
Phosphates are quite simply an invisible enemy to a pool owner and a silent killer of pool chemistry. They are a byproduct that can wreak havoc on a pool. They are found in fertilizers, tap water, laundry detergent, and many airborne contaminants such as smoke from a bonfire, etc. These phosphates get in the water and tie up your chlorine, thereby allowing algae to set up. Then things get expensive...
Most test kits or strips do not check for phosphates, allowing them to go undetected. Professional pool stores have computers to check for phosphates, and carry phosphate removers to solve that problem. We carry these portable computer lab tests with us to check for phosphates when things seem off at a customers house.
One way to suspect that there's phosphates in the water is when your normal weekly chemical dosages do not produce a chlorine reading. You add more chlorine, and still no reading. This is a tell-tell sign that something else is going on and you need to bring a water sample to the pool store. Otherwise, you're about to have a green mess on your hands.
Tips to help keep phosphate problems to a minimum are to keep smoke from fires away from the pool, never use the same swimsuit at the lake that you do for the pool (cross contamination) and use laundry detergents with low or no phosphates when possible.
Phosphates are a nuisance, and can lead to costly cleanups if not managed. Don't let them be a problem for your pool time.
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