One of the most commonly occurring pool problems is cloudy water. A large number of pool owners battle this issue, which doesn’t necessarily pose a health risk to swimmers but can look unsightly.
Cloudy water can be caused by a chemical or mineral imbalance, or by a large amount of fine particles such as dirt suspended in the water.
Luckily, Swimart can offer you two solutions to your cloudy water problem; aluminum sulfate and specially designed polymers. These will help eliminate floating particles that are causing the issue.
This is how each solution works:
Aluminum sulfate
This solution works by trapping the floating particles. When administered to your pool water, the aluminum forms a gel-like precipitate that bridges or sticks together. The alum precipitate then forms small bundles (called flocs) that trap suspended particles. This is called flocculation, and it leads to a large amount of sediment forming on the bottom of the pool made up of both the dirt (suspended particles) and the gel-like alum precipitate. The sediment can then be easily vacuumed out.
Polymers
Similar to the aluminum sulfate, the polymers attach to the floating particles making the water cloudy; their long molecular structure attracts smaller particles due to a charged nature. They then clump together to form one particle, which drops to the bottom of the pool. These larger particles can therefore be removed from the water by filtration or by vacuuming.
If the purpose is to clarify slightly cloudy or hazy water, it is better to use a water clarifier than aluminum, as it is faster and less of a hassle to use. If the water is really dirty -- if you can only see down into the water an inch or two -- then a one-time dose of aluminum may be better than multiple doses of a water clarifier.
Head into your local Swimart to check out these two treatment options.
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