borates

Hi! After tons of money and different pool guys (turning my pool GREEN when paying $140 per month!), I’ve decided to manage my own pool and spa. We bought the home two years ago and I’ve been managing it for about a year. I’ve referenced this site many times, so I’m appreciative of you all. I...

Last summer I added boric acid to my pool. I added a little too much so the Borates were between 60-70 ppm. I tested with Borate test strips I ordered from tftestkits. Anyway now according to those test strips the Borates are 100 ppm. I haven’t added anymore borates and can’t figure out why the...

Hello, My fill water has 7.4 pH, 300 TA and 650 CH. It is an overflow pool with a lot of aeration and SWG. pH creeps higher quite fast. Everytime I open the pool I smack the TA down with Muriatic Acid to lower the acid demand and maintenance rest of the season. However going from 300 to 50 is...

Hi, A couple of years ago, TFP had articles promoting the use of borax to control algae. The content appears to be gone? What changed on this topic?

Hi all, I plan to add borates for the first time, and I have a couple questions before doing this: 1) Does adding borates affect CYA? I'm going to use boric acid granules (technical grade) from DudaDiesel. 2) Do I add boric acid at all once? My borate level is currently 17, and pool math says...

My spa is about 2 years old. I was recently having trouble maintaining a chlorine level so I purchased Ahh-some and used it twice. Lots of foam but just a little biofilm. I drained and refilled it. Added calcium chloride to get CH to 140. Added baking soda to get TA to 70 which increased Ph...

Where to buy 99.9% ortho boric acid powder/granules H3BO3 in ~50 pound bags or ~55 pound pails and what's a good price per pound? First, I searched, and found plenty of threads on the what, when, where and how, but, surprisingly - none on the who & at what price. Borates - Why and How So you...

This will be my first year winterizing a pool. I have kept my pool crystal clear all year using liquid chlorine and the occasional muratic acid. My pool also has about 30 ppm of borates in it. My question is when closing for cold Ohio winters should I add anything to keep the algae away or will...

I had great success using PoolProof Hexaborate Water Harmonizer. But when the pandemic hit, I can’t find it anywhere. I think the plant burned down. Does anyone have recommendations for an in-stock harmonizer?

So, I've followed the TFP directions for adding borates to U.S.S My Pool. I'm very pleased with the results so far. But, gosh, those Taylor test strips are hard to read. I consider myself pretty good at distinguishing hues, but the indicator does not color uniformly and the 50 and 75 are hard to...

I added borates to the pool last year and while the TA was a little low, when I opened it this year it was super low. I was pretty happy and everyhting was stable. When I opened this week, after 3 days of filtering with shock, the water is crystal clear. I just wanted to double check before...

Hi all, I promise I’ve searched the threads for this question before posting. I am trying to figure out where to start looking for boric acid that I can physically purchase rather than ordering online. Even if I have to pay a few extra bucks. I’ve tried the big box stores, Home Depot, Lowes...

Hello all, pebble pool completed in January 2022, is there any reason not to add Borates this soon? Is there an optimum timeframe or temperature threshold I should wait for? Additionally, can I store granular boric acid, CYA, calcium chloride and salt outside in the same deck box?

Hi All, Prior to adding 50ppm of borates to my pool (I used boric acid from Duda Diesel), I had very high pH. This was probably due to my SWG and spillover spa. However, the acid demand was always quite low. Sometimes a single drop would take that sample (K-2006) from a fairly dark red back...

TLDR: pH rises from 7.2 to 8.0 in 60 hours, but @JoyfulNoise said he is able to go 10-14 days without adding acid due to proper TA and Borates. I'm wondering if I should lower my TA a bit, increase my CYA a bit, and add borates? Hey all, so appreciate your help both directly and indirectly...

I had a few questions for you guys. I read that aeration will help bring up PH if Using MA to drop it in regards to controlling alkalinity. So... I used a fireplace brick, cleaned it heavily, and tied an air chuck to it and ran the compressor to try to aerate the water to bring PH up. I've tried...

Hi! I've decided I want borates and have some questions. In one thread it says balance first. (My levels are low except chlorine) In another thread it says lower pH and alkalinity because the boric acid will raise it. Which is correct? I'll order 30# of granules from Duda. 15k pool Ch 4 Ph...

Fire and foremost - the TFP forum has been so helpful to me since buying my home last year with my first pool that I am considering changing my username to something that more accurately reflects my transformation from "clueless" to "almost have a basic idea of what I am doing". With that said...

Marty Question for you sir if you wouldn't mind. So CH is gradually decreasing ever since I converted to soft water (nearly a year ago). So far, so good. Just what I wanted to happen. However, my CH is now at 400ppm and there is no doubt that it will continue it's downward trend over time. With...

Hi there First post for me, all the way from little 'ol New Zealand. First thanks for the great site - it has been really helpful while I get to grips with my new hot tub over the last month or so. The dealership I bought the tub from here promote an incredibly blunt approach to managing your...

Hello, new to the forum and I don’t know if this is the correct place to ask this question. I understand aeration increases PH but I recently added Borates to 50ppm. Will my spill over and waterfalls still continue to raise PH? Thank you! Tested today: FC 3 CC 0 PH 7.4 ALK 90 CH 400 CYA 35...

I am about to refill my pool, so I picked up a 50 lb bag of boric acid at a local industrial chemical supply company (for $50) and a very friendly manager there was curious what I was using it for. When I explained it was to add borates to my pool, he was really interested and mentioned a...