There are many styles of chlorine used in swimming pools, although they all belong to the same class of product, they do their jobs differently.

1. Pool Liquid Chlorine and Laundry Bleach are different. Pool liquid chlorine (10-12.5%) is fresher and stronger than laundry bleach (3-4%). This difference may not seem like much, but pool liquid chlorine is approximately 4x stronger than laundry bleach, thus requiring much more laundry bleach to do the same thing.
2. Different chlorines have different strengths and a wide variance of pH levels. Liquid Chlorine has a pH close to 13 while chlorine tablets have a pH close to 3. Other “shocks” vary throughout that range. This means a lot due to pH levels having an affect on the effectiveness of the chlorine within your pool water.
3. Shock bags and chlorine tablets do different things. Chlorine tablets are used to create a low level of constant chlorine in the water (sanitization) while bags of shock or liquid chlorine are meant to create a temporary high level of chlorine in a pool (oxidization).
4. All chlorine can be ‘stabilized’. Stabilizer/Conditioner are nomenclature for cyanuric acid (abbreviated CYA). CYA can get too high (>80ppm) in pool water which decreases chlorine effectiveness, the higher the CYA level the less effective chlorine becomes. Chlorine tablets have CYA built into them which helps with low level chlorine sanitization. Sodium dichlor, sometimes used as a ‘shock’ product also has cyanuric acid built in. Too much use of either of these products may cause an increased CYA level. Calcium Hypochlorite, Lithium Hypochlorite, and Sodium Hypochlorite (liquid chlorine) have no CYA in them at all, thus allowing them to create a temporary high chlorine (>10ppm) for traditional oxidizing without leaving behind any cyanuric acid.
5.  Liquid Chlorine (sodium hypochlorite) is generated in a salt pool, this is part of the reason why pH levels in salt pools tend to fluctuate on the high side and why salt pool chlorine generator manufacturers tend to suggest having a cyanuric acid level of 70-80ppm.

Whitefly infestations have recently become a growing concern in South Florida and other markets. Along with attacking the landscape and damaging agriculture, whiteflies are causing quite a mess with their honeydew excrement. Plants, walkways, cars, outdoor furniture and

even swimming pools have become covered with this sticky substance and the sooty mold it promotes. But it’s not just the pool’s appearance that is affected. This residue drastically affects the chemical balance of the pool water by extremely decreasing sanitizer effectiveness. Almost overnight the water becomes cloudy and green and continues to deteriorate until treated while the sticky substance clogs up the filter.

Unfortunately these infestations are NOT seasonal, whiteflies breed year-round and their population is expected to increase and spread. While they should dissipate with time, these pests will likely never go away completely. With that being said, it is important to know how to control these Whiteflies and their effects.

While the plants are best treated by a licensed exterminator or by using approved products from your garden center, we have a simple solution for your swimming pool:

1. Thoroughly clean the pool filter.
2. Shock the pool with a granular or liquid chlorine.
3. Apply a full bottle of 32oz Revive!^® (pools up to 24K gallons) over the pool surface and set the pump/filter to run continuously.
4. After 48 hours thoroughly clean the filter and skimmer basket. You may also need to vacuum the pool bottom.
5. Maintain clear water by applying 8oz of Revive!^® weekly and cleaning the filter every 2 weeks.

For more information please visit University of Florida’s Whitefly website:www.flwhitefly.org/.

Gone are the days of all pools being maintained with chlorine. The pool market of the 21st century offers consumers numerous options on how they wish to maintain their pools.  Salt pools (or saltwater pools) are becoming increasingly popular in the pool community.  Here are a few misconceptions that many people have about salt pools:

1. Salt pools do not use chlorine. Salt Pools use a cell (Electrolytic Chlorine Generator or ECG) that generates chlorine from salt. A salt pool is a chlorine pool, you just don’t have to dose the pool with chlorine as you do with traditional chlorine usage.
2. Salt Pools do not need maintenance. When chlorine is generated in a salt pool so is scale and an increased pH. Scale causes the ECG cell to be less effective. Higher pH causes the chlorine to be less effective.
3. Salt pools do not need water balancing. ECG’s only make chlorine, they do nothing for the other balance requirements (calcium hardness, cyanuric acid/stabilizer level, total alkalinity). Nor do they provide an algaecide or scale inhibitor.
4. Salt Pools provide a ‘Set it and Forget it’ pool. Even though ECG’s create chlorine, they do it only at a steady pace, when there is rain or environmental issues (pollution, wind, pollen season, etc) or when there is a high bather load (more swimmers than normal), salt pools need to be boosted or shocked to maintain sanitized water, even needing the addition of store bought chlorine, depending on the need.
5. Salt Pools are foolproof. Salt can be disruptive to the pool area, think of how salt treats your car during the winter. Pools with natural stone accompaniments are not recommended to use salt because the salt remaining from evaporated water from splash out can damage the service of the stone and make it not look as nice as you’d like it.
6. All salt is not the same. Pools have their own needs and environment. Salt used for water softeners or ice melt is not conducive to balanced water and can actually cause chlorine demand within the pool which means that it can take more chlorine generation to achieve proper sanitization levels. Some salt styles also use iron based anti caking agents which, when put into a chlorine environment can cause staining of the pool surface and unnatural coloring of the water.