Clarifier is a concentrated chemical substance that condenses the tiny particles and bacteria in your pool into larger clumps that can be easily picked up by your pool filter. We’re talking about minute particles that are too small for your filter to catch or to be picked up in your skimmer.
Pool clarifiers are products full of polymers that act as coagulants on foreign particles floating in the water. If you want to get scientific about it, when you pour clarifier into your pool, you’re adding positively charged ions to the water.
Almost like tiny magnets in your pool, these positive ions are attracted to the negative charge in suspended particles, thereby causing them to form clumps that can then be filtered out by the pool’s filtration system.
But wait! You’ve heard of clarifier before from some pool guy you talked to. He also mentioned some crazy “f” word (no, not that one) that was supposed to clear the water in your pool. So, which is it? Clarifier or flocculant?