Another BioActive miss

[Seadog]

My CYA level has been at about 140 since this spring. So I started to let the chlorine drop from about 8 to 3. At the same time I was adding about 8 oz. of polyquat every other day to fend off algae. When chlorine got to 3, I put in the BioActive. I've kept the chlorine between 2.8 and 4, alkalinity at about 120. Ph at 7.4. It's been 4 days since adding the BioActive and am still at 140. I've been using liquid chlorine to maintain the chlorine levels so I am not adding any CYA. I believe I heard that the first 72 hours was when I'd see the most noticeable drop. This did not happen. Being able to use pucks when on vacation is a big deal for us, but we'll just need to drain.

So so ill be bringing chlorine back up and do some partial drains. I'm on a well with iron, so was hoping this would work, and trucking in water is more than I care to spend (it would be close to $750 for replacing half the water). Using sequester and Culator now as metal maintenance and will continue to do so. No algae bloom so at least that part is good.

I hope others have better luck.

 

[Divin Dave]

Thanks for the update. As you have probably read, several folks have tried this with less than stellar results.

Curious though, how did you measure the CYA?

 

[Seadog]

Half and half pool water and tap water. Came out at 70 (x2=140). Using a Taylor test kit. I hope it is a simple multiplication. Did it the same way for a couple months.

 

[BuckeyeChris]

What's your water temp?

 

[pabeader]

chlorine is too high from what I have read. It seems to work best, closer to 0 FC.

 

[Swampwoman]

Seadog, this will only get you 8,000 gallons per filter, but this pre filter seems to do a decent job reducing iron on the way in:
Amazon.com : Pre Fresh Garden Hose End Water Filter all purpose, pool, spa, hot tub, pets, car wash : Garden Hose Parts : Patio, Lawn Garden

I'm on well too so know your pain Just so you know, plumbing an outdoor spigot to your water softener is long-term cheaper than trucking water, though even with a dual tank where one regenerates where the other is filling I'm not sure you can do major water changes without pausing for regeneration. For top ups or small changes, though, its great!

 

[Seadog]

Thanks for the replies. Water temp is 78. I agree FC was on high side, but was hovering within the range the instructions stated. I couldn't get myself to bring it down to zero.

swampwoman..thanks for the advice and filter options. I actually do have dual tank softener so a new spigot is probably what I'll do. I had not thought of that.

 

[duraleigh]

chlorine is too high from what I have read. It seems to work best, closer to 0 FC.

No, it DOES NOT WORK....it's that simple. We need to stop patty caking this product and tell it like it is. It is a failure and any other description is bogus. Please don't continue to coddle this product.....it is a phony.

 

[chem geek]

And now we have this thread with a disaster of Bio-Active only doing part of the conversion so while this person let the FC get to 0 the conversion went to ammonia and partially degraded CYA leaving a HUGE chlorine demand (many hundreds of ppm FC). This is even worse than not working which is just a waste of time and money for the product. This is where it costs more -- much more -- than the product itself to fix the situation -- several hundred dollars minimum.

 

[Swampwoman]

Sea dog, I think you'll enjoy your pool life more if you plumb that spigot...it will take time, but you'll be able to get that iron diluted down. But just so you know, I still get trace amounts out of the softner so its not a 100% solution, though its the best one I've got

Re bioactive...^i wish they'd have tried to dial in this concept more before rushing to market...but there is one positive thing to the whole Bioactive introduction, however disastrous: its existence has forced pool stores to acknowledge inadvertently the cya:chlorine relationship, and to more readily tell customers their cya is too high. Maybe one day they'll lay off peddling pucks

ChemGeek, a long time ago we joked about bottling this bacteria...maybe you should offer to study up and revamp their product so that it actually works in a pool environment...in exchange for half the proceeds

That company deals with AG and water mgmt and might have benefitted from more knowledge about all the variable of products used in pool water. Eg. How would phosfrees enzymes react? How many pools have trace copper that kill off the bacteria? I'm sure there are reasons that what's working in a lab isn't working in the field...

 

[chem geek]

Trying to get bacteria to behave in an open uncontrolled water environment is like herding cats. Had they focussed instead on just releasing concentrated enzymes into the pool, they might have had a lot better control over the results. Enzyme products exist today and work well for what they do. Having some that worked for degrading CYA is what is needed, even if it required temporarily getting the FC low or to zero or adding chemical at night with no sunlight, etc.