As a pool owner, you have likely heard or read countless times that the ideal Alkalinity level is between 80-120 ppm to be considered ideal. While this is the industry recommendation, the true ideal Alkalinity level is based on three variables:
- the type of pool
- your chosen sanitizer
- your chosen type of shock
The Alkalinity level measures the overall amount of all alkaline material in the water. This primarily includes all the carbonates and bicarbonates that are in water. It is not important that you understand all the science and chemistry about what comprise carbonates and bicarbonates or how (or why) they are in water; just know that they are used to measure the overall balance of the water. Cyanurates are also an alkaline material, so if you use chlorine or salt (which is converted into chlorine) to sanitize your pool, then you will need to us Cyanuric Acid to stabilize your water and otherwise prevent the sun from dissipating and ultimately destroying your chlorine. Therefore, you will have cyanurates (a by-product of Cyanuric Acid) in your pool water. This presence of cyanurates from the Cyanuric Acid will somewhat inflate the true amount of alkaline material in the water when the Alkalinity is tested, which may elicit a false Alkalinity reading. To compensate for the amount of Cyanuric Acid – and therefore the amount of cyanurates – in the water, a formula has been created to deduct some of the cyanurates to calculate a more accurate Alkalinity level.
We do include a chart in our Pool Manual for the ideal Alkalinity level based on the three variables. And, you will have to do a little math if you have added Cyanuric Acid to your pool water, which is likely (unless you use bromine or biguanides to sanitize your pool water); we also included that formula in our Pool Manual.
You can read the Pool Manual for additional information about water chemistry, balancing the water, and Alkalinity levels.