When you are getting a pool, whether for commercial use or a residential use, you need to be very careful about the filtration system. Not many people can spend a lot of money on the filtration process and we know that these technologies tend to be very costly. Depending on your location and technology you are using, the pool technologies can cost you a lot of money.
You may not have enough money to get the best pool technology and maintain an automated filtration and chemical circulation system and it is fair enough. There are some alternatives in the market available to address your needs. While it may require some manual work, you can easily take care of the health of water by testing it with the help of swimming pool & spa test strips or even by the traditional liquid drop test.
How to measure chemicals in water?
There are two primary tests people use in order to consider the chemical levels of the water. The first is swimming pool & spa test strips and the second is liquid drop. Both vary a good deal when it comes to conducting the test but they tend to measure the chemical levels of the water and provide results.
The strip test starts with the use of a specially made test strip. You have to immerse it in the water, take it out, hold for a few seconds and then consider the color. Match the color to the corresponding numbers on the legend and it will give you an idea of chemical levels.
On the other hand, the water drop test requires you to take sample water from pool in a transparent glass and then add the liquid drops to it. It will change the color which, then, you can match with the colors on the chart and get the estimate of chemicals in the water.
The right balance
Maintaining the right balance is very important for anyone using spa or pool. While it is easy to check the chemical levels, getting the balance right is tough. Generally, the total dissolved salts should have the rating below 5000 ppm, with the calcium hardness and total alkalinity both between 180 and 220 ppm. A good pH value stands between 7.2 and 7.8 whereas the bromine and chlorine should be between 3 and 6 ppm and 1 and 2 ppm respectively. There are some strips that can measure cyanuric acid for you and it must be between 40 and 80 ppm.
Final words
In order to stay away from the costly technologies, you must be able to measure the chemical levels appropriately and bring them to the balance as listed above.
While the swimming pool & spa test strips and other methods allow you to test the chemical levels in water and bring them to a balance, still it may not be a good substitute as the technologies allow you to automate the process. So, you may consider using the manual methods for personal use, technologies tend to be preferred choice for commercial pools and spas.
