A water sample being tested at the counter of the Caloundra pool shop

Swimming Pool Store for Currimundi

Sunshine Coast Region, QLD

Bring us a sample before you buy a thing

Free water testing and a printed dosing plan, from the Bulcock Street counter

Currimundi is the largest and youngest of the coastal suburbs this shop serves — 6,570 residents at the 2021 Census, a median age of 45, and 81.8% of occupied dwellings separate houses. Only 8.2% of its private dwellings were unoccupied on Census night, the lowest share of the six, so these are lived-in family homes rather than holiday stock. That matters for a pool shop: Currimundi is full of owner-occupiers who look after their own water, and the most useful ten minutes any of them can spend is at our testing bench.

It costs nothing. We run a full profile — pH, free and total chlorine, total alkalinity, stabiliser, calcium hardness and salt — and print a dosing plan that says what to add, how much, and in what order. Not a shopping list. A plan.

That order matters more than most people realise. Adding the right chemicals in the wrong sequence is one of the most common reasons a pool will not come good, and it is the sort of thing a bottle label cannot tell you. It is also the reason a test is worth more than a guess even when you already know which products you need.

Local knowledge

Why it matters here

With 38.8% of homes here owned outright and another 33.8% carrying a mortgage, Currimundi is overwhelmingly owner-occupied — 72.6% of occupied dwellings between them. Very few of these pools are somebody else's problem. The person standing at our counter is usually the person who will do the dosing that afternoon, which changes what useful advice looks like: not a recommendation, but a sequence they can follow at home.

Two things turn up repeatedly in Currimundi samples, and neither is visible in the pool. The first is stabiliser that has crept too high after years of stabilised chlorine. High stabiliser locks up the sanitiser you are already paying for, so the pool reads as having chlorine while behaving as though it has none — and owners reasonably conclude the chlorine has failed when the real problem is what is holding it. The second is calcium hardness drifting low, which sounds harmless and is not: water short of calcium will draw it out of a rendered or pebble interior over time.

Both are obvious in a test and invisible without one. That is the whole argument for the bench.

What owners come in for

Common local challenges

The challenge

A pool that reads as chlorinated but behaves as though it is not

Why it happens

Years of stabilised chlorine leave cyanuric acid behind. It does not evaporate and it is not consumed, so on a pool that is topped up rather than drained it only goes one way.

Why it matters

Locked-up sanitiser is money already spent doing nothing. Owners respond by adding more chlorine, which adds more stabiliser, which makes it worse.

How we help

Stabiliser is part of every profile we run, so we can name the problem instead of selling you another bottle of the thing that caused it. The fix is dilution and patience, and we will say so plainly.

The challenge

Dosing in the wrong order

Why it happens

Bottle labels describe their own product in isolation. Nothing on the shelf tells you what to add first when three things are out at once.

Why it matters

Chemicals added in the wrong sequence can cancel each other out, cloud the water, or precipitate — so the owner has spent the money and still has to start again.

How we help

The printed plan is sequenced, not itemised. What to add, how much, and in what order, with the waiting time between steps where it matters.

The challenge

A home test kit that disagrees with ours

Why it happens

Strips and drop kits drift as they age, and they do not measure stabiliser or calcium hardness accurately at all.

Why it matters

An owner acting on a partial or drifted reading is dosing blind for exactly the two things most likely to be wrong.

How we help

Our bench equipment is calibrated and reads the full profile. Home kits are still useful for a quick between-visits check, and we will tell you which readings yours can be trusted for.

The challenge

Bringing in a sample that cannot give an honest answer

Why it happens

Surface water, a container that has held chemicals, or a sample that has sat in a hot car all read differently to the body of the pool.

Why it matters

Bad sample, bad advice — and the owner leaves with a plan for a pool that does not exist.

How we help

We will show you how to take one properly: elbow depth, away from the skimmer and return jet, a clean lidded container, kept out of the sun, brought in the same day, taken before you dose rather than after. Tell us what you have already added this week, because it changes how we read the numbers.

The challenge

Why it happens
Why it matters
How we help
The challenge

Why it happens
Why it matters
How we help
In the shop

What is on the shelves

Free in-store water testing

A full profile — pH, free and total chlorine, total alkalinity, stabiliser, calcium hardness and salt — with a printed, sequenced dosing plan.

Free with no purchase condition. Plenty of Currimundi samples come back fine and we say so.

Bring a sample in

Pool chemicals and balancers

Chlorine and salt, pH and alkalinity balancers, clarifiers and flocculants, algaecides and stabiliser.

Bought against your actual readings rather than a guess, which usually means buying less than you expected.

See what we stock

Filter media, baskets and consumables

Filter sand and cartridges, skimmer and pump baskets, brushes, nets and hoses.

The parts that wear out quietly and never get replaced until they break. Worth checking while you are in.

Check parts

Robotic pool cleaners

Dolphin robotic cleaners, sold and serviced through the same shop.

If your testing keeps showing high chlorine demand, the answer is sometimes a cleaner rather than another drum of chlorine.

See the range

Repairs and equipment

Pumps, filters, chlorinators, heating and lighting, repaired and installed by the team working out of this building.

When the water will not hold no matter what you add, the fault is usually circulation, not chemistry.

Book a repair

Who is behind the counter

Credentials and cover

Billabong Pool Service & Supply publishes ABN 63 010 047 239 and QBCC Licence No. 69021 in its own site footer. The shop is at 134 Bulcock Street, Caloundra QLD 4551 on 07 5438 1588, trading Monday to Friday 8:00am–4:30pm and Saturday 8:00am–12:00pm. The service team works out of the same building, so if a repair or a piece of equipment turns out to be the real answer you are not sent somewhere else. Billabong does **not** issue pool safety certificates and does not perform pool safety inspections — that is a licensed pool safety inspector's work.

Pricing

What we list

Where to find us

Three shopfronts on the Sunshine Coast

Good to know

Frequently asked questions

How often should I bring water in?

Monthly through summer is plenty for most Currimundi pools, and at the start and end of the season at minimum. Bring it in sooner if the water changes appearance, after heavy rain, or after a weekend with a lot of swimmers.

Is testing really free, even if I do not buy anything?

Yes. Plenty of tests come back fine and we say so and send you home. We would rather you trusted the reading.

My home test kit says one thing and you say another. Who is right?

Strip and drop kits are useful for a quick check but drift as they age, and they do not measure stabiliser or calcium hardness accurately at all. Our bench equipment is calibrated and reads the full profile — which is usually where the disagreement is coming from.

Can you just tell me what to buy over the phone?

Not honestly, no — not without seeing the numbers. Bring the sample in and you will get a real answer rather than a guess.

How do I take a sample that gives an honest reading?

Collect from elbow depth, away from the skimmer and the return jet. Use a clean container with a lid — a rinsed soft-drink bottle is fine, a bucket that has held chemicals is not. Keep it out of the sun on the drive over and bring it in the same day. Take it before you dose, not after, and tell us what you have already added this week.

My chlorine reading looks fine but the pool is not behaving. What now?

That is the classic high-stabiliser picture, and it is one of the two things we see most often in Currimundi samples. A full profile will show it in a minute. More chlorine will not fix it.

Next step

Grab a sample on the way past. Free test, printed plan, no obligation — and if the water is fine we will say so and send you home. Call 07 5438 1588 if you would rather check we are open first.

References

Sources

ABS 2021 Census QuickStats — Currimundi (Qld) SAL307736,570 residents; median age 45; 2,841 private dwellings; 81.8% separate houses among occupied private dwellings; 38.8% owned outright and 33.8% owned with a mortgage; 8.2% of private dwellings unoccupied; average household 2.5 people
Billabong Pool Service & Supply — site footerABN 63 010 047 239; QBCC Licence No. 69021; 134 Bulcock St, Caloundra; 07 5438 1588; trading hours