How to Maintain a Lap Pool

Caring for a pool requires daily maintenance to ensure that the water in the pool does not become overrun with algae or bacteria, which can be harmful to swimmers. A lap pool is a style of pool which is often quite long; however, newer "never ending" lap pools use moving water to allow turn-free lap swimming. Proper maintenance for a lap pool is the same as for any other style of pool, requiring daily cleaning and checks of chemical levels.

Things You'll Need

  • Water testing supplies
  • Shock
  • Chlorine
  • Baking soda
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Instructions

    • 1

      Apply shock to the pool at the start of the season to kill the bacteria in the pool, if you live in an area where your pool will be out of operation due to cold for a period of months. Shock is a highly concentrated chlorine, available in powdered or liquid forms. The powdered form should always be mixed with water before being used in your pool.

    • 2

      Test the chemical levels of your pool every day to ensure that the water is at ideal levels. Testing can be done using paper kits, chemical strips from which are submerged under water then removed to examine the color change, or vials can be filled with pool water that is then mixed with chemical drops and the resulting color compared against a color chart.

    • 3

      Place chlorine tablets into the buckets in your pool's chlorinator, if the chlorine reading is too low. Two to three tablets will usually last about 1 week. Chlorine readings should be between 1.0 ppm and 3.0 ppm for a chlorine pool, or for a bromine pool, between 2.0 ppm and 4.0 ppm. Tablets will also raise the cyanuric acid level, which should be between 20 and 30 ppm.

    • 4

      Add baking soda to the pool if the pH or alkalinity levels are too low. pH readings should be between 7.4 and 7.6, and alkalinity should be between 100 and 120 ppm.

    • 5

      Clean the water in the pool using a manual skimmer, a pole with a mesh area on the end, to remove any debris from the pool, such as leaves or insects that have fallen into the pool.

    • 6

      Check the baskets in your pool's automatic skimmers and empty them as needed. The baskets sit inside the filters, so that the water being circulated must pass through them, and stop debris from entering into the filtration system.