Sunscreen in pools, & how to clean.
Sunscreen, Oils & Pool Maintenance in Western Australia
The complete guide to keeping your pool pristine in our sun-drenched swimming culture
Western Australia's intense UV radiation makes sunscreen non-negotiable — we have some of the highest skin cancer rates globally, and sun protection is simply part of life here. But what's essential for our health creates significant challenges for our pools. Every swimmer introduces sunscreen, body oils, cosmetics, and lotions into pool water, creating an oily film that clouds water, clogs filters, and deposits grimy rings at the waterline. For WA pool owners, managing this organic load isn't optional — it's critical maintenance that determines whether your pool sparkles or struggles.
The Sunscreen & Oil Problem
What Actually Enters Your Pool
A single swimmer wearing sunscreen, moisturiser, hair products, and natural body oils introduces 30-50ml of organic compounds into your pool during an hour of swimming. Multiply this by a family of four swimming regularly, add weekend guests, and you're introducing hundreds of millilitres of oils and lotions weekly. Here's the kicker: water-resistant sunscreens — the most effective for sun protection — are specifically designed not to wash off easily, making them particularly problematic for pool water.
How These Compounds Affect Your Pool
Oils and sunscreens don't dissolve in water — they float as a film on the surface or form suspended microscopic droplets that cloud water. This organic load creates a cascade of problems:
- Chlorine consumption: Your sanitiser oxidises these compounds instead of targeting bacteria and algae
- Filter clogging: Oils coat filter media, reducing filtration efficiency and increasing pressure
- Scum lines: That familiar greasy ring deposits on tiles at the waterline
- Cloudy water: Suspended droplets resist normal clarification treatments
🌞 Western Australia's Unique Challenge
WA's combination of factors makes this problem particularly acute: year-round or near-year-round swimming in Perth and northern regions, extremely high UV requiring heavy sunscreen application, outdoor lifestyle with pools as central gathering spaces, and bore water (common in WA) that's already chemically challenging. WA pool owners fight a constant battle against organic buildup that eastern states experience only during their shorter summer seasons.
The Tennis Ball Trick
Here's a brilliantly simple solution that costs virtually nothing: toss 2-3 clean tennis balls into your pool and leave them floating. The felt covering on tennis balls absorbs oils and sunscreen from the water surface where these compounds naturally accumulate. As the balls float and drift, they continuously collect surface oils like tiny cleaning sponges. This old pool maintenance trick is remarkably effective.
How to Implement
- Use new or gently used tennis balls — not ones that have been in your dog's mouth for months
- Drop them in your skimmer area or let them float freely
- Replace monthly during heavy use periods (summer, frequent swimming)
- Replace sooner when balls look darker and feel greasy
- For pools with water features where balls might get stuck, place them in a mesh bag anchored near the skimmer
Filter Cleaning After Heavy Use
Sand Filters
Standard Backwashing: After weekends with heavy swimming or pool parties, backwash your sand filter even if pressure hasn't increased significantly. Organic oils coat sand particles, reducing filtration efficiency before pressure gauges reflect the problem. Run the backwash cycle for 3-4 minutes or until water runs clear, then rinse for 30-60 seconds.
Deep Cleaning with Lo-Chlor Filter Perfect: Monthly during summer or after particularly heavy organic loading, use Lo-Chlor Filter Perfect for deep cleaning. This Australian-made product specifically targets oils, greases, and organic buildup in sand filters. Add the recommended dose (typically 500ml-1L depending on filter size) directly to your sand filter through the pump basket. Run your pump for several hours, then backwash thoroughly. Filter Perfect dissolves accumulated oils and biofilm that regular backwashing misses, restoring filtration efficiency.
Cartridge Filters
Regular Rinsing: After weekends with multiple swimmers or visible water cloudiness, remove the cartridge and hose it down thoroughly. Use a high-pressure nozzle to spray between pleats from top to bottom. This takes 5-10 minutes and should be done every 1-2 weeks during heavy use.
Deep Chemical Cleaning: Every 4-6 weeks during swimming season, cartridges need chemical cleaning. Remove the cartridge and place it in a large bucket or bin. Mix Lo-Chlor Filter Perfect according to label directions and soak overnight (8-12 hours), allowing the cleaner to dissolve oils, sunscreen residue, and organic compounds embedded in pleats. After soaking, rinse thoroughly with high-pressure water.
DE (Diatomaceous Earth) Filters
After heavy swimming periods, backwash DE filters and recharge with fresh DE powder according to your filter specifications (typically 1 cup per 10 square feet of filter area). Every 2-3 months, open your DE filter and remove the grids for thorough cleaning. Hose them down to remove DE coating and visible debris, then soak grids overnight in Lo-Chlor Filter Perfect solution. Rinse thoroughly before reassembling and recharging with fresh DE.
Pool Surface Cleaning
Waterline Tile Cleaning
The waterline is where oils and sunscreen concentrate most visibly, creating that grimy ring that makes your whole pool look neglected.
Weekly Maintenance: Use a tile brush and Lo-Chlor Tile & Vinyl Cleaner for weekly waterline cleaning. This Australian-formulated product cuts through oils, sunscreen residue, and light calcium deposits without harsh scrubbing. Spray directly onto tiles above the waterline, let sit for 1-2 minutes, then scrub with a firm tile brush and rinse. This prevents buildup from becoming stubborn and maintains that pristine appearance.
For Stubborn Buildup: When weekly cleaning has been neglected or after particularly heavy use periods, use undiluted Lo-Chlor Tile & Vinyl Cleaner with more aggressive scrubbing. For WA pools dealing with both oils AND calcium deposits from bore water, you may need to follow oil cleaning with a calcium remover for complete restoration.
Lo-Chlor Tile & Vinyl Cleaner 750ml
Lo-Chlor Tile & Vinyl Cleaner
This advanced formulation cleaner is your go-to for waterline maintenance. It works on all pool surfaces — tiles, vinyl, fibreglass, and aggregate — cutting through grime, oil, grit, and that stubborn sunscreen scum ring without affecting your water balance or clouding your pool.
- Removes organic deposits, oils, and waterline stains
- Won't affect water chemistry or cloud water
- Easy spray-pack application
- New formulation — more than twice as strong
- Also works on bathroom tiles around the house
Pool Walls and Floor
Regular Brushing: Brush pool walls and floor weekly during swimming season, even if they look clean. This prevents oils from depositing and bonding to surfaces. Use a wall brush appropriate for your surface type — nylon for vinyl or fibreglass, stainless steel wire for concrete.
Shock Treatment: After weekends with heavy swimming and significant sunscreen loading, shock your pool with chlorine to oxidise accumulated organic compounds. Use non-stabilised chlorine (liquid chlorine or cal-hypo) at 2-3 times your normal chlorine level (typically 10-15 ppm). Run your filter continuously for 24 hours after shocking to capture oxidised organics.
Bio-Klenz: Your Secret Weapon
Lo-Chlor Bio-Klenz 1L
Lo-Chlor Bio-Klenz
This is perhaps the most important product for managing sunscreen and oil problems. Lo-Chlor Bio-Klenz is an environmentally friendly liquid that you simply add to your pool once each month to combat bio-film and maintain perfect clarity — all while using less chlorine and other chemicals.
Unlike shock treatments that oxidise organics (consuming chlorine in the process), Bio-Klenz works with a concentrated formulation featuring di-methyl compounds that actually lift and complex organic buildup from your pool liner, aggregate, or tile surfaces, putting them into solution where your filter can easily remove them.
Key Benefits:
- Built-in clarifier helps filters grab all suspended particles
- Reduces chlorine consumption — sanitiser isn't wasted on organic buildup
- Keeps filter and plumbing lines "whistle clean"
- Salt chlorinator cells last longer (you can decrease production levels)
- Less red eye and green hair syndrome
- Liners remain supple longer; aggregate surfaces stay smoother
- Heaters, heat pumps, and solar systems last longer due to lower sanitiser levels
📏 Dosage: 1 litre per 60,000 litres monthly
For a typical 50,000L Perth pool, that's about 850ml per month — incredibly cost-effective for the results you'll see.
How Bio-Klenz Works
Bio-Klenz targets the molecular structure of oils, sunscreens, and body lotions, lifting them from surfaces and complexing them with the water itself. The built-in clarifier then helps your filter capture these particles at lower micron levels than usual. The result? Clearer, healthier, softer water — and you'll actually use less chlorine because your sanitiser isn't being consumed trying to "eat away" at built-up organic matter.
Monthly Dosing: Simply add Bio-Klenz once per month according to label directions. Pour around the pool perimeter with your pump running for distribution. For best results after pool parties or heavy swimming periods, you can add an extra dose to proactively prevent problems rather than correcting them after they develop.
Comprehensive Maintenance Schedule for WA Pools
🎉 After Every Heavy Use Period (Pool Parties, Busy Weekends)
- Backwash sand filter or rinse cartridge filter
- Add extra dose of Lo-Chlor Bio-Klenz
- Shock pool with non-stabilised chlorine (10-15 ppm)
- Run filter continuously for 24 hours
- Replace or rinse tennis balls if visibly saturated
📅 Weekly During Swimming Season
- Clean waterline tiles with Lo-Chlor Tile & Vinyl Cleaner
- Brush all pool surfaces thoroughly
- Test water chemistry and adjust as needed
- Backwash sand filter if pressure has risen
📆 Monthly During Swimming Season
- Add Lo-Chlor Bio-Klenz (1L per 60,000L)
- Deep clean sand filter with Lo-Chlor Filter Perfect
- Replace tennis balls with fresh ones
- Inspect and rinse skimmer and pump baskets thoroughly
- Check for biofilm in filter housing and treat if present
🔧 Every 4-6 Weeks (Cartridge Filters)
- Remove cartridge and soak overnight in Lo-Chlor Filter Perfect solution
- Rinse thoroughly with high-pressure water
- Inspect for damage or excessive wear
- Rotate spare cartridge if available (recommended)
☀️ Start of Swimming Season
- Comprehensive filter inspection and cleaning
- Replace filter media if sand is 7+ years old or glass is 10+ years old
- Deep clean all equipment with appropriate Lo-Chlor products
- Shock pool thoroughly
- Add fresh tennis balls
- Begin monthly Bio-Klenz routine
Additional Tips for WA Pool Owners
🚿 Pre-Swim Showers
Encourage family and guests to rinse off before swimming. A 30-second shower removes 70-80% of sunscreen, oils, and products that would otherwise enter your pool. Install a convenient outdoor shower near your pool area to make this habit easy and natural.
🧴 Mineral-Based Sunscreens
While all sunscreens create pool problems, mineral-based formulas (zinc oxide, titanium dioxide) typically cause less water cloudiness than chemical sunscreens. They're also reef-safe — important if you're near our WA coastline. Consider recommending these to regular pool users.
🛡️ Pool Covers
When pools aren't in use, covers prevent airborne oils, dust, and debris from accumulating on the surface. They also reduce evaporation (valuable in WA's dry climate) and help retain heat if you're running a heat pump. Even during swimming season, covering overnight reduces surface contamination.
🧦 Skimmer Sock Trick
Place a fine mesh skimmer sock (available at pool shops) inside your skimmer basket. These capture finer particles including oils before they reach your filter, extending filter life and improving water clarity. Replace or clean skimmer socks weekly during heavy use.
When to Call Professionals
If you're experiencing any of the following, you may need professional filter cleaning or media replacement:
- Persistent cloudiness despite regular cleaning
- Visible biofilm or algae in filter housing
- Dramatic pressure increases that don't respond to backwashing
- Foul odours from filter during backwashing
Sometimes accumulated oils and organics penetrate so deeply that home cleaning can't fully restore function — professional acid washing or media replacement becomes necessary.
🇦🇺 Fun Fact
Australians use approximately 50 million litres of sunscreen annually — more per capita than any other country! If just 1% of that sunscreen ends up in backyard pools (a conservative estimate given how much is applied before swimming), that's 500,000 litres entering Australian pools every year. For Western Australia alone with approximately 150,000 residential pools, that could mean over 3 litres of pure sunscreen product per pool annually on average. No wonder managing oils and organics is such a constant challenge for WA pool owners!
The Bottom Line
Sunscreen and body oils are unavoidable realities of pool ownership in Western Australia. Our extreme UV, year-round swimming, and sun protection awareness mean our pools receive constant organic loading that eastern states only experience during brief summer peaks. Managing this requires consistent, proactive maintenance rather than reactive problem-solving after water turns cloudy or filters clog.
The tennis ball trick provides simple, continuous surface oil removal at virtually no cost. Lo-Chlor's Australian-made products — Filter Perfect for deep filter cleaning, Tile & Vinyl Cleaner for waterline maintenance, and especially Bio-Klenz for ongoing organic breakdown — are specifically formulated for our conditions and prove invaluable for managing oils and sunscreens effectively.
Establish a regular maintenance rhythm: weekly tile cleaning, backwashing or cartridge rinsing after heavy use, monthly Bio-Klenz dosing and deep filter cleaning, and immediate attention after pool parties or periods of intense swimming. This proactive approach costs far less in time, money, and frustration than reactive treatments after problems develop.
Ready to Beat the Sunscreen Battle?
Your pool can remain sparkling clear despite heavy sunscreen use — it just requires understanding the challenge, using the right products, and maintaining consistent cleaning schedules.
Disclaimer: This guide is intended for general information purposes. Always read and follow product label directions carefully. Chemical dosages mentioned are approximations — calculate for your specific pool volume. If you're uncertain about any aspect of pool chemical treatment, consult a qualified pool professional. Poolwise Padbury accepts no liability for outcomes resulting from the application of information in this article.
