The Trails: How to Keep Your Pool Crystal Clear Under the Oaks
The Trails is one of Ormond Beach's most beautiful neighborhoods, famous for its canopy of majestic oak trees. But for pool owners, those same trees bring a unique set of challenges: tannins, acidity, and a constant battle with leaves.
If you live in The Trails, you know the struggle. You skim the pool in the morning, and by the afternoon, it looks like you haven't touched it in weeks. But beyond the visible debris, the oak trees are chemically altering your water in ways you might not see until it's too late.
The "Tannin" Trouble
Oak leaves contain high levels of tannins—organic substances that can stain your pool surface a tea-like brown color. When these leaves sit on the bottom of your pool, even for a day, they begin to leach these tannins into the plaster or vinyl liner.
The Solution: Speed is key. We recommend (and provide) frequent skimming and vacuuming. But chemically, we also use specific sequestering agents that prevent these organic stains from setting into the finish of your pool.
Acidity and pH Swings
Oak leaves are acidic. As they decompose in your skimmer basket or on the pool floor, they lower the pH of your water. Low pH is dangerous—it becomes corrosive, eating away at your pool equipment, heater elements, and even the pool surface itself.
In The Trails, we often see pools with chronically low pH. This is why our LSI (Langelier Saturation Index) based approach is critical. We don't just dump chlorine in; we balance the total alkalinity to act as a buffer against these acidic swings, ensuring your water remains neutral and safe for your equipment.
The Skimmer Basket Battle
During the heavy leaf-fall seasons, a standard skimmer basket can fill up in hours. Once it's full, water flow to your pump is restricted. This can cause your pump to overheat, run dry, or lose its prime, leading to expensive repairs.
- Upgrade Your Basket: We often recommend high-capacity skimmer baskets for homes in The Trails.
- Variable Speed Pumps: Running your pump at a lower speed for longer hours helps keep water moving and skimming continuously without costing a fortune in electricity.
- Secondary Leaf Canisters: For pools with suction cleaners, an inline leaf canister is a non-negotiable necessity in this neighborhood.
Our "Trails-Specific" Protocol
Because we service so many homes in The Trails, we've developed a specific protocol for this neighborhood:
- Heavy Netting First: We remove the bulk of debris before vacuuming to prevent line clogs.
- Phosphate Management: Decaying organic matter raises phosphate levels, which is algae food. We test and treat phosphates aggressively here.
- Filter Vigilance: We clean filters more frequently for our Trails clients because they work twice as hard as filters in other neighborhoods.