Top 5 Rules to Maintain a Sparkling Swimming Pool

You come home from a long day's work, your only thought is stripping off your clothes and diving head first into that marvelous oasis sometimes referred to as the backyard swimming pool. Your second concern at this point is whether or not to invite the family for your cool refreshing swim.

You choose to go it alone. You rip back the protective cover only to reveal the thick green ooze that reminds you yesterday's lunch offering at the local greasy spoon. Yes, this is the first sign of a major epidemic scourging the ranks of middle class America: Green Algae.

You suddenly find yourself in a hypnotic trance as you envision your hard earned money taking wing and flying out of your wallet or pocketbook. You could hire the neighbor's pool guy to clean up both the pool and your spare cash, or you can do it yourself by attending the School of Do-It-Yourself's class entitled Easy Swimming Pool Maintenance 101.

It's easier than you might think, but the two biggest lies in the swimming pool industry are "carefree" and "effortless". It takes some attention to maintain a pool, but in the long run caring for your pool will be easier, less expensive, and less work if you follow these 5 rules.

The first course of action is to get rid of the green gook by superchlorinating the water. This process quickly raises the chlorine level (over 10 ppm) far beyond the normal range in an effort to kill the algae. You need a quick acting powder chlorine (usually hypochlorite based so it burns off quickly) added at the rate of one pound per 10,000 gallons of water. The calculations are as follows:

Length x Width x Depth x 7.5= total gallons for a rectangular pool.

Length x Width x Depth x 5.9=total gallons for an odd shaped pool.

Make sure the filter is cleaned according to the manufacturer's directions, add the chlorine, brush the walls and floor of the pool and allow the pump to run continuously for 24 hours.