Borates, Ph-, CYA, bleach

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maryann79

maryann79

0
May 1, 2012
62
Louisville, KY
I'm fine tuning some things in the pool, and my question is: at night, when I come home from work, is there a "best order" of adding chemicals?

*I need to add more ProTeam Supreme Plus to get my borates up to around 50ppm. Right now they are a little under 40 because I was adding in two batches.
*The "neutral" ProTeam has increased my TA from 80 to 140, and increased Ph from its happy 7.6 to 7.8-7.9, so I need to add Ph Minus.
*Nightly chlorine has to be added, of course
*I have been trying to carefully raise CYA. Right now it looks about 38 to 40. I want it a little higher, maybe around 45.

We are having guests over on Saturday. Pool looks great. Latest stats are:

6 pm reading last night:
FC--5 (usually add bleach to take it up to 8 overnight, and it drops during day)
CC--0
Ph--7.8 or 7.9
TA--140
CYA--38-40

So between now & Saturday, besides adding bleach every night, which procedures can I do at night/how many hours apart, etc.?
thanks.
 
I would finish off the borates as soon as you can since you are so close and then work on your TA and pH starting the next day. Let the pump run for 24 hours after adding the borates. Keep adding chlorine on the same schedule that you have been using, just let any chemicals you have added before the chlorine mix for a 1/2 to 1 hour. You can raise the CYA at any time by adding it to a sock and hang it in front of a return.

To lower the TA make sure you put in the correct amount of borates in the pool calculator because the amount of acid is going to be more to lower the TA. Read Pool School on how to lower TA if needed.
 
Still afraid of MA. I know it's irrational, but I am klutzy & would rather deal with a powder. It's why I was willing to use the most expensive method for borates, Proteam Supreme Plus. Though, unfortunately it's not real neutral, as it advertises.
 
ping said:
I would finish off the borates as soon as you can since you are so close and then work on your TA and pH starting the next day. Let the pump run for 24 hours after adding the borates.
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Typically the borates are not added until the TA is in line. Once added they will make it harder to adjust TA as I understand it. I'm not sure if that's accurate - but there are multiple threads where the experts here recommend that approach.
 
She only needs to raise the borates another 10 so I would finish adding the borates and then work on the TA. The ProTeam seemed to be not so "neutral" and raised the TA. What is done is done and now the work for lowering TA.

For what it is worth, my TA crept up to 130 with all the fill water lately and I dropped the TA down to 90 with only two treatments of acid and aeration, and my borate level is at 50. I have a spill over spa and that helped a lot with aeration.
 
RobbieH said:
The boric acid you can get from Duda Diesel is not dangerous and is very easy to dump into the pool. I realize I'm a little late telling you this though. :(
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Yeah! I found someplace last week that wanted $60 for the size I needed then about the same $$ for shipping! That's when I just went w/Proteam. Next time I will use this place. :-D
 

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ping said:
She only needs to raise the borates another 10 so I would finish adding the borates and then work on the TA. The ProTeam seemed to be not so "neutral" and raised the TA. What is done is done and now the work for lowering TA.

For what it is worth, my TA crept up to 130 with all the fill water lately and I dropped the TA down to 90 with only two treatments of acid and aeration, and my borate level is at 50. I have a spill over spa and that helped a lot with aeration.
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Thanks. Do you like the borates? So far I seem to tell the most difference in the feel. My hair felt softer as soon as it got wet in the pool. I don't think I imagined it.
 
I can't say for sure if the borates changed the feel of my water any. I already had 3000 ppm of salt before I added the borates. I do know that my water feels better than any other water I've been in since I've had my own pool. My son says this also and he is in a lot of different pools, plays polo.

If I were to completely drain the pool I would wait some time before adding borates to the pool again. I would probably go a full year without borates to get a good idea of how my pool compares to how it is now. Originally I added borates 6 months after the pool was built and I now feel that I didn't have full knowledge of how my pool behaved throughout the year. I'm not disappointed in that I added borates what-so-ever, but I wish that I had more of a comparison of my pool with or without borates. I only had to add borates once in the last year and that was due to my stupidity, over filled the pool one day, so the maintenance of keeping the borate level is nil for me.
 
chem geek said:
The Chemistry Store pricing is lower than Duda Diesel (except for 55 pounds), but shipping costs may be different.
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Duda still comes out cheaper for me in North Carolina. For example, I can get 55lbs from Duda for just over $100 and 50 lbs from Chemistry Store for just over $105. In smaller quantities the disparity grows larger; a 15 lb quantity the Duda is offered at $37.75 w/free shipping and the Chemistry Store option is $27.75 but shipping costs $16.52 bringing the total to is $44.27.

Still not sure how this compares to Borax/MA cost...
 
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