Taking your pool water to the next level

When you want remarkably blue & clear water...

After swimming in a saltwater pool, so many people say they can never go back to a traditional chlorine pool. But did you know you that it can get even better? We’re going to show you how to take your water quality to the next level

Today we’re talking water quality – making your pool water so it is as clear and pure as possible. If you’re like many of us, you might be happy enough if the pool is just swimmable and not green or cloudy; if you’ve struggled with traditional chlorine maintenance over the years that’s understandable. But if you’re already using a salt pool system, you’ve got that taken care of. So you might not realize that you can take the next step and make the swimming experience even better. We’re going to go over how some specialty water additives, UV pool systems, and Ozone pool systems can give your water quality a major boost.

But first let’s get specific about a few different ways how you can improve your water quality.

1) Actually how clean is the water? The most important factor is the sanitation level of the water. Beyond keeping the water blue, this means being confident that your pool water is safe and free of micro-organisms like parasites, viruses, or bacteria – especially those that might be chlorine-resistant.

2) How does the pool water feels? You want to be able to enjoy the pool like it’s a pure natural body of water and make sure that the while you’re swimming the water is pleasant and not causing a harsh experience.

3) What does the pool water clarity look like? Making sure that it sparkles and you can see to the bottom, beyond what even a high-end pool filter is able to do for you.

It's not hard achieve this trifecta of pool perfection. In fact any one of the following additions to your pool can take it to the next level!

1) Pool Water Additives

As mentioned, a saltwater pool is a great start – it provides the foundation for your pool maintenance. A salt pool system is your main source of sanitation: eliminating chlorine hassle, and working automatically everyday with the pump to the water consistently blue & clean. A salt pool system also helps get rid of the red eyes, itchy skin, & chlorine smell during swimming, improving your swimming experience.

Since a salt pool system doesn’t necessarily improve your water clarity, the first way you can boost your water quality is with some specialty additives. Orenda Technologies makes a line of enzyme cleaners that breaks down waste in the water, like the CV-600 Water Cleaner. Even better, using Orenda’s CE Clarifier adds a flocculent to the mix, which helps your filter capture even the finest particles. These additives are so effective that Orenda outlines on their website how you can achieve world class water clarity (show link).

2) UV Sanitation System

The second way you can boost your water quality is with the addition of a UV system to your salt pool. A UV system is a supplementary way to sanitize your pool, using high powered germicidal UV light to essentially “inactivate” those micro-organisms so they can’t reproduce, including those resistant to chlorine like giardia & cryptosporidium. This process reduces the workload on your salt pool system (helping it last longer and boosting your overall sanitation capacity). A UV system also helps to make the water feel nicer by breaking down irritating chloramines (the byproducts that typically cause the harsh chemical feel in pools).

3) Ozone Generator System

The third way you can boost your water quality is with the addition of an Ozone generator system. An ozone generator is another supplementary way to sanitize the pool. It injects ozone into the circulation system, which is a highly effective oxidizer, even more so than chlorine – meaning it kills and destroys germs, not just deactivating them. This includes those chlorine-resistant germs as well. Since its so powerful, an ozone generator greatly reduces the workload on your salt pool system, and it also helps make the water nicer by breaking down irritating chloramines. As an added benefit, ozone generators give your water clarity a boost because they act as a clarifier, or micro-flocculent, in the water.

What is the best way to keep the pool perfectly blue?

So between additives, UV systems, and ozone generators, all are great ways to seriously boost your water quality. Almost anyone can benefit from additives – today – with virtually no effort, and the cost is minimal. If you’re choosing between the addition of a UV or ozone system, a lot of people like that a UV system isn’t adding anything at all to the water, except of course UV light!! A UV pool system is typically very easy to install and a relatively lower cost piece of technology when it comes to pool equipment. An ozone system, however, is arguably a more powerful sanitizer and also helps boost the water clarity; if you cover your pool or have an indoor pool, you would also want to look at the addition of something called a “de-gas” vessel so the ozone bubbles don’t come out of your pool jets. Or, you can always mix-and-match the benefits between all 3 options.

Ozone and UV are not Chlorine Alternatives - they are Supplements.

With all those benefits in mind, one more thing to remember about both UV and ozone is that they are supplements to your pool. Their technology is so cool that sometimes people ask, well why not just use it on its own? Well the basic answer is that neither of them provide any residual protection for your pool’s sanitation, and their benefits are dependent on the operation of your circulation system. That’s why they are a really great way to boost your pool’s water quality when used with a salt system, but they aren’t sufficient on their own to do the job.

So if you want sparkling blue water that is as pure as possible and stays crystal clear, we’ve put together this handy chart to help you compare all the benefits and weigh your option. Give us a call over here at Discount Salt Pool, we’ll be more than happy to help you find the best option to take your water quality to the next level.