MIAMI LAKES POOL OWNER'S GUIDE

Learn how to use and care for your new pool so you and your family can enjoy a healthy, crystal-clear pool every day. Your pool is a major investment for you and your family, and it’s important that you take care of it to ensure it stays healthy year-round. Failure to properly maintain your new pool could mean extra costs

Swimming Pool Care and Servicing 101

No matter if you just moved into your Miami Lakes house with a pool or you had a new pool installed and you’re not sure how to care for it, Ace Pool & Spa has your back. With our pool handover and training service, rest assured that you’ll learn all the basics of pool ownership from our expert technicians.

Your Ace Pool and Spas technician will explain to you:

How the water moves through your pool’s system
The importance of filtration and chlorination
When and how to empty baskets
When and how to clean your filters
When and how to adjust your timers and settings
How to clean your pool correctly

We can even assist you in purchasing one of our many pool cleaning robots. Some of them come loaded with technology to help you with maintaining your pool clean while you relax.

Pools can feel overwhelming if you don’t know how to care for them. But with Ace Pool & Spas on your side, you’ll be the master of your very own pool in no time!

Our Robot Pool Cleaners

30 Things New Miami Lakes Pool Owners Must Know

If you drain your pool, it can “pop” out of the ground by floating on the groundwater. If it pops, it must be cut up and removed. Very expensive!
Pool water must be tested weekly in order to ensure the water is safe to swim in. Pool water can spread disease. Nobody can just look at the water and know what the situation is.
Adding chlorine tabs each week without testing the water will result in a pool that is too acidic and has too much stabilizer. If the Department of Health were testing this pool, they would close it.
There really is no alternative to using some kind of chlorine in pools. There are other systems such as ultraviolet, ozone and ionization which can assist in pool maintenance, but only chlorine creates the necessary sanitizer residual in the pool.
Heavy use of the pool will use up the chlorine, and the water will not have adequate sanitizer to be safe for swimmers.
Biguanides work pretty well up north as a sanitizer. Unfortunately, they don’t work well with our more extreme weather conditions. Adding chlorine to a pool with biguanides will turn it into jelly!
Sunlight destroys chlorine. The stabilizer is added to pools to help protect the chlorine from the sun.
Algae will form in a pool that has low chlorine, heavy use, or high levels of nitrates and phosphates. While algae is slippery, is not inherently dangerous. However, it does signify some kind of water problem.
Consistent problems with algae usually indicate high levels of nitrates and phosphates, which promotes algae growth. Fertilizer used near the pool, chemicals used to clean pool decks, reclaimed water used to fill the pool, bird droppings on the screen cage, urine, decaying plants, and dogs are common sources of nitrates.
You can test for nitrates and phosphates. There are commercial products that remove phosphates, but you have to drain and refill the pool if the level of nitrates is too high.
With a salt system, chlorine is made by electrolysis from the salt (sodium chloride) added to the water. You can maintain a nice low, consistent level of chlorine and your water will be silky smooth.
If you have a salt system, please remember, the pump must be running for the system to produce chlorine. Eight hours is usually a minimum.
In the dry season, water will need to be added to your pool each week. If you are adding more than 2″ of water/week, you probably have a leak. Pool leaks are pretty common; we detect and repair them every day.
Having a green pool is against local ordinances because it is a safety hazard for the neighborhood.
Don’t use reclaimed water to fill your pool. It’s against Florida law to add reclaimed water to a pool. More importantly, reclaimed water has high levels of nitrates and phosphates which are fertilizers and will encourage algae growth in your pool.
While we love dogs, dog pools end up with high levels of nitrates and phosphates, and will very often have problems with algae. Industry experts say, “One dog is equal to 50 swimmers!”
If you have your pool refinished with fiberglass, you won’t be happy, because in three years the finish will start to chalk and leave the water cloudy.
Painting your pool is common up north, but it won’t hold up in the Florida sun.
Too little calcium in your pool will cause the water to “pull” calcium out of the pool finish, prematurely damaging the pool finish. Calcium should be tested and adjusted monthly.
All pool finishes will ultimately end up stained. Proper pool care will make the finish last longer and look better.
A pool pump should generally run 8 hours/day in the summer and 6 hours/day in the winter. Salt pools may require an hour or two more.
You have a pool pump to run the water through the filter element to remove contaminants that promote the growth of bacteria and algae and make the water cloudy.
Filter elements need to be cleaned monthly. Manufacturers recommend they be replaced every year. You can generally get two or maybe three years out of them, but not longer.
An automatic pool cleaner will keep your pool looking good all the time.
If a hurricane approaches don’t drain your pool. Properly constructed pools are designed to drain away from your house. Turn off the power to the pool equipment and secure your pool deck, don’t worry about your pool.
With all the pools and canals here, infant drowning is a pretty common occurrence. Make sure you have a plan and a safety fence.
Broken or missing main drain grates in pools and spas are very dangerous because fatal entrapment events can occur.
Solar pool heating will extend your pool season but is not adequate to swim in the winter.
Propane pool heaters are very expensive to operate due to the high price of propane.
Heat pumps are a very economical way to enjoy your pool all year. Of course, they can only heat

Resources

MIAMI LAKES POOL OWNER'S GUIDE

Swimming Pool Care and Servicing 101

How the water moves through your pool’s system

The importance of filtration and chlorination

When and how to empty baskets

When and how to clean your filters

When and how to adjust your timers and settings

How to clean your pool correctly

Our Robot Pool Cleaners

30 Things New Miami Lakes Pool Owners Must Know

If you drain your pool, it can “pop” out of the ground by floating on the groundwater. If it pops, it must be cut up and removed. Very expensive!

Pool water must be tested weekly in order to ensure the water is safe to swim in. Pool water can spread disease. Nobody can just look at the water and know what the situation is.

Adding chlorine tabs each week without testing the water will result in a pool that is too acidic and has too much stabilizer. If the Department of Health were testing this pool, they would close it.

There really is no alternative to using some kind of chlorine in pools. There are other systems such as ultraviolet, ozone and ionization which can assist in pool maintenance, but only chlorine creates the necessary sanitizer residual in the pool.

Heavy use of the pool will use up the chlorine, and the water will not have adequate sanitizer to be safe for swimmers.

Biguanides work pretty well up north as a sanitizer. Unfortunately, they don’t work well with our more extreme weather conditions. Adding chlorine to a pool with biguanides will turn it into jelly!

Sunlight destroys chlorine. The stabilizer is added to pools to help protect the chlorine from the sun.

Algae will form in a pool that has low chlorine, heavy use, or high levels of nitrates and phosphates. While algae is slippery, is not inherently dangerous. However, it does signify some kind of water problem.

You can test for nitrates and phosphates. There are commercial products that remove phosphates, but you have to drain and refill the pool if the level of nitrates is too high.

With a salt system, chlorine is made by electrolysis from the salt (sodium chloride) added to the water. You can maintain a nice low, consistent level of chlorine and your water will be silky smooth.

If you have a salt system, please remember, the pump must be running for the system to produce chlorine. Eight hours is usually a minimum.

In the dry season, water will need to be added to your pool each week. If you are adding more than 2″ of water/week, you probably have a leak. Pool leaks are pretty common; we detect and repair them every day.

Having a green pool is against local ordinances because it is a safety hazard for the neighborhood.

Don’t use reclaimed water to fill your pool. It’s against Florida law to add reclaimed water to a pool. More importantly, reclaimed water has high levels of nitrates and phosphates which are fertilizers and will encourage algae growth in your pool.

While we love dogs, dog pools end up with high levels of nitrates and phosphates, and will very often have problems with algae. Industry experts say, “One dog is equal to 50 swimmers!”

If you have your pool refinished with fiberglass, you won’t be happy, because in three years the finish will start to chalk and leave the water cloudy.

Painting your pool is common up north, but it won’t hold up in the Florida sun.

Too little calcium in your pool will cause the water to “pull” calcium out of the pool finish, prematurely damaging the pool finish. Calcium should be tested and adjusted monthly.

All pool finishes will ultimately end up stained. Proper pool care will make the finish last longer and look better.

A pool pump should generally run 8 hours/day in the summer and 6 hours/day in the winter. Salt pools may require an hour or two more.

You have a pool pump to run the water through the filter element to remove contaminants that promote the growth of bacteria and algae and make the water cloudy.

Filter elements need to be cleaned monthly. Manufacturers recommend they be replaced every year. You can generally get two or maybe three years out of them, but not longer.

An automatic pool cleaner will keep your pool looking good all the time.

If a hurricane approaches don’t drain your pool. Properly constructed pools are designed to drain away from your house. Turn off the power to the pool equipment and secure your pool deck, don’t worry about your pool.

With all the pools and canals here, infant drowning is a pretty common occurrence. Make sure you have a plan and a safety fence.

Broken or missing main drain grates in pools and spas are very dangerous because fatal entrapment events can occur.

Solar pool heating will extend your pool season but is not adequate to swim in the winter.

Propane pool heaters are very expensive to operate due to the high price of propane.

Heat pumps are a very economical way to enjoy your pool all year. Of course, they can only heat