Florida pools should hold free chlorine at 2 to 4 ppm, pH at 7.4 to 7.6, total alkalinity at 80 to 120 ppm, calcium hardness at 200 to 400 ppm and cyanuric acid at 30 to 50 ppm. Salt pools also need 2,700 to 3,400 ppm of salt. Test at least weekly.

Most pool advice online is written for the whole country, which makes it half wrong here. Florida has intense UV nine months a year, water temperatures in the high 80s all summer, afternoon storms that dilute everything, and fill water that varies a lot between city supply and a well. Those four things change what "balanced" means.

Water targets we hold on every Central Florida pool
Reading	Target range	Why it matters here
Free chlorine	2.0 to 4.0 ppm	Florida sun burns off unstabilized chlorine in hours. Below 1 ppm, algae starts the same day.
pH	7.4 to 7.6	High pH makes chlorine lazy and clouds the water. Low pH eats plaster, grout and equipment seals.
Total alkalinity	80 to 120 ppm	This is what keeps pH from swinging every time it rains.
Calcium hardness	200 to 400 ppm	Sanford and Chuluota well water runs high. Too much and you get scale on tile and the salt cell.
Cyanuric acid	30 to 50 ppm	Sunscreen for your chlorine. Too little and it evaporates. Too much and the chlorine stops working.
Salt (salt pools)	2,700 to 3,400 ppm	Low salt starves the cell and shortens its life. Cells run $500 and up to replace.
Filter pressure	Within 8 psi of clean	Once it climbs 8 to 10 psi over the clean reading, flow drops and the water goes dull.

Free chlorine: 2 to 4 ppm

This is your sanitizer. Below 1 ppm you are not protected, and in an 88 degree pool that is a same day problem. The mistake Florida owners make is testing chlorine and stopping there. Chlorine reading fine while the pool is still going green almost always means the cyanuric acid is wrong.

pH: 7.4 to 7.6

pH controls how effective your chlorine actually is. At 8.0, a large share of your chlorine is sitting there chemically useless. High pH also clouds the water and drives scale. Low pH, under about 7.2, eats plaster, grout, metal fittings and pump seals. Salt pools drift high on pH constantly, which is why acid is the chemical we carry the most of.

Total alkalinity: 80 to 120 ppm

Alkalinity is the shock absorber for pH. When it is low, pH swings wildly every time it rains or you add anything. When it is high, pH creeps up and refuses to come down. If you are constantly fighting pH, fix alkalinity first and the pH problem usually solves itself.

Calcium hardness: 200 to 400 ppm

Water is going to get its calcium from somewhere. If it is not in the water, it comes out of your plaster, and you end up with an etched, rough finish. Too high, which is common on well water around Sanford and Chuluota, and you get scale on tile, in the heater and on the salt cell.

Cyanuric acid: 30 to 50 ppm

This is the single most misunderstood number in Florida pool care. CYA is sunscreen for chlorine. Without it, direct summer sun can destroy a large fraction of your free chlorine in a few hours. With too much of it, usually from years of trichlor tabs which add CYA every time they dissolve, your chlorine is present on the test but chemically locked up.

Once CYA is above roughly 80 to 100 ppm, the only real fix is partial drain and refill. There is no chemical that reliably removes it. That is why we watch it all season instead of discovering it in July.

Salt: 2,700 to 3,400 ppm

Salt pools are everywhere in Central Florida. Below about 2,700 ppm most cells throttle down or stop producing, and running a cell in low salt shortens its life. Rain, splash out and backwashing all dilute salt through the summer, so it needs checking, not assuming.

How often should you test?

Weekly at minimum for chlorine and pH.
Monthly for alkalinity and calcium hardness.
Every few months for cyanuric acid, and any time chlorine seems ineffective.
After every heavy storm and after any pool party with a lot of swimmers.

Test strips are fine for a quick check. For anything you are going to make a decision on, use a drop based kit or have it tested properly. Strips that have been sitting in a hot garage since last summer are not telling you the truth.

The short version

Chlorine kills things. pH decides whether the chlorine works. Alkalinity keeps pH still. Calcium protects your finish. CYA protects your chlorine from the sun. Salt feeds the cell. Get those six right and Florida pool care stops being mysterious.

If you would rather not think about any of it, weekly service covers all six every week and sends you the readings.

Written by the Gil Pool Service crew in Oviedo, Florida. Published 2026-04-14.

Ideal pool chemical levels for Florida pools