I read most of pool school and BBB. In spite of the BBB method being a big player, I don't see a lot about borate. There is the one article about it being good and how to add it but not a lot about the benefits.
It seems like not a lot of people here have done it since the post seem to assume no borates. I'm conflicted because I read a lot in here and feel like Iay be neglecting the pool a bit. Our pool company added tetraborate in the start so it has pretty much always been in the pool.
I've never gotten a test kit bit do test the water every week to two weeks at Leslie's. I used test strips in between. I travel a bit and am lucky if I get the skimmers checked while I'm gone. I've had several times where the FC gets to zero and have had long periods of 1 or 2. Occasionally when I've gotten back and the skimmers are clogged with the pump not running and no chlorine the water has gotten less clear than normal. I usually just run the pump and add a little cal hypo. I've never actually "shocked or slammed". The pool is crystal clear though. My only complaint is that CYA is already pushing 50 with only using 3 picks a week since May. I'm in Texas but fully shaded so probably don't need a lot of CYA. Kind of ticks me off that the pucks have that much junk in them and they don't make anything free of CYA. I'm using the Leslie's trichlor pucks. Anyone have recommendations for low CYA pucks if those exist.
Have I just been lucky or is the borates really that good as far as keeping the pool clear and reducing the chlorine need?
It seems like not a lot of people here have done it since the post seem to assume no borates. I'm conflicted because I read a lot in here and feel like Iay be neglecting the pool a bit. Our pool company added tetraborate in the start so it has pretty much always been in the pool.
I've never gotten a test kit bit do test the water every week to two weeks at Leslie's. I used test strips in between. I travel a bit and am lucky if I get the skimmers checked while I'm gone. I've had several times where the FC gets to zero and have had long periods of 1 or 2. Occasionally when I've gotten back and the skimmers are clogged with the pump not running and no chlorine the water has gotten less clear than normal. I usually just run the pump and add a little cal hypo. I've never actually "shocked or slammed". The pool is crystal clear though. My only complaint is that CYA is already pushing 50 with only using 3 picks a week since May. I'm in Texas but fully shaded so probably don't need a lot of CYA. Kind of ticks me off that the pucks have that much junk in them and they don't make anything free of CYA. I'm using the Leslie's trichlor pucks. Anyone have recommendations for low CYA pucks if those exist.
Have I just been lucky or is the borates really that good as far as keeping the pool clear and reducing the chlorine need?