Closed with pink slime in the lines...probably not a great idea but little choice

[three4rd]

Hi,

I noticed I've been battling pink slime (biguanide pool) for the past few weeks. It always collected at the same place on the deep end wall and in and around the seat. I'd brush it but it always came back again within days. I know I should have addressed the problem further before closing but it just wasn't feasible since I was busy trying to get rid of some unknown discoloration that cropped up over the past few weeks on my granite coping. And before that I battled efflorescence or calcium deposits on the tiles. Both issues were pretty well ameliorated with acid magic. But regarding tackling the pink slime, things got difficult lately since I broke my foot right before closing the pool, my mom went in the hospital with a stroke, and our dog contracted a clostridium infection. Tough couple of weeks. So, I have no idea if that stuff will continue to grow over the winter or not, but next year I think my last chance at keeping a biguanide pool going is to try these aqua finesse tablets. If that doesn't work, I think I will need to concede defeat and convert to chlorine. And yet despite the presence of slime, the water looked absolutely beautiful. At any rate, any thoughts on closing with that gunk in the lines would be appreciated. Quite possibly I have often closed with slime or mold in the lines and may have never realized it. I'll probably have to pull back the cover again several times during the off-season to adjust the pH. For whatever reason, it still is going up even though the new plaster is now a bit over a year old. So it will give me a chance, depending on water clarity, to see if the slime issue gets any worse. Hopefully the colder water temps will keep things in check until next spring.

 

[Leebo]

Odds say you've had this issue for some time but never noticed it. Baqua pools run into this issue very frequently. It will likely cost a good bit of $$$ next year at opening to attempt to tackle this using Baqua Sanitizer/Shock so start preparing now. Unfortunately that's how it always went for us using Baqua, things worked "ok" on a good day but the second something went south you needed to take out a loan to clear it up.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Closed with pink slime in the lines...probably not a great idea but little ch...

Pink slime, white mold, etc, Baqua pools just sound like more trouble than they are worth.

I remember your threads from earlier in the season. Any chance you might be convinced to just ditch all the expensive Baqua products, shock tablets, etc, and just open up next spring with a chlorine conversion?

Honestly, I just don't get it - if you've got "pink slime" on a wall of your pool, how do you say to yourself, "but the water looks great." If there's pink slime growing on the wall, then the water, to a lesser extent, has that gunk floating in it, you just can't see it.

I'm not trying to be rude or anything but I just don't see the point in it all. What's the worth in a product like Baquacil if the best it can do is produce mediocre results and give you no margin of error should something go wrong?

Sorry to hear it's been a rough few weeks for you. Sounds like you've been dealing with a lot. I hope your Fall and Winter are peaceful and enjoyable.

Best wishes,
Matt


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[three4rd]

Re: Closed with pink slime in the lines...probably not a great idea but little ch...

Pink slime, white mold, etc, Baqua pools just sound like more trouble than they are worth.

I remember your threads from earlier in the season. Any chance you might be convinced to just ditch all the expensive Baqua products, shock tablets, etc, and just open up next spring with a chlorine conversion?

Honestly, I just don't get it - if you've got "pink slime" on a wall of your pool, how do you say to yourself, "but the water looks great." If there's pink slime growing on the wall, then the water, to a lesser extent, has that gunk floating in it, you just can't see it.

I'm not trying to be rude or anything but I just don't see the point in it all. What's the worth in a product like Baquacil if the best it can do is produce mediocre results and give you no margin of error should something go wrong?

Sorry to hear it's been a rough few weeks for you. Sounds like you've been dealing with a lot. I hope your Fall and Winter are peaceful and enjoyable.

Best wishes,
Matt


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hi Matt,

Yeah...I guess it doesn't seem to make a lot of sense, but if you had the season I did...water looked clear initially, then turned a lovely clear green, then really cloudy, then cleared up, then cloudy again, then VERY clear near the end of the season.....not to mention the issues with the tile deposits and discoloration on our new coping...I was MORE than happy just to have the water look really good for the last few weeks. What I can't see doesn't bother me, especially if the SI is good. But the pink slime on the wall was a real annoyance. I've learned to just tackle problems as they come but really am seriously considering going back to chlorine. My wife and I both like the feel and gentle nature of non-chlorinated water..easier on the skin and hair. But I'm about at the end of the rope I think. I simply do not like chlorine...hated working with it all the years I used it. I'm hoping for good results with aqua finesse next spring. There has probably been slime in those lines for quite awhile, although I would hope that the Softswim Assist product kept it under control (no longer available unfortunately...that's one of my main problems with continuing with Baqua). We'll see. I have enough on my plate right now without even thinking about the next swimming season. Next spring and summer has to be more relaxing than this one, although probably not given my mom's declining health conditions.

Leebo.....point well taken, although it has been my experience that the pool is pretty much a money drain anyway. The dual concepts of maintaining an inground pool AND saving money appear to be incompatible with each other. My renovation just cost considerably more than it did to build the entire pool 25 years ago, which is something I can live with being that it really needed it, but it was not encouraging when my plasterer told me that the reno will likely not last anywhere near as long as the original installation. How nice. I think more and more of someday selling the big property and moving to a 55+ community that has a pool that I can swim in and not have ANY maintenance responsibility. Downside of that scenario, of course, is that there will also be other people in the pool. Perhaps hiring someone to totally take care of my pool might be an option....what a time saver it would be. The extra $$ might be worth it!! Oh well....I'll enjoy the 6 months off from worrying about filter pressure for the time being and let my broken foot heal.....

 

[Leebo]

Leebo.....point well taken, although it has been my experience that the pool is pretty much a money drain anyway.

Trust me, I fully understand that comment! In fact it was one of the main reasons I found TFP several years ago. After about 15 years using Baquacil it was costing my in laws WAY more money than it was worth. Year after year we experienced the ups and downs that you mentioned with the water looking "clear" one minute then turning cloudy/green overnight. Then we would face a trip to the local pool store to see the Baqua experts at the store, only to walk out of the shop $300 lighter with Algacides, Sanitizer/Shock, and various Floc products. They would work for a few weeks, but almost always the green reappeared. After I took over maintance of their pool, my in laws insisted sticking with Baquacil as its what they knew. For the first two years I would "front" them the money for chemicals during the local pool stores annual 20% off sale. I would go in and drop a grand or so and stock up on everything I thought I would need for the year. This greatly helped out as I had a stockpile of products at my disposal when the water would start to look "off." Finally after seeing the cost involved for a few years I twisted their arm and got them to convert to chlorine after I racked up almost $1500 in one rather expensive and algae filled season.

I once again went to the local pool store to learn about using chlorine where they quickly pushed product after product attempting to "solve" any problem associated with chlorine. All I could do is the math as they spoke and I could quickly tell their suggestions wouldn't work out. I hit the net and found TFP and converted right away. Now we spend maybe 30min a week and maybe $200 a year on maintaining the pool. While the idea of "maintaining" the pool and "saving money" does appear to be at odds, this truly is a case where there are obvious savings involved. Baqua is a product that "can" work to keep a pool clean, however for the money spent you're almost better off paying a local "pool boy" to maintain it for you.



Lastly, I'm sorry to hear about your mothers health issues and your injured foot. I hope all turns out well in time for you and your family.

 

[three4rd]

Trust me, I fully understand that comment! In fact it was one of the main reasons I found TFP several years ago. After about 15 years using Baquacil it was costing my in laws WAY more money than it was worth. Year after year we experienced the ups and downs that you mentioned with the water looking "clear" one minute then turning cloudy/green overnight. Then we would face a trip to the local pool store to see the Baqua experts at the store, only to walk out of the shop $300 lighter with Algacides, Sanitizer/Shock, and various Floc products. They would work for a few weeks, but almost always the green reappeared. After I took over maintance of their pool, my in laws insisted sticking with Baquacil as its what they knew. For the first two years I would "front" them the money for chemicals during the local pool stores annual 20% off sale. I would go in and drop a grand or so and stock up on everything I thought I would need for the year. This greatly helped out as I had a stockpile of products at my disposal when the water would start to look "off." Finally after seeing the cost involved for a few years I twisted their arm and got them to convert to chlorine after I racked up almost $1500 in one rather expensive and algae filled season.

I once again went to the local pool store to learn about using chlorine where they quickly pushed product after product attempting to "solve" any problem associated with chlorine. All I could do is the math as they spoke and I could quickly tell their suggestions wouldn't work out. I hit the net and found TFP and converted right away. Now we spend maybe 30min a week and maybe $200 a year on maintaining the pool. While the idea of "maintaining" the pool and "saving money" does appear to be at odds, this truly is a case where there are obvious savings involved. Baqua is a product that "can" work to keep a pool clean, however for the money spent you're almost better off paying a local "pool boy" to maintain it for you.



Lastly, I'm sorry to hear about your mothers health issues and your injured foot. I hope all turns out well in time for you and your family.

Hi,

Thanks again for your comments. I really appreciate it. I'm so conditioned by the pool people over the years, although since coming here at least I learned the value of doing all my own testing, and when I look back at the pool store results I can see where they sold me lots of stuff that I really didn't need. So I just need to take the next step and move farther into what TFP promotes. I really think I'm getting there. I don't mind spending the money for baqua maintenance IF (a big 'if') it works. Of course, the baqua version of "working" seems to be 'works some times and sometimes not'. Also, I've been on baqua alot longer than chlorine so that makes it even harder to think of going back. I'm still repelled at the idea of dumping gallons of bleach into the pool. Let me think on it over the winter and see what next season brings. I will definitely try the aqua finesse. If that doesn't work then the remaining option is chem geek's suggestion to actually buy the two separate ingredients that make up the Assist chemical (that is no longer available). I have all his information saved as to how to do that, but it does sound a bit complicated and time consuming. The simpler the maintenance, the better for me....so if that is indeed using chlorine, then maybe it's time. Right now the focus is on my Mom's health. We are probably heading in the direction of assisted living, so that's going to be a tough deal. Thanks for the well wishes. I find out what's going on with the foot tomorrow when they do a 2nd x-ray. With the warm fall weather we have here right now, I so long to be able to still go out and take a swim. I couldn't even use it the last week because of the foot. So instead I sat out there looking longingly at the water. It was not the most successful swimming season. Next year........NO summer trips planned...NO major renovations planned....I am reserving time to swim...that pool had better cooperate with my plans!!

 

[Swampwoman]

Re:

My wife and I both like the feel and gentle nature of non-chlorinated water..easier on the skin and hair

Just so you know, I use softened water to top up pool due to well nasties and my water is about 3500 ppm salt even though I'm not currently SWG. EVERYBODY who visits, comes to a party, etc. raves about how awesome my water feels. I do keep borates at about 50 ppm. Currently using liquid chlorine only, but on the higher end of cya:FC chart to keep it nicely oxidized (I get a lot of debris in the pool from nearby forest and pool is at bottom of a terrace.)

I am really confident that if you decide to make the switch, you can get to a place where you both love your water, have a TRouble Free pool life, and save a few bucks It might take the addition of salt and borates, but you can get there!

So I'm sending you the mojo for a troube free 2016