While using a robot pool cleaner or pool vacuum is essential to keeping your swimming pool clean and healthy, water chemistry is another integral part of the equation. Adding pool chemicals in their proper order is critical to maintaining a proper balance, protecting your equipment (like your pool robotic pool cleaner) and swimming in safe conditions. If you’re working with a vacuum cleaner for pool, a skimmer, or a swimming pool robot cleaner, knowing chemical order is important.
In this guide, we’ll explain what chemicals to add first, how to maintain crystal-clear water, and how equipment such as your pool vacuum robot and robot pool work more efficiently when you balance your water.
Soak a Test Strip Before Adding Chemicals
The step one is always putting your foot in the water. Check for:
pH level
Total Alkalinity
Chlorine or sanitizer levels
Calcium Hardness
Cyanuric Acid (stabilizer)
Properly balanced water ensures your swimming pool cleaner navigates freely and filters work as they’re supposed to; hence, prolonging the life of the equipment such as Maytronics pool cleaner, which are priced on the premium side.
Instructions for Step 1: Balance Total Alkalinity
First, start off with a TA (total alkalinity). pH fluctuations are prevented by balanced alkalinity (80-120 ppm). If needed, add an alkalinity increaser, and keep your robot pool cleaner out of the water during this process.
Step 2: Balance pH
Next, check your pH level. The ideal range is 7.2-7.6. Add pH increaser if your pH level is too low. If it’s too high, add pH decreaser. Balanced pH helps us avoid damage to swimmers and equipment from corrosive or scale forming water (corrosive water can damage your pool robotic pool cleaner and wall climbing pool cleaner).After taking your water sample to a lab/service,
Step 3 is to add sanitizer (chlorine or alternatives)
After adjusting alkalinity and pH, it’s time to sanitize. Chlorine is the most widely used sanitizer, though salt systems, bromine or other alternatives will do. Pour chlorine through your skimmer or a chemical feeder, and let your filtration system distribute it evenly.
Step 4: Balance Calcium Hardness
The right calcium hardness (200-400 ppm) protects the surface of the pool and prevents scale buildup in the pool. It also protects elements of your pool like your pool vacuum robot, pumps and heaters. Low calcium creates surface pitting, while high calcium cuts your vacuum cleaner for the pool and other equipment.
Step 5: Add a Stabilizer (Cyanuric Acid)
For outdoor pools, the cyanuric acid helps shield chlorine from being destroyed by sunlight. Aim for a level of 30-50 ppm. Slowly pour the stabilizer into the skimmer, or pre-dissolve before adding directly to the pool.
Phase 5: Shock the Pool (Optional)
Shocking regularly will keep your pool water nice and clear while keeping bacteria, oils and algae at bay. In cases of visible algae, brushing manually and using an airless pool vacuum for algae may also be necessary to clear out dead algae following a shock.
Step 7: Use Your Robot Pool Cleaner for the Final Cleaning
After you add and balance chemicals, run your robot pool cleaner to circulate the water and pick up debris. Not only do the Beatbot AquaSense 2 Pro, the company’s Beatbot iSkim Ultra, and the Beatbot AquaSense 2 clean floors, walls, and waterlines — they also offer help with more even distribution of chemicals.
What About Algae or Tough Stains?
When It Comes to Stubborn Algae Stains, You Need to Know How to Acid Wash Pool This is a deep-cleaning method that can help lift set-in surface stains but should be a last resort because it can damage some materials.
In extreme circumstances, you will have to empty your pool altogether. If you’re wondering how to drain an inground pool without a pump, it technically can be done with hoses and gravity, but using a proper submersible pump is much faster and safer.
Will a Pool Robot Remove Algae?
Good swimming pool robots cleaners will handle small amounts of algae, but even the best brands such as Maytronics pool cleaner will struggle to keep a serious bloom under control. If you’re battling algae, the ideal way to deal with algae is brushing plus a pool vacuum.
What is a Pool Booster Pump?
A booster pump is a secondary pump that helps provide the power required to run certain kinds of pressure-side cleaners. Most modern-day pool robotic pool cleaners, like some robot pool cleaner models from Beatbot, are self-contained and require neither your pool’s pump or filtration system to work.
Conclusion
Even if you use a robot pool cleaner each week or some combination of a pool vacuum, skimmer, and a manual brushing, adding the chemicals in the correct order is key to clear, safe water. When your pool is properly balanced, devices like the Beatbot AquaSense 2, Beatbot AquaSense 2 Pro and Beatbot iSkim Ultra run more effectively, allowing you to save time while keeping your water crystal clear.
