You own a pool for the simple pleasure it brings during the warmer months of the year, but in order to enjoy it your pool must be a clean and healthy place to be.
Keeping up with maintenance on your pool can almost seem never-ending, regardless of how automatic your pool pump or vacuum is.
You spend all of your spare time on the cleaning and upkeep of your pool to get it to a standard good enough to swim in, which leaves no time for actually swimming.
It's one of life's annoying catch-22s.
But enjoying your pool shouldn't take up days at a time of preparation.
The problem with managing a large quantity of water is that it absorbs everything that comes into contact with it.
Pollutants, dirt and sweat from swimmers, basically anything that falls into the pool.
Taking charge of the pool is key, working it into your routine just takes a few minutes a day.
Here's 4 tips to keep on top of pool maintenance:

1. Schedule.
   You may only have time to enjoy your pool on the weekends, hence you may only think about it at the time you're in it.
   Working out a schedule of quick, under ten-minute jobs throughout your week will save you having to test and adjust whilst your family are sitting there in their togs waiting for you.
   
2. Proper testing.
   The water in your pool contains a complex balance of chemicals, all of which need to be in certain quantities to compliment each other.
   The main three elements your pool water needs to have in balance are chlorine, pH and alkalinity.
   Chlorine acts as a cleanser of your pool, breaking down organic materials and keeping the water sanitary.
   pH is the measure of acidity or alkalinity in the water, meaning how acidic or 'heavy' the water is.
   Total alkalinity is almost like handcuffs for the pH level; having the correct total alkalinity will lock the pH level in place.
   These three important components are what you're testing for, and should be done 4-5 times a week at least.
   Testing kits usually contain a plastic strip with paper pads containing chemicals that react to the three important elements of your pool water.
   These pads change colour according to the the concentration of each element, allowing you to easily top up your pool.
   This should only take a few minutes at a time.
   
3. Pool covers.
   Leaving your pool open to the elements when you're not using it invites nature in.
   Leaves, insects, even the occasional small animal will find their way into your pool and sully the quality, leaving it dirty and perhaps even dangerous to swim in.
   Spending a few seconds before and after your swim removing and replacing a pool is nothing compared to the minutes it takes to scoop out every piece of flotsam and jetsam that's tumbled into the water.
   
4. Shocking.
   When your family spends a warm afternoon in your pool, you're tipping the pool's chemical balance enormously.
   Sweat and dirt, stray pieces of food and drink and anything else that might be introduced to the water all effect the mix that, when your back inside, leaves the pool in a state of serious disharmony.
   Basically, you're shocked the pool by introducing foreign elements to it.
   The only solution is to shock it back into balance.
   This means introducing a large dose of chlorine to your pool to quickly get to work breaking down the contaminants and restoring order so that your pool will be in balance for the next time you jump in and unbalance it again.
   

You shouldn't have to spend more time cleaning than enjoying your pool, but if you let it go to seed then you'll be spending a lot of time and money fixing the problem.
Pool water is a delicate micro-ecology and needs to be preserved and looked after just like you would a garden.