Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/219801
Step 2 Water Balance: You will probably not change the water in your pool for many years. Continuous filtration and disinfection/ sanitation remove contaminants which keep the water enjoyable but this is does not balance your water. A pool that is "balanced" has proper levels of pH, Total Alkalinity and Calcium Hardness Water Balance just means keeping the pH and Total Alkalinity and Water Hardness (Calcium Hardness) at a level that will stop the water from being either too acidic or too alkaline. In other words, it's either corrosive or causing scaling. Corrosive (Acidic) means it can eat metal fixtures, and rust them out. Scaling (Alkaline) means it can build up scale on surfaces which are extremely difficult to eradicate. Water balance comes from the fact that water will dissolve and hold minerals until it becomes saturated and cannot hold any more in solution. As an example if you take a cup of water and attempt to dissolve spoonful after spoonful of sugar, eventually - the water becomes unable to dissolve any more sugar. The sugar just drops to the bottom of the cup. The water is saturated! When water is considerably less than saturated it is said to be in a corrosive or aggressive condition. When water is over saturated and can no longer hold the minerals in solution it is in a scaling condition. So then, balanced water is that which is neither over nor under-saturated. BINGO – THAT'S WATER BALANCE! Now let's take pH Total Alkalinity and Calcium Hardness requirements one at a time. 18