Pool opening season is almost here and it will be soon time to prepare your backyard pools for the upcoming pool season. The most technical part of the pool opening is the addition of chemicals into the swimming pools in the right quantity. Though knowledge of basic chemistry helps, the usage of pool chemicals at the end of the day is a simple following of basic rules governing pool opening.

So, there are 3 chemicals for pools that will definitely be needed for your pool opening and 3 chemicals that will be conditional given certain conditions for the water presently in your pools.

Here is the complete list and guide on how to use them.

• Algaecides: Removing any traces of algae is a must before anything. Just as you cannot cook a dish without cleaning the utensils first, you will not have a horrible algae outbreak if you do not use this chemical. The Terminator-Opening Chemical is a great choice for making sure you have absolutely no chance of any algae spores even thinking of growing in your pristine pools.

• Stain Protector/Remover: Natural elements, water hardness and wild weather patterns can create stains and rust even in a pool that was aptly covered in the closing season. You need to make sure these stains are minimized at any cost. Chemicals like Pool-Protect All Opening Chemical can be extremely essential for a solid, all-around pool cleanup.

• Pool Shocking Chemicals: The ideal chlorine level in your pool should be between 1 to 3 parts per million. The main job of pool shocking chemicals when compared to regular chlorine that is added to pools at regular intervals is the speed of chlorination. Any kind of pool shocking chemical will raise your chlorine levels very quickly, as during the opening this will help kill all traces of germs and bacteria, thus “shocking” the pool.

• pH raising chemicals: The ideal pH of the water in your pools should be between 7.2 and 7.6, and not higher. It is a pH level that is a bit higher than drinking water. The active ingredient in a chemical like pH Up is sodium carbonate that will not only help raise the pH of your pools, but is also critical after the initial chlorine pool shock by reducing the dissipation of chlorine. It also reduces corrosion of pool equipment. Use this only if you have a natural pH of less than 7.4 though, in order to prevent excess pH.

• pH reducing chemicals: Chemicals like pH Down can help to easily reduce the pH of the pool water. Excess alkalinity in pools can easily start being irritating to the skin and reduce the effectiveness of chlorine in your pool. Use this carefully as reducing the pH of the pool below a pH of 7.2 can have an adverse effect on pool equipment.

• Calcium Hardness Booster: An ideal Calcium Hardness of 200-400 parts per million is ideal for the water in your pools. A Calcium Hardness Booster is ideally needed to help get your pool water to the ideal levels. This chemical however needs to be used most carefully and only when needed. This is to avoid any excess calcium buildup in your pools that will deposit on different parts of the pool and cause corrosion.