What do the experts keep on hand at all time?

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coletjd

coletjd

0
Jun 29, 2014
17
GRANGER, INDIANA
I am really trying to stick to the BBB method and have learned a lot on this site. What I am trying to do next in standardize what I purchase to keep in my inventory. From what I have learned myself and also heard from others on this site is inconsistency is probably the biggest demon of all. Most of this is common knowledge for everyone that has been to pool school but I have some others. You can see below I have to put extra attention into maintaining the nice clean white color on my fiberglass. Please critique or comment.......

Required
Clorox Bleach - For shocking or elevating my FC when it is too low
Mule Borax - To raise PH
Baking Soda - To raise TA
HTH Stabilizer - To raise CYA (available everywhere)
Salt - From the pool store or where ever I can find it on sale.

Enhancers
NC Metal Out - I have a white fiberglass pool and have to use at least one quart per month (Sometimes 2 when I shock and the metals activate the green color in my pool)
NC Stain Free - My white fiberglass pool requires I use this sometimes...........not much though when the staining on the sides is bad.
NC PhosFree / Pool Perfect - I use the one cap weekly as directed. Honestly not sure if this is doing anything for me or not.
Culator - I have used about three of these. Once again the white fiberglass pool requires I put A LOT of effort into maintaining its color. I would like to see some research on the effectiveness of this.

Recent Challenges/comments............
I recently put in the HTH skimmer mini trichlor cylinder. I am hoping this provides a nice smooth consistent dose of CYA and I do not have to add this as much.
I do not have anything for raising TH as this has always been on the high side.
I have SWG which does not seem like it works half the time. I am considering getting rid of it and going full Bleach one gallon a week.

Thanks in advance. Joe
 
Well Joe, I too have a FB pool, and I've had really good success sticking primarily to the items on the TFP Pool School - Recommended Pool Chemicals. More than anything, I always keep regular bleach nearby so my FC never drops. But other than that, and occasionally stabilizer or acid, I don't need all those other products. And I always use the Wal-Mart stabilizer (purple jug) and add using the sock method near a return jet. Works nicely. Have a nice weekend.
 
I have:
bleach
some left over CYA from last time I added some
20 team mule borax for laundry
Soda ash washing soda for laundry, never put any in pool because my PH rises
Baking soda to keep fridge fresher, never put any in pool because my TA runs high
Muriatic acid
One bag of salt
 
I have MA on hand, but use it much in the pool because my pH is very stable. It works great to torture fire ants though.

I have bleach on hand too, but use it more for cleaning than I do my pool because I have a SWG
Since I have a SW pool, I keep a couple of bags of salt in the storage shed. I will eventually need them.
I have some CYA in the shed too and I'll eventually need that at some point too.

I also have plenty of test regents in my test kit. I get nervous when my test regents get low...
 
With an SWG it is unlikely you will need borax or baking soda often or even at all. Your pH will consistently rise so muriatic acid will be a must. If you are having significant metal problems then you may need to consider new water next season from a metal free source. The phosfree is not needed at all if you are maintaining proper FC levels based on your CYA. It isn't hurting anything and can be a backup plan but is pretty expensive for that.

You have K-2005 in your details, have you added an FAS-DPD test to that? If not you will want to get that so you can accurately measure your FC and CC. This is important to really work the TFPC method, keeping an eye on your levels to prevent and recognize any problems right away.
 
Chlorine and muratic acid are the only things I keep on hand. Everything else could wait until a trip to the grocery store to pick up if I needed it.

With your SWG I probably wouldn't keep more than a gallon of bleach as a back up, but with the he SWG & waterfall you will need to keep acid on hand as your pH will probably tend to rise.
 

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Chlorine, I buy five cases at a time because my pool store can't keep it in stock.
Muratic acid I have only used once this year.
Baking Soda I bought a jumbo bag at Sam's last year and broke the bag open this year for a one time dose.
CYA
Testing supplies

That is it.
 
All I keep around is bleach and acid and the trichlor pucks I stick in the floater when I leave town for more than two days.

I've never needed to add Borax or Baking Soda or Calcium.

I hope you are aware that CYA only goes away by backwashing, splashout, or draining. You wrote
I recently put in the HTH skimmer mini trichlor cylinder. I am hoping this provides a nice smooth consistent dose of CYA and I do not have to add this as much.
Click to expand...
It's just going to build and build and build and eventually you'll start a thread complaining of the filter clogging rapidly, or the water looking cloudy or the water is green and the walls are slimy. What is your current CYA level? Do you need to raise it? If not, then why add more?

A gallon of bleach will not provide a week's worth of chlorination unless your pool is covered most of the time or is indoors. Your pool is almost as big as mine, and I use a quart of 12.5% every day. That's almost two gallons a week. If you use weaker grocery store bleach, figure more like three gallons a week. I'd look at that SWG and see if it's really not working or if there's something else going on that's consuming the FC as fast as it can generate it. An overnight loss test would tell you for sure, but your K-2005 test kit is incapable of measuring FC at the level you should have when running the test as well as measuring it accurately enough.
 
I keep on hand 3 things:

Bleach, Muriatic Acid, and a TF100!

Why do you use phosphate remover? If you are killing all the bad things in your pool that use P04's with proper amounts of chlorine I fail to see what possible difference it would make. Dead algae can't use phosphates...because, well, they are DEAD!
 
Test kit, with adequate quantities of FAS-DPD and CYA reagents. My CH and TA numbers are boringly consistent from year, although I measure them from time to time just because... Also use OTO test kit for daily chlorine measurement.

Liquid chlorine 12% from Ocean State Job Lot (cheapest around here), supplemented by whatever bleach is on sale at the local grocery store if we run out. Bottle of granular CYA. Box of borax (our pH tends to fall rather than rise).

Also have a one-pound bag of dichlor and a handful of small trichlor tabs - these are useful for vacation (raise CYA and chlorine w. dichlor before leaving, and float some tabs while we're away).

I have an old container of pH Down - bought this with our first pool, before I knew we didn't ever need to lower pH. Last year it came in handy, as we had to start a SLAM right after I had raised pH w. borax - used the never-opened dry acid to get back down to 7.2 pre SLAM.

Supplies kept on hand will vary with pool type, water characteristics, part of the country, and probably some other factors...
 
My 2nd year with TFP and I only keep bleach and muriatic acid. I do have some trichlor tabs, but only use them when I'm out of town, or when my CYA needs to be raised due to splashout/backwash.

Oh, and I have a full container of phosfree that Leslies sold me to reduce my >1000 ppm phosphates. I found TFP the day after, and never opened the container. I've never had any algae since starting the TFP method. The only reason I keep the Phosfree is because I paid $40+ dollars for it and hate to throw money in the garbage can, but one day soon, I need to throw it away. I guess it serves the purpose of reminding me to stay out of pool stores.
 
I have at least a case of liquid chlorine on hand at all times during the season. Like Richard, I have some tricolor pucks for trips out of town.

I also have some Stop & Shop Baking Soda, Arm & Hammer washing soda, Muriatic Acid, and stabilizer. All of these Except for the LC should probably last me until next year.
 
wjaneala said:
I notice most everyone said muriatic acid. Is it weird that I've never had to use that?
Click to expand...
With pucks as the primary chlorine source the pH constantly drops so most people have to constantly raise their pH and TA. With bleach as the primary source the TA usually causes the pH to drift upwards so acid is more common. Given my crazy high fill water TA I use several gallons a year.

Even if you are using bleach to chlorinate, if you have low TA fill water then acid may not be needed. Each pool is slightly different.

From my HTC One via Tapatalk
 
Hi,

I am not an expert and this is my first year using the TFP method and all I have on hand is two jugs of 12.5% bleach and a jug of muriatic acid. I also have stabilizer. The previous home owner left us some chemicals which I have never used and will likely never use. I purchased Mule Borax but have not needed it so far.
 

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