Phosphate Remover Before Ascorbic Acid Treatment?

[DS]

Hello,

Would it be good insurance to use a phosphate remover in addition to poly 60 before doing an ascorbic acid treatment to prevent algae while no chlorine is present during AA treatment? I regularly use HEDP sequestrant so guessing phosphates are relatively high. If a good idea, is there any difference across phosphate remover brands?

Thanks for any feedback

 

[chem geek]

The Polyquat 60 should be enough to inhibit algae long enough during your AA treatment and you can kill off any algae that does grow with chlorine after the AA treatment. If you were to use a phosphate remover that could get very expensive if your phosphate levels are high.

 

[DS]

Ok. Thanks. Good point about the cost. That raised my curiosity so I tested and found that ortho-phosphate is only about 1200 ppb. It wouldn't cost much to eradicate phosphate at that level. However, would I just be throwing money away anyway? I've been extremely diligent about following methods learned here and my pool has been algae free for a couple years now. I'm reluctant to do anything that gives algae a foothold.

 

[chem geek]

It would be a waste, as would use of any algicide, if you were to be diligent about maintaining the proper FC level for your CYA level. The only use for such products is as insurance if you can't keep a proper chlorine level or don't want to have to recover from letting the chlorine get too low by SLAMing the pool. It's not necessary.

 

[DS]

I thought algaecide was recommended during AA treatment.

 

[JasonLion]

Indeed. Algaecide is well worth it during an AA treatment, but not worth it for normal day to day usage.

 

[DS]

Thanks. Keeping the polyquat. Returning the phosphate remover...