Most pool owners won’t know what a sequestrant is and for good reason. Sequestrants can be added weekly or monthly in your pool cleaning formula to get rid of high concentrations of common metal and mineral particles such as copper, iron, and manganese.
Large concentrations of any one of these metal salts can lead to discoloration turning your sparkling blue pool water into a murky greenish, brown, or black color. It can also result in stains appearing on your pool walls and floor.
A high concentration of iron and copper can make your pool water so green that you would think it is the result of an algae bloom.
This is why it is important to do weekly testing for pH, chlorine, and calcium hardness to ensure that your pool water has a balanced chemical composition.
How Do Sequestrants Work?
Instead of a long and scientific explanation, quite simply put, a sequestrant is a chemical compound that binds metal salts that get mixed in with pool water.
These metal particles can come from your source water, corroded pipes, as well as, corroding pool equipment and fixtures found close to the pool area.
By adding sequestrants to your existing pool cleaning formula you allow them to
- Dissolve scale from pool surfaces
- Keep metal salts from precipitating
This, in turn, makes cleaning and removal of high concentrations of metal particles easier and a lot more effective.
Make sure to leave the pool pump and filtration system running for at least 24 hours. This allows enough time for the formula to spread out evenly in pool water and for the filter to capture all the stabilized hardness ions passing through.
Always remember to test your pool water and scrub pool surfaces before starting any type of pool treatment.
Also, never forget to add chlorine after the sequestrants have done their work and never before! High chlorine and pH levels can interfere with the stabilizing process of sequestrants resulting in undesirable results.
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