Ammonia testing is rarely talked about because it is one of the less common problems of swimming pool care.  It is so uncommon that your typical pool testing kits, do not include a test for it. However uncommon it is, doesn't mean it's impossible or something to be unaware of. Take it from me, a guy who had to close his pool for an entire week last year to know that ammonia in the pool is nothing to mess with! 

 

How Does Ammonia Get in a Swimming Pool

Ammonia can get in your pool from bacteria in soil. The wind could blow it into your pool, or it could be dragged in from a soiled cover or animal. It could even possibly be from lawn or plant fertilizer blowing in and off of trees. Who knows, really? It is probably most common to get ammonia in your swimming pool right after opening it after a long winter. In my case, it hit in the middle of summer and how it happened is still a mystery to me. The symptoms of ammonia is cloudy water with algae and no free chlorine measurements. In my case, I was continuously shocking my swimming pool with large amounts of granular chlorine and yet my free chlorine measured 0PPM for several days. A chemist at a pool and spa forum gave me the idea that it might be

 

Testing for Ammonia in your Pool

Ammonia test kits are inexpensive and can be found at your local pet store. Or more conveniently ... right here: Ammonia Test Kits.

Ammonia Test kits usually involve two using drops of two different agents and waiting for 5 minutes for them to turn a shade of green. You then, compare the green shade to levels of green from a color comparator. The darker green, the more ammonia. The ammonia is measured in PPM (Parts Per Million). It's a 5 minute test. You either have traces of ammonia in your pool or you don't. Chlorine is the answer.

 

Getting Rid of Ammonia

Lots of Chlorine or unscented liquid bleach. I mean tons of it. To be exact, for every 1PPM of ammonia in your pool, you will need 10PPM to kill it and keep it gone. . In my case, I had about 4PPM Ammonia and it required about 12 gallons of 5.5% liquid bleech to finally get rid of the problem. Ammonia is a seriously hungry enemy of pool water.

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