How To Maintain Your Salt Pool

Do you want to be a pro when it comes to maintaining your saltwater pool? Luckily, you’ve come to the experts. Saltwater pools are very popular across Australia and New Zealand because they provide continual automatic sanitation. They do, however, still require maintenance, so we’ve formulated a foolproof guide to keeping your saltwater pool healthy all year round.

Salt water systems break down the salt into chlorine through electrolysis, helping to clean and sanitise your water. So, yes, even though it’s a saltwater pool, chlorine will still be present in the water.

When a saltwater system is set up, it will include a base level of salt. It’s then your job to ensure that you maintain the right salt-to-water ratio. The salt will not evaporate from the water, so you will need to keep an eye on the ratio after rain, backwashing, draining and water loss through splashing.

To ensure the salt is working at its peak efficiency, we recommend following the BioGuard 3-Step Program for saltwater pools.

Step 1 – Healthy Water

A sanitised pool is the key to a healthy pool. The salt chlorinator (sanitiser) will clean your water by killing bacteria. Only treating your pool with a salt chlorinator, however, will prevent it from performing at its peak.

If you solely treat your pool with a salt chlorinator:

Only 20% kills bacteria
40% is used to clear cloudy water
40% is used to kill algae

Think of this in consideration to your power bill without the 3-Step Program, only 20% of the money you spend running the pool is actually doing something.

To enhance the operation of your saltwater pool, we recommend using BioGuard Salt Pool Sticks in conjunction with your salt chlorinator. The sticks help to maintain the stabiliser level and improve salt cell efficiency.

Step 2 – Sparkling Water

An oxidiser will remove the impurities from your water, leaving your pool water sparkling and enabling the salt chlorinator to focus on sanitising. It also helps to prevent skin and eye irritation for swimmers. When it comes to getting the peak performance from your salt chlorinator, however, we’re not done yet! Adhering to this Level of the 3-Step maintenance program will mean:

60% of salt chlorination will be killing bacteria
But 40% of salt chlorination will be working to remove algae

We recommend using an oxidiser weekly, such as BioGuard Salt Pool Sparkle. This oxidiser has a unique blend of oxidising and clarifying agents and destroys chloramines and musty odours.

Step 3 – Preventing a Green Pool

The last thing you want is a green pool, so we suggest you ALWAYS use an algaecide to kill and prevent algae. Regular algaecide treatments will free up the salt chlorinator to do its job – focusing 100% of its efforts on killing bacteria. This will mean you can run it less, saving big bucks on your power bill.

We recommend using BioGuard Salt Pool Protector. It’s effective against all common and many mutant strains of algae. Its pH adjuster also improves sanitiser efficiency.
Follow these three easy steps when maintaining your saltwater pool and it will keep your pool in perfect condition.

If you want to have a chat about this in person, you’re only one click away from locating your local BioGuard Approved Retailer.