Swimming Pool
Keeping the correct pool chemistry is essential and easy.
Water Balance
Swimming pool water is delicate. To keep a healthy and safe swimming area, water levels must be balanced.
Proper water balance means keeping the pH water level must be between 7.4 and 7.6.
Three primary keys to keeping water balance:
- Calcium hardness level
- pH levels
- Alkalinity levels
Calcium Hardness
Balanced calcium hardness level ranges anywhere from 175 ppm to 300 ppm. Without calcium, the pool water will become thirsty for it and will seek to fulfill its appetite by devouring your pool’s plaster.
Maintaining proper calcium hardness will help in the longevity of your pool wall and equipment. But, too much calcium will then cause scaling and some other issues.
pH Level
7.4 to 7.6 is the ideal pH level for swimming pools. Rainwater, swimmers, debris, and anything that enters the water affects the pH level. Acidic water means a low pH level. And when it’s high, your water is basic.
The simpler term is, too low pH level burns our eyes, causing us to cry, and high pH levels would dry out our eyes. pH levels changes frequently, so better have a good supply of pH increaser.
Alkalinity Levels
Correct alkalinity level ranges from anywhere between 100 ppm to 150 ppm. The pH buffer is alkalinity. It helps in keeping the pH from drastically moving up and down the pH scale. Alkalinity levels fluctuate easily, so best advised to keep a hefty supply of alkalinity increaser.
Cleaning Children’s Swimming Pool
Believe it or not, distilled white vinegar is great for keeping a kid’s swimming pool clean. Daily add distilled white vinegar and simply mix it by hand.
The amount of vinegar to be applied to the pool will depend on the size of the pool. Half a cup of distilled white vinegar is enough for a small size children’s pool and 1 and a half cups for larger children’s pool.
Vinegar is a natural weed and plant killer, which is essential for you to remember. The distilled white vinegar may be best for cleaning a children’s pool, but this is not advised to be watered or reused for plants. Upon using this technique, place the pool in a place where you don’t mind if the grass or plant gets killed.
Conclusion
Harsh chemicals are not necessarily needed to keep your swimming pools clean and safe. You may select from a range of options – choose which technique or method you think will best work for you.
