Water chemistry
8 tools · 7 guides · 3 comparisons
Dose calculators and balance guides for chlorine, pH, alkalinity, stabiliser and salt — the readings a stop lives or dies by.
Where to start
Start with the number every dose depends on: the pool volume. Then work in the order the readings lean on each other, which pool chemistry basics lays out: alkalinity first, then pH, then chlorine against the stabiliser it has to work through.
When the readings are each in band but the water still scales or etches, the saturation index calculator folds them into one balance number. For the acid itself, the muriatic vs dry acid comparison converts one dose into the other.
Tools
Pool volume calculator
Gallons from shape, depth and dimensions — the number every dose depends on.
Chlorine dose calculator
Ounces or pounds of liquid, cal-hypo, dichlor or trichlor to hit your target ppm.
Pool salt calculator
Bags of salt to reach the cell's target, and the drain-and-refill if you overshot.
Alkalinity calculator
Sodium bicarbonate up, acid plus aeration down, with the pH drift shown.
pH and acid demand calculator
Muriatic acid, dry acid or soda ash dose from your pH and total alkalinity.
Cyanuric acid calculator
Stabiliser to add, or the dilution needed to bring a high CYA back into band.
Shock dose calculator
Breakpoint chlorination from combined chlorine, product by product.
Saturation index calculator
One balance number from pH, temperature, hardness, alkalinity, CYA and TDS, plus the reading to move.
Guides
Pool chemistry basics
The seven readings, their safe bands, and the order to test and correct them in.
How to lower pool alkalinity
The acid-column and aeration method, step by step, without wrecking pH.
How to raise pool alkalinity
Bicarbonate dosing that lifts TA and leaves pH where you want it.
How to lower cyanuric acid
Dilution is the only way down — the volume, the staging, and how to stop it climbing back.
How to lower pool pH
Why pH keeps climbing, acid in steps, when to retest, and the alkalinity link.
How to raise pool pH
Aeration, soda ash or borax, why bicarb barely moves pH, and what low pH corrodes.
Phosphates in pool water
Where phosphate comes from, the two views on algae, testing in ppb, and when a remover is worth it.
Comparisons
Liquid chlorine vs tablets vs cal-hypo
Cost per ppm, stabiliser load and storage for each way of chlorinating.
Muriatic acid vs dry acid
Strength as sold, dose converted, what each leaves in the water, fumes and storage.
Best pool test kit and water tester compared
Drop kits, strips and photometers: what each reads, how it reads it and which suits a route.