Everyday Pool Maintenance Guide: Tips & Tricks to Keep Your Pool Clean & Safe

Having a pool in your backyard is one of the greatest luxuries that you could have. Coming home to a refreshing pool on those hot summer days makes all the hard work pay off, but that’s the key. There is a lot of hard work that goes into keeping and maintaining a pool. From regular cleaning, to testing, to maintenance, it’s a huge responsibility to keep up with all of these things in order to ensure that your pool remains clean, clear, and safe to swim in every day. In this guide, we’ll take a look at some of the basics to pool cleaning and maintenance.

Keep Up With Regular Skimming & Cleaning

One of the easiest and most common methods of pool care that you can handle every day is going to be skimming. With a net skimmer, you should be removing any leaves or debris that would be floating on the surface of your pool. If you’re able to do this daily, you’ll avoid any debris falling to the ground of the pool, which could cause your pool to become dirtier and allow algae to grow from this debris. It’s good to develop a rhythm to skimming, for example, handling this once per day when you get home from work.

You should also keep up with scrubbing and vacuuming your pool. Scrubbing the walls of your pool will prevent algae growth, which can help to prevent your pool’s water from turning green. You want everything to stay clean and well kept, so this piece is important. Vacuuming will clean up the floor of your pool to get any missed dirt and grime that may have fallen. Both of these should be done on a weekly basis. If you are able to invest in an automatic vacuum, the job becomes easier and saves you some time without having to do it manually.

Tennis Ball Hack

One neat trick that not everyone knows is that you can use tennis balls to help with cleaning your pool water! Since tennis balls are typically made of nylon or wool, they attract and absorb foreign substances when they are submerged in water. Simply drop a few tennis balls in your pool for a few hours and they’ll absorb oils from things like suntan lotion, hair products, and our bodies.

Maintain Proper Water Chemical Balance (pH Levels)

You should be testing your pool water at least twice a week using test strips or a liquid testing kit. The pH level in the water should sit between 7.4 - 7.6 every day. Anything outside of that range can lead to bacteria forming, causing murky water and making it potentially unsafe to swim in.

It’s best to test the water in an area away from your skimmer or filter to ensure that you’re getting a true read on the water quality. Testing water too closely to your filter could skew the results since that water will be the cleanest compared to the rest of the pool. Depending on how your water tests out, you may need to balance the chemicals of the pool. This can be done by using pool shock.

Adding Pool Shock

Pool shock will help raise chlorine levels, while preventing algae and bacteria from growing in your pool. Shocking should be done on a bi-weekly basis, however you may need to do it more often if your pool experiences heavy use or if there was a heavy storm recently. It’s best to add pool shock during the evening or overnight, as the sun’s UV rays will kill chlorine cells and make the shock less effective.

The most recommended usage amount is one pound of shock for every 10,000 gallons of water, but you should ultimately follow the instructions listed on your pool shock of choice.

Taking Care of Your Filter & Pump

Think of your pool’s pump and filter as the heart and cardiovascular system that keeps everything running as they should be. These two key pieces work together to keep the water filtered and flowing, keeping your pool water clean and enjoyable to swim in. Without these, your pool water would be still, leading to bacteria and algae growth. It’s highly important to keep these two things in order and clean if you want to maintain your backyard pool.

While the filter doesn’t need weekly cleanings, you should be keeping an eye on it regularly to ensure there aren’t any blockages or debris disrupting the filter. If your filter isn’t working, that means your pool water isn’t being cleaned, which won’t be fun for anyone. It’s recommended to thoroughly clean the filter once every three or four months. If frequent storms pass through and cause debris to get into the filter, you may need to clean it more often.

If you are able, it’s best to have your pool’s pump running 24/7. However, if that’s not realistic for you, then running it for 10-12 hours will be the next best thing. Much like the filter, you’ll also want to keep an eye on your pump skimmer and basket to ensure there aren’t any blockages or debris in them. It’s a good idea to check on both the pump and filter at the same time as when you’re skimming the pool, so you develop the habit of doing it all at the same time.

Always Monitor Your Pool’s Water Level

Another one of your priorities in everyday pool maintenance should be making sure your water level is where it should be for your pool’s size. Having a low water level can cause pump problems, potentially running it dry or burning it up without having water to pump through. At the same time, the water level being too high can cause chemical balance issues and disrupt the flow of the skimmer and filter, causing your pool to get dirtier faster. Water levels can fluctuate throughout the season based on rainfall and overall usage. The best practice is to make sure the water level is at least up to the halfway point of your pump skimmer.  

While there are a lot of steps to take while maintaining your pool during the summer, you reap all the rewards of the hard work whenever you get in and enjoy a relaxing swim. Take your everyday pool upkeep one step at a time, and soon enough you’ll have a rhythm together that will make everything a lot easier to manage.

You can shop our entire selection of pools, accessories, cleaning supplies and more online at FleetFarm.com, or in store at your local Fleet Farm.