The Swimming Pool Ionizer Store > The Swimming Pool Chemical Glossary

The Swimming Pool Chemical Glossary

This swimming pool glossary is a catalog of swimming pool terms commonly found on this website.

Algae

Algae are living aquatic creature that enter your pool.

Algaecide

An algaecide is a chemical or mineral treatment that either kills or hinders the growth of algae.

Available Chlorine

The amount of chlorine in water available to sanitize.

Backwash

A process where the circulation through a filter is reversed to flush away contaminants.

Bacteria

Single-celled microorganisms of various forms, some of which are undesirable or potentially disease-causing.

Bather load

The number of persons using a pool in 24 hours.

Bromine

(Br2)- A halogen element; alternative sanitizer for pools. Most effective in spas and indoor pools. It is very susceptible to direct sunlight, therefore is not efficient in outdoor pools.

Calcium Hypochlorite

This is a form of Chlorine sanitizer in powder or granular form.

Calcium Hardness

The amount of calcium and magnesium in pool and spa water. The ideal range is from 200 to 400 ppm in both pools and spas.

Chloramines

Substances formed when chlorine combines with swimmer wastes (nitrogen or ammonia), causing chlorine odor and irritation to skin and eyes. This compound has little sanitizing value compared to active chlorine.

Chlorides

Byproducts in the water resulting from the use of any chlorine product. Principal component of Total Dissolved Solids.

Chlorine

A harmful chenical used in water sanitation. Often used in swimming pools.

Chlorine Demand

The chlorine required to destroy the organic contaminants of the water.

Chlorine Lock

A situation in which the cyanuric acid stabilizer has built up through continuous use of stabilized sanitizers.

Chlorine Residual

Any excess chlorine after the chlorine demand has been met.

Combined Chlorine

A reaction product between hypochlorous acid and nitrogen compounds such as amines from swimmer pollution.

Clarifier

A substance used to promote water clarity by improving the filtration characteristics of the haze particles.

Comparator

A substance used to promote water clarity by improving the filtration characteristics of the haze particles.

Dechlorination

Removal of chlorine from a substance by chemically replacing it with hydrogen or hydroxide ions in order to detoxify a substances.

Dichlor

Sodium Dichlor is a fast dissolving chlorine chemical with cyanuric acid that is stabilized or balanced. Used as regular chlorination or for superchlorination.

Disinfection

A chemical or other treatment used to destroy pathogenic organisms.

DPD

Short for Diethyl-p-Phenylene Diamine. A chemical reagent which reacts with active bromine or chlorine and turns pink. The darker the pink colour the higher the chlorine content. Test kits using DPD are now spanferred over other methods. DPD No.1 measures free chlorine. DPD No3. measures total chlorine when used with DPD No.1

Grout

A material between tiles. This can be damaged by too soft water or high Sulphate content in the water.

Hard Water

Water containing dissolved calcium, magnesium, and/or iron salts.

Halogen

Any one of the following elements: astatine, bromine, chlorine, fluorine of iodine.

Hypobromous Acid

The most powerful form of disinfecting bromine in water.

Hypochlorous Acid

The most powerful form of disinfecting chlorine in water.

Ion

An atom or molecule which has gained or lost one or more electrons, thereby having a net negative or positive electrical charge.

Langelier Saturation Index

pH + CF + AF + TF - 12.1
CF is the Calcium Hardness factor.
AF is the Total Alkalinity factor.
TF is the Temperature in Degrees Centigrade.
pH. is the measure of how acidic a substance is

Muriatic Acid

The common name for hydrochloric acid. Used to lower pH, lower total alkalinity, acid washing and stain removal.

Non Chlorine Shock

Active oxygen addition in the form of Potassium Peroxydisulphate can be used as an alternative to chlorine shock treatment.

Ozone

A gas used as a bactericide.

p.p.m.

parts per million, equivalent to milligrams per liter (mg/L).

Pathogenic Organisms

Microscopic organisms such as bacteria, virus, protozoa and moulds. These enter the pool as contamination from bathers, birds, frogs or from the air or from dust or rain.

pH

A logarithmic scale indicating the degree of alkalinity or acidity of a solution. The scale is between 0 and 14. 7 is the neutral point (the measure of pure water). Less than 7 indicates acidity. More than 7 indicates alkalinity. Each unit of 1 indicates a change of ten times.

ph Decrease / pH minus

An acidic material added to water to lower the pH.

ph Increase / pH plus

An alkaline material added to water to raise the pH.

Sanitizer

A general term for a substance used as a disinfectant to kill bacteria and algae and oxidize organic contaminants.

Shock Chlorine

If pool water has problems of an algae build up or chlorine odour it may be necessary to increase the chlorine level from its normal 1 to 3 p.p.m to between 5 an 10 p.p.m. This treatment should be carried out without bathers in the pool and they should not be permitted to return until the chlorine level has dropped to its normal level.

Shock Treatment

The addition of a large dose of chlorine to establish a chlorine residual, bread down accumulated organic wastes and/or kill existing algae and bacteria. Non-chlorine shock reduces combined chlorine and eliminates chloramine odor.

Skimmer

A device installed through the wall of a pool or spa that is connected to the suction line of the pump that draws water and floating debris in the water flow from the surface without causing much flow restriction.

Soft Water

Distilled or demineralized water which has no dissolved metals or Carbon Dioxide is the ultimate in soft water. As far as mains water is concerned "Soft" could be considered as below 50 p.p.m as Calcium Carbonate. In pool water, anything below 250 p.p.m. will have a tendency to dissolve Calcium from other sources.

Stabilized Chlorine

Chlorine donors such as "Dichlor" and "Trichlor" which break down slowly and release hypochlorous acid and cyanuric acid. The cyanuric acid inhibits the loss of chlorine in strong sunlight.

Superchlorination

The practice of adding an extra large dose (5 to 10 ppm) of chlorine to the water to destroy ammonia, nitrogen and swimmer waste, which can build up in the water. This level of chlorine is required to destroy all of the combined chlorine in the water.

TDS

This is a measure of everything dissolved in the water, quite a lot of which is undesirable. In particular chlorides and sulphates can corrode pool equipment and surfaces. A total dissolved solids of over 1000mg/l is undesirable and may cause corrosion. The only way to reduce this is by replacement with fresh water.

Total Alkalinity

This is a measure of all the alkaline materials in the pool water. If the total alkalinity is below 80 p.p.m. then the water will be insufficiently buffered and if it is above 200 p.p.m it will be excessively buffered.

Total Chlorine

The total of the available chlorine and the combined chlorine.

Trichlor

a highly concentrated stabilized chlorine. Typically, it is approximately 90% Available Chlorine and is sold in a variety of tablet sizes and other shapes.

Virus

a pathogenic organism.

Water Balance

The overview of the condition of the water taking into account all the factors involved. The water will either be corrosive or scale forming. It is spanferable to have the water just on the scale forming side.

Water volume

The amount of water in your pool.

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