Pool Chemical Dosing Calculator

Each dose follows the operator mass-balance rule: to move a parameter by Δ ppm, the product amount scales with your pool volume and inversely with the product's strength. Published per-10,000-gallon factors drive the numbers; the product you select changes the factor.

amount = Δppm × (volume / 10,000) × (1 / factor_per_10k)

Add-order (load-bearing):
  1. Total Alkalinity  (baking soda 1.5 lb → +10 ppm / 10k)
  2. pH                (soda ash ~+0.2 pH/lb; muriatic acid ~−0.2 pH/qt — approximate)
  3. Calcium Hardness  (calcium chloride 77% ~1.25 lb → +10 ppm / 10k — approximate)
  4. Chlorine (FC)     (liquid 12.5% 1 gal → +12.5 ppm; cal-hypo 65% 1 lb → +6.5 ppm; …)
  5. Cyanuric Acid     (granular CYA 1 lb → ~+10 ppm / 10k)
  6. Salt (salt pools) (pool salt 40 lb → +500 ppm / 10k)

Why this order: total alkalinity buffers pH, so balancing it first stops pH drifting after later additions; chlorine and calcium go in once pH is set; cyanuric acid is last because it dissolves slowly.

Couplings are flagged, not auto-corrected: muriatic acid also lowers total alkalinity; trichlor and dichlor raise CYA by about +0.6 ppm CYA per +1 ppm FC; cal-hypo nudges calcium up. We surface these so you re-test between additions rather than silently recomputing other parameters off one dose.

pH, acid, and calcium doses are buffer-dependent — treat them as approximate starting doses and re-test before adding more. A reading already inside its ideal band is left alone, not chased toward the midpoint. No chemical lowers cyanuric acid or calcium — when either reads high we link you to the drain-and-dilute calculator.

Sources: TotalCalcHub — Pool Chemical Calculator (per-10k factors); CleanPoolMath; PoolDial (add-order). Calcium-chloride factor cross-checked against testyourownpool and pool-chemistry consensus (1.0–1.25 lb / 10k / 10 ppm).