Borates - boric acid perferred.

[ptblues2]

Above ground 26500 gallon
FC 2.5
ph 7.8
ta 100
ch 150
cya 20 (just added enough to raise to 40-50)
borate 30

I love using boric acid because it doesn't jerk my ph levels therefore it is much easier for me.

How soon can the kids swim after adding the boric acid?
Must I run the pump 24-48 hours after adding the boric acid?

Please note that my pool is diamond clear and clean. I have been using troublefreepools.com system for three years.

 

[JasonLion]

Wait at least half an hour, preferably an hour, after adding before swimming. And run the pump for at least an hour after adding.

 

[ptblues2]

Thank you, Jason.

 

[CeeElGee]

Where do people commonly get boric acid that can be used in the pool?

 

[ptblues2]

I buy pharmaceutical grade off ebay. My pool requires 15# to 25# per year. It cost including shipping around $2 per pound.

 

[ptblues2]

I use boric acid even though it cost more because I am a big chicken when it comes to handling liquid acid. I used to use muradic acid to clean hard water stains from my sprinkler system. I hate the stuff. I want to avoid an acid splash on my skin at all costs.

 

[JasonLion]

DudaDiesel is a good source. Get the granular, instead of the powder.

 

[chem geek]

DudaDiesel should probably be added in the Borates section of the Pool School article Recommended Pool Chemicals that mentions The Chemistry Store and AAA Chemicals.

 

[chiefwej]

I looked at using boric acid, but $40 shipping brings the cost of a 55 lb pail to $115. It's a lot cheaper to buy boxes of borax from wallyworld and 4 gal of acid to rebalance pH.

 

[ptblues2]

I checked the pricing at DubaDiesel and it is around $2 per pound with free shipping. Why should I use granular instead of powder form?

 

[chem geek]

A lot of the powder tends to float on the surface of the water so doesn't dissolve as well unless you force it below the surface. The granular breaks the surface tension of the water, though once in the water does take a little longer to dissolve, though not very long. Some brushing to stir it up from whatever settles usually has it dissolve in minutes.

 

[JasonLion]

The powder can also blow around more easily, a minor annoyance but since it has no advantages you might as well go with granular.

 

[CeeElGee]

Can it be inducted through the skimmer? In a slurry perhaps?

 

[dkjbama]

A lot of the powder tends to float on the surface of the water so doesn't dissolve as well unless you force it below the surface. The granular breaks the surface tension of the water, though once in the water does take a little longer to dissolve, though not very long. Some brushing to stir it up from whatever settles usually has it dissolve in minutes.

I can certainly confirm this about the powder. I bought 2 50lb pails of the powder this spring and it is a royal pain. My borate level had dropped to 10 over the winter due to the ton of rainfall we had. In short I had to dump an entire 50lb pail into the pool. About a 1/3 of it floated on the surface and had to be broke up by splashing my brush on the surface. The rest went to the bottom into one giant and a couple hundred itty bitty doughballs of powder. It took me almost an hour with the brush to break all of it up and get it dissolved. I'll buy the granular next year.

 

[poolneophyte]

+1 for the granular boric acid from Dudadiesel. It worked great.