How To Remove Phosphates In Your Pool

Phosphates are a challenge and can be a nightmare in your swimming pool especially if you don’t what they are, how they affect your swimming pool chemistry, and how to handle them. You can’t physically see them which is the first problem, but as their levels increase in the swimming pool the water could turn cloudy and green! This is where the problem is because even though you have adequate amounts of sanitizer in the swimming pool algae can and will grow. Phosphates, “(also denoted as PO4) are known nutrients to help increase plant growth rates such as in algae.” Simply put, phosphates are food for algae and when their levels increase maintaining a blue and clear pool is extremely challenging. In Las Vegas, we just got through another long summer with many storms and wind and chances are phosphate levels have increased in your swimming pool.

Do you have a lot of trees in your backyard or struggle with lots of debris/soils in your pool? If so, this is probably a good sign that phosphates might be an issue!

One of the biggest challenges with phosphates is in specific environments they are constantly being introduced into your swimming pool water. They can be found in vegetation, fill/tap water, lawn and garden fertilizers, soils and even in other pool chemicals that you use! With that said, phosphates can enter into your swimming pool in the following ways:

  • A constant wind that blows dirt and other vegetation into the pool, which does happen in the Las Vegas area a lot!
  • Sprinkler fun off from your lawn or landscaping/dirt gets into your pool.
  • Certain chemicals that contain phosphorous to help clean your pool

How Do You Remove Phosphates From The Pool?

First off, are your chlorine levels high? Is your pool turning green or are you developing algae blooms on the interior finish, steps, or benches? This is your number one sign that phosphates might be present. Next, have you tested your levels? You can either do this at home with a phosphate test kit or take a water sample into a pool store. Personally, we recommend testing them at home and if you have lots of vegetation in your backyard you should definitely have a phosphate test kit. If your levels are high, you will need to remove them and this can be done a couple of different ways. Please keep in mind, you can also be pro-active in removing dirt, debris, and vegetation from the pool as soon as possible instead of allowing it to sit on the surface or bottom of the pool. That will definitely help in the future but to remove them you can purchase a phosphate remover. This is a more expensive chemical but it is extremely effective if used following the directions based on the size of your pool. Many people think more is better but this is definitely not the case with phosphate removers. ONLY USE WHAT IS NECESSARY!

Please keep in mind phosphate removers will make your pool cloudy. It is best to run your filter continuously until the cloudiness is gone and your phosphate levels are lowered. This might take several treatments. If you should have any questions, please contact us today!


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