There are many different pool salts readily available on the market, but how do you know you’re using the correct salt for your pool? Many people are converting to salt water pools as they are low maintenance and high-water quality.

All pool salts contain the same basic properties but the mineral, water, and metal content vary from brand to brand. The quality of the salt used in your pool will greatly affect the number of minerals and metals dissolved into your pool over time. Using poor quality salts over a long period of time or having incorrect salt levels (either too high or too low) can also damage your equipment, that is why it is important to know what you’re putting in your pool. Poor quality salt can also cause staining, scale or an increase in chlorine demand. All salt crystals used for pools contain sodium chloride, but it’s the levels of contaminants and minerals which determine the quality of the salt. These minerals do not evaporate with the water, which is why the staining will occur and having your pool water balanced can help this problem dramatically. Here is a list of things to look out for when you’re trying to determine the quality of your salt.

Good Quality Salt:

• Fine small crystals; The salt crystals should almost appear like salt. This means the salt has been refined to remove some impurities and the processing and cleaning of the salt before it’s packaged helps remove contaminants.
• Fast dissolving; The salt crystals should dissolve relatively quickly once in the water. You shouldn’t need to spend a lot of time brushing it in.
• Low moisture content within the salt.
• Vivid Colour; The salt crystals should be a bright vivid white colour.
• Not necessarily the cheapest salt.

Bad Quality Salt:

• Large Chunky crystals; The Salt crystals should not appear as big, heavy chunks.
• Salt colour; You will usually find with low-quality salt that it will be discoloured.
• Slow dissolving; The crystals should start to dissolve quite quickly once in the pool. If you salt does not start to dissolve, it probably isn’t the best quality.
• Murky water; You may notice when adding low-quality salt that it turns the pool water a gross murky colour.
• Staining; Low-quality salt can and will leave stains on your pool’s surroundings.

On top of choosing the correct salt for your pool, you will need to also keep your water balance, the pool baskets and floor of the pool nice and free of debris and keep your water level topped up in order to keep your pool at a good level all year long.