Using phosphate removers can reduce your phosphate levels to almost nothing and it may reduce your chlorine demand. However, they are not very environmentally-friendly, and they do not eliminate algae. To prevent phosphate buildup, you should balance your pool water and clean your pool regularly.

Phosphate removers for pools are composed of natural, rare earth compounds (typically lanthanum chloride) that bind to the phosphates in your pool’s water. This then causes the phosphates to become insoluble particles that are capable of being removed by your pool’s filtration system.

Phosphate removers make a pool cloudy due to the chemical reaction that occurs when the remover comes in contact with phosphate molecules and other compounds in the water. In some cases, your pool may be cloudy after using phosphate remover due to unbalanced pH levels or due to not using enough phosphate remover.