Keeping your pool water clean is a delicate — and often frustrating — balancing act.
Too little chlorine, and you could end up with a polluted pool full of bacteria. Too much, and you upset the alkalinity, leading to stinging eyes (or worse).
Maintaining your pool water's pH is key — and interior design influencer Gilla Leigh (@gillaleighhome.designs) has just the hack.
The scoop
In a TikTok video, Leigh explains how she keeps her pool clean using a basic natural cleaning product — baking soda.
@gillaleighhome.designs Replying to @user9410247040220 #poolhack #bakingsodahack #phblancer #swimmingpool #naturalcleaningproducts #poolcleaningtips #cleaninghacks #fypシ ♬ Livin' My Best Life - Dylan Scott
The video shows her pouring one cup of baking soda into the outdoor pool's water or, alternatively, scooping it into her pool's filtration system.
She repeats this every other day to keep her pool in tip-top condition. The baking soda helps to naturally balance the water's pH.
In a previous video, Leigh shows how to use baking soda together with a copper pipe and chlorine to keep the pool clean from algae. Copper ionization has been known to be a replacement for chlorine as a chemical-free way to clean your pool.
She places a piece of copper pipe into a plastic jar, which has several holes cut out of the bottom, and then places this into the pool's filtration system.
"Works amazing," she says in a clip.
How it's helping
Baking soda is not a replacement for chlorine, but it is a great member of your pool cleaning team. Using baking soda is a quick and cheap way to raise your pool's alkalinity without having to shell out for a store-bought "alkalinity increaser."
In fact, many alkaline increasers include sodium bicarbonate as an ingredient, which is (you guessed it) just plain old baking soda.
Baking soda helps to counteract the effects of chlorine, which can lower the alkalinity of your water.
Environmental factors might also affect your pool water. Rain (especially if it is acidic) and some sanitizers can lower the water's pH.
The optimum pH for pool water is 7.4 and 7.6, with an alkalinity of between 80 and 120 parts per million (ppm).
If water loses its alkalinity, it becomes acidic, which can irritate swimmers' eyes and skin. If the pH level approaches six, it will be too acidic to swim in at all.
Low alkalinity can also cause corrosion on stainless steel pool equipment, like ladders.
What everyone's saying
TikTokers commented to share their own experiences of using baking soda in their pools.
"Not a lot of people know this. It keeps your water crisp and clean!" wrote one TikToker.
"We do the same thing and it keeps ours blue as well," another added.
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