Pool chemical dosing calculator

Dosing rules that keep you out of trouble

• Test first, always. Dosing without a fresh test is guessing with extra steps. Liquid test kits beat strips for accuracy, especially for pH and CYA.
• Correct in this order: alkalinity → pH → chlorine → stabilizer. Alkalinity is the foundation; fixing it first stops pH from fighting you.
• Half-dose the scary stuff. Muriatic acid especially: add half the calculated amount, circulate, re-test. You can always add more; removing it means adding something else.
• Pump on, evening preferred. Chemicals need circulation to distribute, and chlorine added at dusk survives the night instead of fighting the sun.
• Never mix chemicals— not in a bucket, not in the skimmer, not “just this once.” Add each product to the pool separately with time between.

If the numbers keep drifting anyway

A pool that eats chlorine or won't hold pH usually has an underlying cause: high stabilizer (see our CYA explainer), a filter overdue for a deep clean, or a phosphate load feeding algae. Chasing the symptoms with bigger doses gets expensive — finding the cause is the fix. That diagnostic is a standard part of our chemical balancing service.