All About Pool and Spa Enzymes

What Are Enzymes? And how can they benefit your pool or spa care? I get asked all the time about the use of Enzymes and in the last couple of years Enzyme treatment has really taken off in the Industry. Using Enzymes can improve water quality and enhance the effectiveness of your pool’s chlorine.

“Enzymes are naturally occurring proteins that act as catalysts to speed up the chemical process of breaking down non-living organic materials like the grime and gunk that collects in a pool or spa from wind and rain, dirt, leaves, animal (and human) waste. Enzymes are not alive themselves, they do “eat “organic material by reacting with organic pollutants and turning them into natural byproducts like CO2 or water without changing their own molecular structure.” -InTheSwim.com

 One thing to note is the Enzymes do not eat living bacteria so they cannot take the place of your pool sanitizer. In other words, you still need to add chlorine to your pool each week and keep it at the ideal level of 1-3 ppm. A very good side benefit of using Enzymes is that it will enhance the chlorine in the pool and allow it to work more effectively. Since the chlorine won’t be “wasted” on all of the inorganic junk in the pool, it will be freed up to fight micro-algae as well as viruses, bacteria, and other pathogens in the water. This means that you will be adding less chlorine each week and the chlorine will be holding much better in your pool each week. Enzymes cannot kill algae either, but they help to break down the dead algae in your pool.

Common Non-Living Organic Pollutants

Bird droppings - Human hair

Sunscreen - Cosmetics

Body oils - Wind-blown dust

Dead leaves - Pets or wild animals

Dead Insects - Grass or mulch

Dead skin - Hair products

Pollen - Air pollution

One of the biggest benefits of adding a weekly maintenance dose of enzymes into your pool each week is that it will help prevent that black scum line on your pool tiles. For fiberglass hot tubs it will help with that black line at the waterline and keep your hot tub looking clean and new in between drains. That black line is formed with body oils and suntan lotion and if your pool or spa gets heavy use Enzymes will really help. If you have dogs swimming in your pool, their body oil can be especially bad so I suggest adding Enzymes to your pool if you have dogs swimming in it.

Your pool filter can also benefit from the use of Enzymes. If you have ever cleaned your D.E. or Cartridge filter and found the surface to be very slimy or oily the Enzymes will help prevent that. For a sand filter especially, you will notice must better filtration and a cleaner filter. For a spa cartridge filter, Enzymes can make a noticeable difference since that filter area is typically very small and clogs easily.

The two Enzymes I recommend is Natural Chemistry Pool Perfect or the Orenda CV-600. Both would be excellent choices, and both are well-reviewed online. I have used both of these Enzymes and find that they are highly effective.

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