Closing chemicals...what kinds....?

[lsbarkley]

Just purchased a mesh safety cover from intheswim.com and received a free winterizing kit. I received two items that I am not sure if they are worth using. First are small bags of chlorine free shock (43% Potassium Monopersulfate )"Unlike chlorine-based winterizing pool chemical kits that reduce the effectiveness of algaecide and other winterizing chemicals and can stain and bleach pool walls or damage pool liners." Compare to Oxy-Brite®, Impact® and Shocktrine®.


Second is a super sanitizing floater with 4lbs of "non chlorine" oxidizer which supposedly "robs the water of carbon dioxide, one of algae's primary food sources."

Is this a better way than just shocking with bleach and adding algecide? This will be my first pool closing and would like an feedback you have on what has and hasnt worked.

Also wanted to know...have read that over winter CYA tends to get eaten up by pool organisms. Is it worth it to raise CYA in the pool to anticipate CYA loss? Thanks.

Ls

 

[JasonLion]

The pool will be covered, so the CYA level doesn't matter over the winter. Raise the CYA, if needed, in the spring.

I'm not a big fan of chlorine free shock for outdoor pools but it can be useful sometimes, especially if it was free. On the other hand, their claims are a little of both wrong and misleading.

 

[waste]

Chem_geek and Waterbear are probably the ones to tell you best (sorry if I missed another chem expert).

My understanding is that the non-chlorine shock will get rid of cc and some other bio-nasties. Whether this will reduce the cya loss, I honestly don't know, but I suspect, it might help. However, do use the shock level of bleach and the poly 60. The floater smacks of borates - I've questioned the 'oxygen removal' to control algae, algae is a plant and 'breaths' carbon dioxide and produces oxygen , however - I'm certainly not an expert in that field.

Depending on the weave of your mesh cover, a little sunlight will reach the water, or a lot. If it's not a 'sunblock weave', enough light may pass through the cover to breed algae (at the right temps and with low enough cl). At this point, cya levels come into play, if you've sustained enough, and it hasn't been 'eaten', you may have little to no algae next spring.

My advice, until Evan or Richard chime in, would be to use what they gave you, but also shock with bleach and use poly 60.

 

[lsbarkley]

Thanks for the info....just looked at the packaging again and also got a liter of Pool Magic Spring and Fall + phos free - to reduce phosphates. What exactly is that? Worth while?

 

[JasonLion]

Pool Magic is an enzyme formula that breaks down oils and certain other organics that chlorine doesn't deal with. It can be handy if you get a lot of suntan lotion in the pool and with some kinds of organic scum. For most pools it isn't needed.

Phos Free removes phosphates, which is a waste of time in most situations. It can also cloud up the pool for several days in some cases.