Bees and Borates

[W-Otter Woman]

Hello,

This W-Otter Woman is all new, to pool.

We set up over July 4^th , 2016 weekend and the w-otter life has been wonderful. I’ve been using the flippin frogger, which was super-fast and easy and got me in the water a.s.a.p. As the frogger depletes, I will switch to TFP method.
I’ve added salt and baking soda.
Levels:

• FC = 1.5
• TC = 1.5
• Salt is around 1600
• TA is now at 90
• Ph has risen and is probably 7.8
• Temp around 72

Bees have found my pool and now we fight for pool time. It’s a bit scary in the water, when they’re at all four corners. My thought is to add Borate (borax and M. acid), in hopes that the buggers will find the water distasteful. I don’t have the test strips for this.

I am hesitant to start all of the additions. I should probably get the bleach in the pool, before FC drops any further.

Is adding bleach OK, even though I don’t have CYA?
Is the order/timing of additions critical? Here is what I’m thinking…

• Bleach
• M. Acid (to get Ph down) I believe I need to add this, and let the acid circulate and retest? Wait overnight? Y/N?
• Add Borax & M. Acid – amounts prescribed in Pool Math - I do not have test strips

If my level of borate isn’t perfect, but the bees stay away, I’m happy. Would low levels of borate do more harm than good?

Thank you for any guidance.

Annette

 

[pooldv]

Welcome to TFP!

Yes to chlorine all the time. Keep it above minimum for your CYA at all times to keep the pool sanitary and algae free, [FC/CYA][/FC/CYA]
It is important to maintain PH between 7.2 and 7.8 at all times

I have borates, 20-30 ppm right now, and wasps, bees and dragon flies stop by our pool for drinks all the time. This is the first year for bees. We usually have 2-5 bees getting a drink by the waterfall, same spot every time. Occasionally they get washed into the water and I have to rescue them. I don't know where their hive is, we live in the woods. They can't take off from the water. Wasps have no issues taking off from the water, they land on the water in random spots and then take off again. Pretty cool.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

What test kit are you using? If you wish to continue to have a nice pool, you need to get a proper test kit. The Flippin' Frog almost certainly has added some CYA to your water as it contains tricolor as the primary sanitizer. As best I can tell the minerals in it are silver ions (from silver chloride) which probably aren't doing much at all for your water. So, without knowing exactly what your CYA level is, there's no way to know what level of FC you need. Your water could be improperly sanitized at this point.

Until you get your water chemistry sorted out, I would not bother with borates. I have had 50ppm borates in my pool for a long time and, as far as I can tell, it has had no impact on bees visiting my pool.

 

[phonedave]

As others have said.

1) Get chlorine in the pool
2) Test your CYA, and adjust if nexssary
3) Get your chlorine level appropriate to your CYA level

Now, you can begin to think about borates. I have been adding borates slowly over the last two seasons. Rather than dump all the borax in, and then adjust the pH with acid, I just add borax every so often. My pH drifts downwards every so often (acid rain ? - who knows) and I add borax to bring it back up. I have about 30 ppm of borates in my water right now. Never had any problems with having them at any sort of low level. I fish bees (not wasps or yellow jackets - bees) out of the pool every so often. Borates do not seem to deter them.


-dave