A well-maintained pool can be a valuable asset to you and your family in more ways than one. Pools are a great place to get gentle, full-body exercise, they’re a source of endless play and relaxation for the whole family, and they can add value to your home. But pools can also be a striking design feature that brings your back yard to life – and takes your at-home entertaining game to the next level. The best way to do that? Enhance it with pool lights.
Here‘s what you need to know about pool lighting in Australia to help you choose the best for your pool.
Benefits of pool lights
Installing pool lighting opens up a range of benefits to both the appearance and function of your pool.
Extend the use of the pool beyond daytime hours
Improve safety in and around pool at night, ideal for families with kids and/or pets
Create magical light effects with the beautiful patterns created by reflections on the pool water
Enhance mood with different colours and effects depending on the occasion
Define other striking features in the yard, e.g. trees, pergolas or sculptures
Types of pool lights
LED pool lights
Light-emitting diode (LED) light bulbs are long-lasting, cost-effective and highly energy efficient, making them one of the most popular options for swimming pool lights. They can be fitted with dimmers and sensors, so they work well in both indoor and outdoor pools.
LED pool lights can emit the same amount of light as a 100-watt halogen bulb while using just six watts, a mere fraction of the electricity, so they’re an ideal option for the environmentally-conscious pool owner. Better still, they last around 50,000 hours.
For outdoor pools, you can also opt for solar pool lights, which also use LED bulbs but require no additional energy input!
Halogen lighting
Halogen lights were the primary choice before LED pool lights became available, and at the time, they were the more energy-efficient, cost-effective choice. However, today they are twice the price of fluorescent bulbs and require regular replacement since they only last around 3,000 hours.
Want to ask us about pool lighting? Get in touch to speak with one of our friendly and experienced pool and spa technicians.
With the temperatures cooling down across Australia, it’s time to start preparing your pool for winter. Before you reach for the pool cover, make sure you know how to winterise a pool to ensure your pool – and equipment – stay healthy during hibernation. After all, you don’t want to take the pool cover off to a bright green mess when it warms up next summer, do you!?
Here is a step by step guide to maintaining a healthy pool in winter.
1. Balance the water
Balancing your pool water is always important, and that includes when you’re putting it to sleep for winter.
pH level
When the pool pH level is right, it wards off algae and allows the chlorine to do its job of keeping the water clean properly.
Take a test strip and gauge where the pH level is at. The pH level needs to be between 7.2 and 7.6, so if it’s too low, add the correct dosage of pool acid to bring it back up.
Alkalinity
Total Alkalinity is the measure of your pool’s ability to resist pH changes, so it helps your pool water stay at the right pH. When alkalinity is low, the pH can swing dramatically from high to low, increasing the risk of problems with algae and sanitation.
Use your test strip to gauge the alkalinity level, and add the correct dosage of Buffer.
Chemical phosphate remover
Phosphate is also known as ‘algae food’ in the pool world! Any debris, like leaves and dirt, that’s been left to break down at the bottom of your pool, will turn into phosphates. That’s why it’s important to use a chemical phosphate remover to make sure there aren’t tiny particles waiting to turn your pool green over winter.
2. Clean the pool and filter
Next, it’s time to get out your cleaning equipment and get rid of any leaves, debris or residue.
Pool
Brush the walls and floor of your pool before vacuuming the whole thing. Don’t forget to empty any debris from the skimmer and pump baskets!
Filter
Keeping the pool’s filter sparkling-clean is the best way to ensure it can do its job properly all year. It’ll need a good hose-down to remove any grease or oil deposits, too.
3. Put a pool cover on
Now, it’s time to put a pool cover on. A cover can save you thousands of litres of water that may otherwise get evaporated from your pool in winter, which is good for the planet and good for you. Pool covers can also extend your swim season, reduce pool heating costs and help the water stay better balanced for longer.
In most parts of Australia, we’re lucky to have about five months of summer weather to use our pool in every year. Which is great – with our extended, sweltering summer weather, it’s no wonder that pool ownership is on the rise here. But for the nearly three million Aussies who have them, getting five out of 12 months use per year can seem a disappointing return on one of their biggest investments. This is where a swimming pool heater comes in.
Pool heating can double the value you get out of your investment, keeping the water at the perfect temperature for swimming all year round. So what’s the best pool heating option for your pool?
To help you decide, here are the different pool heating options available in Australia, including electric, gas and solar pool heating.
Pool heating options Australia
Solar pool heating: cost effective and environmentally friendly
Australia’s sunny weather means we have unrivalled access to solar energy, so it’s no surprise that solar has become the most popular pool heating option. Using the natural energy from the sun rather than electricity off the grid, a solar pool heating system will save you thousands on electricity bills throughout the life of your pool.
Solar systems work through a solar pump, which uses a very small amount of electricity to push water through a network of tubes to heat it up. On a sunny day, a solar swimming pool heater will warm the water temperature by an entire two degrees.
Solar pool heating systems work best in places that get a lot of sun, so will be reliable for more months of the year in most parts of Queensland, New South Wales and the Northern Territory.
Electric pool heating: reliable heaters for cloudier climates
Electric swimming pool heaters, also called ‘heat pumps’, are relatively popular in Australia, particularly in places where winter is cloudy, such as Melbourne. This is because persistent cloudy weather will render a solar system useless.
Electric pool heating systems work by collecting heat from the air and transferring it back into the pool water via a heat exchanger. They’re relatively cheap and cost-effective, and usually work faster than solar systems when it comes to heating your pool up.
The key benefit of an electric swimming pool heater is that it can work anytime, in any weather, whereas a solar system needs sunshine. The downside is that these systems use a lot more electricity off the grid than solar ones, so they’ll cost you more in household bills down the track and are less environmentally friendly.
Gas swimming pool heater: more expensive, but best for spas
Gas pool heating systems are the most popular option for spas, with the capability to heat water to any temperature you choose, any time of the year – and fast. In fact, a gas heater can heat an average-sized spa in about an hour.
But this functionality comes at a cost.
Gas is a non-renewable resource that is harmful to the environment, making this pool heating option both the most expensive and least environmentally friendly. Some people who take using their pool all year seriously have a gas heater as a backup for when their solar system can’t get enough power to do the heating.
What’s the best swimming pool heater for you?
Which pool heating option is best for you depends on your circumstances. Make sure you consider:
The average temperature where you live
How much sunshine your region gets
How often you want to swim in your pool
Whether you want to swim throughout the whole year
Pool owners are constantly hearing that pool cleaning and maintenance is vitally important, but to many, it’s more a friendly suggestion rather than an essential instruction. What’s the worst that could happen, right? But keeping your pool clean and chemically balanced is completely crucial in order to keep you and your family safe – and to protect your investment and make it last. Here are the top 3 reasons why pool maintenance is so important.
Why is pool maintenance important?
Reason #1: To keep swimmers safe
Pools are only safe to swim in because of a delicate balance of chemicals. A chemically balanced pool wards off bacteria without irritating skin. If there is too much or too little chlorine, or if the pH, alkalinity or calcium hardness is too low or high, your pool’s water can cause itchy skin and eyes, degrade swimwear and allow bacteria that can make you sick to grow inside it.
This is why monitoring and maintaining the right chemical balance in your pool is crucial to keep you, your family, and anyone who swims in it safe and healthy.
Reason #2: To protect your pool and pool equipment
Like all mechanical devices, your pool equipment – especially the pump and ‘creepy crawly’ or robotic vacuum cleaner – are designed to tolerate specific conditions. While all pool equipment will eventually need to be repaired or replaced, this will happen much sooner if the conditions of your pool water aren’t what it’s used to.
Save yourself thousands and extend the life of your pool equipment by ensuring the chemical balance of your pool is in the right range for pH, chlorine and hardness.
Reason #3: To protect your investment
Getting a pool is a serious investment, and not looking after it regularly has a long-term effect on your pool as well as the value it adds to your home. Improper chemical balance and unchecked leaves and debris can damage your pool liner and hardware, which are expensive to repair. Make your investment worth it by looking after your pool throughout the year.
While many pool owners take pride in maintaining a clean, beautiful and balanced pool, the level of know-how required to do so effectively often leads people to let pool maintenance fall by the wayside. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Pool maintenance services are more affordable than ever, with a range of options for regular cleaning, water testing and equipment repair available no matter what your budget. You know why pool maintenance is important – now, see how Tuggerah Pools can help you protect your family and your investment!
With warm weather and lots of sunshine, you’ll probably be spending a lot of time in your pool during summer. You may also notice that your pool garden could use a makeover. Plants around pools need to be tough, and knowing which plants work best in your climate will allow you to create a lower-maintenance, more vibrant pool garden.
So which are the best plants for around pools in Australia? Here are our recommendations for pool-friendly plants to create your private slice of poolside paradise.
Before we begin, let’s talk about what NOT to plant around your pool.
Plants not to have near your pool
Pool maintenance is a lot of work, so we recommend avoiding trees and shrubs that shed leaves and twigs all year-round near your pool area where possible. Jacaranda, silky oak and poinciana trees are some of the worst offenders when it comes to dropping debris into pools.
Also avoid trees with spines or cones, and large trees that develop sprawling root systems. These include umbrella trees, ficus (fig) trees, rubber trees, willows and bamboo.
The best plants for around pools – Australia
Smart pool landscaping means planting tough, low-maintenance, low-mess plants that can tolerate full sun positions and the occasional salty, chlorinated splash.
If you’re stuck for pool garden ideas, start by considering what your goals are. Do you need plants to enhance privacy, provide shade, or add a vibrant decorative feature? Then, choose a mix of the following pool-friendly plants that fulfils those needs.
Succulents for around pools
Succulents are perfect plants for around the pool: they’re low maintenance, drought-tolerant, sun-loving and beautiful. Look for Crassula varieties, like Jade plants, for larger features, and Sedum and Aeonium varieties for intricate, colourful highlights.
Aloes are some of the toughest and low-maintenance landscape plants you could find for around the pool.
Aloes and agaves
Few plants are as tough as aloes. Aloes and agaves are low maintenance, can grow to up to 1.5m tall, heat and sun-tolerant, and – best of all – they don’t shed leaves.
Shrubs for pool gardens
Privacy is a huge perk for pool owners, so many use shrubbery to create functional and beautiful privacy screens. Look for hydrangeas or tropical hibiscus varieties – they love sunshine, offer luscious blooms and have large enough leaves to make cleaning up easy.
Trees for around the pool
Trees are essential for creating shade in super-sunny pool gardens, and can become standout features of any backyard garden. We love frangipanis as ideal poolside trees. They flower through summer and autumn, and a beautiful fragrance and work well in a pot or in the ground.
Palm trees also work well, with minimal leaf shedding and thin root systems. Create shade or privacy and boost growth by planting them in clusters around the pool. Just keep in mind that they’ll need a partially shaded position, as full sun can fry their leaves.
Is your pool full of leaves, sticks and sunscreen after the first half of summer? Let us get you swimming in a sparkling-clean pool again. Let us know what we can do for you – from monthly cleans to a full service – and we’ll handle the rest!
Summer is here, and many of us are taking the covers off our pools in the hopes of cooling down on these hot, sunny days. But with the long, warm days and wild, stormy weather that Australian summer brings, many pools will look far from swimmable, and their owners will be asking: “Why is my pool green?”
If you’re one of these pool owners, don’t worry – with our five-step guide to fixing a green pool, you’ll have it back to sparkling-clean and ready for swimming in no time.
So… what causes ‘green pool’?
‘Green pool’ is quite common in Australia, especially in warmer regions. Pools turn green and sometimes cloudy due to algae in the water, which is often caused by long periods of intense sun exposure, lots of rain and the spikes in temperature typical of hot Australian summers.
These factors cause bacteria to enter the pool, and combined with the changes in temperature, throw the water’s chemical balance off. In these changed conditions, algae can grow, creating the appearance of cloudy and/or green pool water.
Fixing a green pool
So, how to clean a green pool? Here are our five simple steps.
1. Test the pool water
The first step for fixing a green pool is to get a clear reading of the water’s chemical balance. Some experienced pool owners do their own testing with chemical test strips, which have a series of panels for each chemical being tested. The panels change colour when dipped into the water, and you can compare the colour of each panel to the colour it should be when the chemical is at the exact right level for swimming.
Otherwise, take a sample of your pool water from about arm-deep under the surface and give us a call. We’ll send a pool technician to your place with a mobile testing unit and get a chemical balance reading straight away, and fix things up onsite or give you a full run-down of what needs to be done to rebalance.
2. Check and clear your pool equipment
Before adding any chemicals to rebalance the water, you need to clear the pool of any leaves or debris and check that all your pool equipment is functioning properly. Test the pump and check the filter and skimmer box for blockages.
If you’re not sure if something is working properly, just give us a call and we’ll help you figure it out!
3. Correct the chemical balance
Once you know what needs correcting and have the chemicals to do it, add the recommended amounts and give the pool a couple of days to rebalance. It’s not recommended to swim in the pool while the chemicals are rebalancing – too much chlorine can cause eye irritation and itchy skin.
4. Clean the pool surfaces with a brush
To bring back that new pool sparkle, brush down the walls of your pool and vacuum it to remove any algae or other debris that has fallen to the floor.
5. Maintain a clean and healthy pool with regular cleaning
Keep your pool clear, clean and ready for swimming with regular maintenance and cleaning, and you won’t need to ask “Why is my pool green?” again!
Fixing a green pool isn’t rocket science – but we’re always here to help if you’d prefer to leave your pool in the hands of the experts at Ballina Pools!
If you don’t know exactly what your pool needs, just give us a call and one of our friendly and experienced pool technicians will help you figure it out! We reccommend weekly cleans for people who use their pools a lot, but we also offer a range of ad-hoc and regular cleaning and maintenance services.
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