Converting your Existing Pool to a Magnesium Mineral Pool

The big question on everyone’s mind when talking about magnesium mineral pools is “what does a magnesium mineral pool cost?” Well, there’s no straight answer to that because the final cost will depend on your starting point, but one thing we can say up front is that it’s nowhere near what many people expect when talking about magnesium mineral pools.

How can we say this with complete confidence? Well, branded and specialty “mineral” chlorinators as basically the same inside as any well-made salt water chlorinator, they only sport a shiny label or a fancy housing, so don’t fall for the marketing gimmicks.

If you already have a saltwater pool then you can skip this next part and jump forward to converting your saltwater pool into a magnesium mineral pool section down below.

For regular pools, you’ll need a number of components to convert your pool into a magnesium mineral pool. Stay with me, it's much simpler than you imagine.

As we mentioned earlier, you don’t need those fancy dedicated magnesium chlorinators. While we can’t speak for all of the different salt water chlorinators out there, we’re 100% confident that the standard Water TechniX Atomic Salt and Mineral Chlorinators are able to handle magnesium minerals and work as a chlorinator using magnesium minerals.

We've thoroughly tested the Water TechniX Chlorinator and we can say with confidence that it works just as well (or even better) than specialized magnesium chlorinators at twice or three times the price!

Well, it wouldn’t be much of a magnesium mineral pool without magnesium minerals, right? And for the best performance, don’t just buy anything labeled magnesium from a local hardware or DIY store because magnesium pools require a unique blend of magnesium and potassium, without any sodium. While it is rare, unscrupulous dealers will cut their magnesium minerals with regular pool salt (yes, it happens) to save on costs and offer their magnesium minerals at a lower price point. This will cost you more than just headaches in the long run, trust us on this!

On the flipside, magnesium minerals in snazzy packaging tend to be overpriced and will cost double of what they truly are. When it comes to magnesium minerals, get one from a supplier that has a proven track record of only supplying the best pool supplies!

Many pools nowadays already come with sand filters so you may or may not already have one of these installed. If you do, then great, tick it off the list! If you have a sand filter using regular sand media then all you need to do is to change out your media to glass. We have an in-depth guide on how to change your sand pool filter media here if you need help in changing your filter media from sand to glass.

That’s everything you’ll need to convert a traditional pool into a magnesium mineral pool!

• Installing all of the equipment - All of the equipment required for magnesium pools are DIY-friendly and you can install all of them in an afternoon. Our blog section contains many helpful guides on how to install your own pool equipment. If you have trouble finding the specific guide, you can always reach out to our pool pros through our contact page and they’ll help get you sorted out in no time!

• Preparing your pool - If you want a really clean start then you can enlist the help of a pool professional to drain your pool, clean out all of the walls and do any minor (or major) repairs. But if you have a fairly new pool or if repairs aren’t necessary then you can skip this step.

• Balancing your pool chemical levels - Before adding your magnesium minerals and firing up your salt and mineral chlorinator, make sure to check and balance all your chemicals levels to where they’re supposed to be. Here are the recommended chemical levels that you should take note of:
  • pH - 7.2 to 7.6
  • Total Alkalinity - 80 to 120
  • Calcium Hardness - 200 to 400
  • Cyanuric Acid - 30 to 50

• Once those levels are where they’re supposed to be, it’s time to add your magnesium minerals! As a rule of thumb, to start off your new magnesium mineral pool, you’ll need to add 6 bags for every 10,000 liters of pool water. Pretty simple, just dump all of the bags into your pool and use a brush to spread it around and dissolve the minerals. Think of it as giving your pool a nice exfoliating scrub to get it all shiny and ready.
• Fire up your salt and mineral chlorinator and you should be good to go!

Notes: You may notice some strange stuff happening, but don’t worry, the following are normal when it comes to newly installed magnesium mineral pools:

• Cloudy pool water - This is completely normal upon first startup and it should last only a few days and it should clear up. While it is completely safe to swim in, we don’t recommend swimming in first-start magnesium mineral pool while it’s still cloudy. Just wait a couple of days until it clears up, trust us, it’s worth the wait!
• Your pool cleaners may not “cling” to your pool surfaces - Your pool surfaces will become “smoother” for the first couple of weeks, but this should resolve itself after a while.
• Strange chlorine readings - Don’t worry, your chlorine readings for the first week or two won’t look normal, but if you have a functioning salt and mineral chlorinator and you’ve added the requisite minerals then this should normalize within a couple of weeks.

Tip: After two weeks, don’t forget to backwash your sand filter to flush out any debris or undissolved minerals that are caught in your filter.

Now if you have a saltwater pool using the Water TechniX Atomic Salt and Magnesium Chlorinator then converting it to a magnesium mineral pool is pretty straightforward. Simply lower your salt levels by partially draining your pool and refilling it with fresh water (or completely drain it out with the help of a pool professional) balance your pool water to the specifications above, add your minerals and that’s it!

As you can see, there really isn’t much to converting ANY pool into a magnesium mineral pool! In fact, you may already have everything you need to turn your pool into a magnesium mineral pool (well, maybe everything except for magnesium minerals). Once you get past all of the hype and marketing around getting specialized equipment and how it’s really complicated to set one up without all of the latest and the greatest hydroxinator, it’s pretty straightforward.

Unlike saltwater pools where you can get away with checking salt levels every quarter or only after heavy rains, you will need to check your magnesium minerals at least once a month. Not only that, but you should always keep your magnesium levels at around 4000-4500 ppm for the best mineral pool experience.  

Here's an easy-to-follow sheet of how much magnesium minerals you need to add to your pool depending on the levels.

Do you have any questions about this topic or the featured products? No worries, we're here to help! Drop us a question down below and we'll get back to you ASAP.

Happy swimming :)