We are having major phosphate issues in Florida as well. The SCG's are unable to Keep up with all the rain dilution, sun, bather load, and the airborne Phosphates and Algae. One being a plant and the other a fertilizer. Once the phosphates are removed, the algae no longer has a food Source and is easier to kill and the chorine can then be maintained.
Sorry K-Rae, but that is nothing more than Pool Store baloney. It is simply not true.
Phosphates fertilizers, like nitrates, are typically applied via the water stream that irrigates the furrows in major commercial farms. It's rarely ever sprayed in an airborne manner. Unless your neighbors are taking gallons of Miracle Grow and aerosolizing it, you can not and will not have much airborne phosphates. The biggest REAL source of phosphates is either accidentally pouring fertilizer in your pool OR through the decomposition of plant matter in your water.
As well, phosphates are typically measured in the parts per BILLION level. So even if you had phosphates at 1000ppb, that's still more than a thousand times less concentrated than salt in the pool water and barely equivalent to your FC level. The SWG will not be affected at all by phosphates. As well, there are only a few species of algae that will directly use phosphates as food, many species have other more direct methods of generating energy.
The pool stores created a "phosphate scare" in order to frighten people into buying their expensive phosphate removing chemicals which can do more damage to your filter than benefit your water quality. You'll often hear them say that if you don't remove phosphates, you'll damage all your equipment and void all your warranties. Here's a hint - the minute a salesman tries to scare someone into buying or doing something, typically means they care more about selling you a bottle of magic mix than actually helping you.
As the OP posted, they have a CYA level that is way too high for any pool. The correct course of action is a partial drain & fill and then rebalance the water chemistry (pH and TA) before doing a SLAM to kill off anything that might be lurking about. That's precisely the situation I was in (150 CYA and almost no FC output from my SWG). Once I got my water right and did a SLAM, my pool has been clear for over a month and my SWG runs at 40% on a 7 hr/day cycle. Oh, and the whole time my phosphates are hovering around 450ppb which the pool store clerks always tell me is too high and I need to immediately drop it.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
