We all have basic knowledge to our chemistry subjects. One of the widely tackled subjects is getting to know what acid and base is. These solutions have wide contributions in making certain products in our world today. These products are things that we use in our daily lives: from maintaining hygiene even until the food that we serve on the table. Just a review on what it is all about; acids are solutions that are made of chemicals dissolved in water that can turn a litmus paper to red. Its ph level is below 7.0. On the other hand, base solutions turn litmus paper to blue and have a ph level above 7.0.



This concept is also important in the aspect of pool maintenance. Your swimming pool water is not only pure water but chemicals are added in it. It might be scary to realize that you are actually swimming in a bowl mixed with it. However, they are necessary to keep the water safe not only to the swimmers but also to the materials used in your swimming pools. You have to realize that maintenance of acid base balance in pools is important because you do not want an expensive pool pebble go to waste easily that can also result to costly repairs.

The concept of acid base balance for swimming pools is maintained through determination of total alkalinity. Water in your pools can change their ph easily especially when it used more than often. For you awareness, the normal ph for your waters falls in between 7.2-7.6 while for some upper limit may reach 7.8. On the other hand, total alkalinity should fall between 80-125 parts per million.

Now what is the effect of high alkalinity and too low ph? A very low ph means it is acidic; therefore, your water can become aggressive and can easily corrode metals components of your pool. It is not only limited to the bars used to make your pools but it can also affect the ladders that you have installed and other additional features for your pools involving metals. On the other hand, too much alkalinity is even more dangerous to manage because it is difficult to change. This is what they call the ph lock. No matter what you do, the current ph level will stay as is. Thus, problems like scaling can be inevitable.

You can use certain chemicals to correct the acid base balance in your pool pebble waters. Some of them are:

• Sodium bicarbonate- used to raise the alkalinity.

• Muriatic Acid- Used to lower the ph

• Sodium Bisulfate- This is an alternative to muriatic acid.

Note: The amount used for this chemicals are based per certain gallon of water.

You can always do something to your imbalanced pool waters before it can cause harmful effects to its structures and to the swimmer. Nevertheless, as pool owner you should do your best in religiously checking the ph. The simplest way to do it is to use litmus paper and have it dipped on the water.