How do I keep my wading pool clean with out emptying it every time?
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This guy has some great ideas on how to keep kiddie pools clean: http://www.poolsolutions.com/gd/kiddiepo... You probably have all of the stuff you need already at home.
I have seen this question discussed before and the consensus was: not much or at least not cheaply. Adding bleach to the pool will sorta work temporarily, but without the right pH, etc, it will not be 100% effective and will rapidly dissipate anyway. Best to change it daily especially if you have toddlers in there that could be leaking fecal bacteria into the water from their diapers.
I got a pool net from walmart to clean out the floating debris. As for the stuff on the bottom, with the end in the pool, run your hose till it is full of water, undo it from the faucet and put your thumb over the end so water does not start to seep out, pull it a ways away from the pool and let it start siphoning water from the pool. Then use the end in the pool as a vacuum to pull out the dirt on the bottom. It shouldn't go very fast, so you won't lose a lot of water, but it will help get the dirt out. It's the same principle as the vacuum for a bigger pool, just much less expensive! Good Luck!
It's really not a good or safe idea to leave water in a wading pool. Small children often urinate in the pool, which means it should be cleaned after each use. Water left in a wading pool is also a breeding place for mosquitoes. Then there is the safety issue. A small child could slip away and fall in the pool and drown before you noticed he/she was gone. It's not that much trouble to empty it after each use.
We leave the plug out of our grandson's pool and move it around the yard each time he swims. By the time it fills up, he's tired of playing, I don't have to pry the plug out to drain it, and the yard gets a little extra water.
Add a cup of household non-scented bleach in the evening after the sun is off the pool tonight. Let it sit through the day tomorrow as it will yellow the water while this initial dose of chlorine is working. When it's cleared it is safe to be in the pool (no chlorine will be present) and you can maintain chlorine sanitation by adding 1/8-1/4 cup of bleach each evening or every other evening depending on the use it gets.
Add a cup of baking soda and stir the pool. This will raise the alkalinity. Add a half cup of 20 Mule Team Borax (found in your local grocery store in the laundry detergent isle). This will soften the water a bunch, make it sparkle, act as an algaecide, buffer the pH, and change the electrolytic composition of it. You only need to add more of these two things when you need to add more than half the water back to the pool due to carry out loss.
Kiddie pools can be maintained inexpensively this way with an extreme minimum of fuss. You can use a large aquarium fish net to remove solid debris if needed, or make your own out of a wire coat hanger and some muslin or cheese cloth.
I maintained my children's pool like this until they were old enough to graduate to a larger one. From infant on up they never had a problem and the pool stayed beautifully clean. Now it belongs to the dogs and it still stays clean using the same process.
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