Has anybody tried this product to add borates? They suggest adding 5lbs per 6000 gallons. I dont know but that doesn't sound like it would be enough to get to 50ppm.
foundation from natural chemistry
- Thread starter keene3b07
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The MSDS shows that the product is 60-100% Boric Acid, 5-10% Citric Acid and 1-5% Lanthanum Sulfate. The citric acid is usually used as a metal stain remover, but when chlorine reacts with it then it usually forms a lot of chloroform (a trihalomethane, THM, though not one of concern). The Lanthanum Sulfate is a phosphate remover. Usually Natural Chemistry products with phosphate removers also have clarifiers in them and I'll bet that's the case here as well since that isn't needed to be listed in the MSDS (though their instructions say that some cloudiness may occur in some pools).
If it were pure boric acid, then 5 pounds per 6000 gallons would only be 17.5 ppm Borates. Most boric acid or tetraborate products dose to at least 30 ppm and up to 50 ppm so I'm not sure why their directions are for a lot less. Maybe it's because they say to add it once a year so it might get up to a long-term 35 ppm or so before a 50% water dilution every winter.
If it were pure boric acid, then 5 pounds per 6000 gallons would only be 17.5 ppm Borates. Most boric acid or tetraborate products dose to at least 30 ppm and up to 50 ppm so I'm not sure why their directions are for a lot less. Maybe it's because they say to add it once a year so it might get up to a long-term 35 ppm or so before a 50% water dilution every winter.
So i spoke with a natural chemistry rep today. He assured me that adding foundation at 5lbs per 5,000 (his suggestion, bucket says 6000) will get me to 30 ppm borates. I will be testing tomorrow to check whether or not this is accurate.
He's a liar (well, that assumes he knows the truth -- he might just be mistaken). If the product were pure boric acid, then 5 pounds in 5000 gallons would give 21 ppm borates while if it were sodium tetraborate pentahydrate it would be 18 ppm and 20 Mule Team Borax (sodium tetraborate decahydrate) would be 14 ppm.
Perhaps you can show him the best case math with the product assumed to be 100% boric acid, B(OH)3, which has a molecular weight of 61.83 g/mole while Boron, B, which is how borates are measured has a molecular weight of 10.81 g/mole. 5 pounds is 2268 grams and 5000 gallons is 18927 liters so we have:
(2268 grams) * (1000 mg/g) * (10.81/61.83 boron to boric acid) / (18927 liters) = 21 mg/L (ppm)
The test strips aren't accurate enough for you to determine whether you've got 20 or 30 ppm borates -- that's too close -- but the math does not lie.
Perhaps you can show him the best case math with the product assumed to be 100% boric acid, B(OH)3, which has a molecular weight of 61.83 g/mole while Boron, B, which is how borates are measured has a molecular weight of 10.81 g/mole. 5 pounds is 2268 grams and 5000 gallons is 18927 liters so we have:
(2268 grams) * (1000 mg/g) * (10.81/61.83 boron to boric acid) / (18927 liters) = 21 mg/L (ppm)
The test strips aren't accurate enough for you to determine whether you've got 20 or 30 ppm borates -- that's too close -- but the math does not lie.
You can find boric acid for significantly less money elsewhere. Also, we don't recommend products that combine several chemicals that serve different purposes into one product. They make it impossible to get the dosing right on all the different things you are adding.
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