Remember: Maintaining water balance is critical to ensuring the effective action of your pool chemicals.

You must be familiar with the way your pool or spa works before adding any pool chemical A clear, clean fresh spa or pool is only possible if you have good filtration and clear water flow

Water balance is the first thing to establish when treating your pool or spa. This helps make sure the later stps like sanitation are effective and use the minimum chemicals required There are three major factors affecting water balance, they are pH, total alkalinity and calcium hardness

Calcium hardness

Hardness depends on the levels of calcium salt in your water. This depends on where you live Low calcium hardness can cause damage to your pool materials. Hard water (water high in calcium) can lead to limescale foriming in your pipes and equipment
these are guideline levels
•    Calcium Hardness should be between 100 – 200 ppm (mg/l).
•    If the measurement drops below 75 ppm (mg/l), apply Hardness Plus
•    If the measurement exceeds 200 ppm (mg/l), apply Scale Inhibitor.

pH Measures

The pH scale has a range of 1 – 14 with 1 being very acidic, 7 being neutral and 14 being very alkaline. Make sure you keep your water within the 7.2-7.6 range which, because it is mildly alkaline, will protect equipment from corrosion and produce the ideal conditions for bather comfort
•    Ideal pH level for spas is between 7.2 – 7.6.
•    When the measurement is below apply pH Plus
•    When the level is above 7.6 use pH Minus
Note
pH can be hard to manage in spas as the system water turns over fast, is highly agitated and operates at higher temperature than swimming pool systems. [All these factors

This can lead to rises in pH which reduces the performance of chlorine sanitisers like chlorine granules. Significantly greater doses of chlorine sanitiser are then needed This can be avoided by using Bromine Tablets, Bromine (HOBr) is a highly effective sanitiser, and it is stable over a much wider pH range than chlorine treatments. Unlike chlorine, bromine keeps working in a spa for longer and so helps you minimise your spa chemicalsuse

Total Alkalinity

Total Alkalinity (TA) acts as a buffer to prevent pH change. The water pH varies drastically when Total Alkalinity levels are very low

•    Ideal Total Alkalinity is 100 ppm (mg/l) When it drops below 80mg/l use Alkalinity Plus
•    When Total Alkalinity is above 140mg/l use pH Minus to reduce it
You should definitely check your water balance on a regular basis as it is the basis for your other chemical treatments

Test Strips/kits are available for you to test the water regularly.