MIXING POOL CHEMICALS

[TAAM186]

HELLO EVERYONE,
I SHOCKED MY 10 THOUSAND GALL ABOVE GROUND POOL WITH 4 BAGS OF "GREEN OUT " SHOCK AS PER THE POOL STORE RECOMENDATIONS. THIS WAS TO RID THE POOL OF GREEN ALGAE. AFTER ADDING THE SHOCK I ACCIDENTLY KNOCKED OVER A BOTTLE OF "BLACK ALGAE OUT" THIS IS THE STORE BRAND FOR POLY[OXYETHYLENE(DIMETHYLIMINIO)ETHYLENE(DIMETHYLIMINIO)ETHYLENE DICHLORIDE] WEIGHT %60 WITH 40% INERT INGREDIENTS SPILLING APROXIMATLY 8 OUNCES INTO THE POOL WATER. THIS CAUSED A REACTION WHICH PRODUCED A LARGE AMMOUNT OF FOAM ON THE SURFACE OF POOL WATER. I ADDED FRESH WATER TO THE POOL WHEN THIS HAPPENED TO HELP DILUTE THE CHEMICALS.

BECAUSE OF THE HIGH CONTENT OF CHLORINE DOES THIS MIX OF CHEMICALS POSE ANY HEALTH RISK? THIS HAPPENED APROXIMATLY 2 1/2 WEEKS AGO. I ASKED THE LOCAL POOL STORE THEY TOLD ME THAT IT DIDNT. IAM LOOKING FOR A SECOND OPINION.
YOUR RESPONSE WILL BE GREATLY APPRECIATED


THANK YOU

TOMMY

 

[duraleigh]

Tommy,

No problemo! It will have no affect. There are several articles located in our "pool school" section which will give you a better understanding of pool water chemistry.

 

[chem geek]

Welcome to Trouble Free Pool!

The "Black Algae Out" is PolyQuat 60 algaecide (based on the chemical you listed) and usually does not foam. What are the ingredients in the "Green Out" chlorine product you used? Was it "Dichlor" or "dichloro-s-triazinetrione" or was it "Cal-Hypo" or "calcium hypochlorite"? This article in the Pool School tells you how to defeat algae.

You would normally use unstabilized chlorine to shock the pool, such as chlorinating liquid or unscented bleach, but the pool store may be having you use stabilized chlorine (e.g. Dichlor) which is inappropriate. There is no such think as "chlorine shock" product that is any different than regular chlorine -- it's the same (except possibly for the price!).

Richard

 

[Swimgirl]

You probably won't have to worry about algae growing for awhile! :-D

Seriously, though, on my bottle of polyquat, it gave an initial dose of 11oz for a 10,000 gallon pool. You could swim in your pool as soon as your chlorine level got back down to normal.

 

[waste]

Tommy, welcome to TFP!!

As has been said - no problem 8) If I remember correctly, the 2 should ~ neutralize each other (the chlorine will try to destroy the 'poly'), yet enough poly will remain to do it's algeacidal job.

The foaming has me a little confused :? What I've seen is that an ammonia based algaecide will cause foam in a pool with a 'high' salt concentration, which is why we use the poly 60% for SWCG pools (which doesn't cause the foaming).

The foaming is a mystery to me, but you've caught chem geek's eye and he knows the chemistry involved as well as anyone I know of! (and probably better than most "pool professionals" :-D )

Welcome to the site and please ask any more questions you may have

 

[chem geek]

Tommy,

I'm posting info from a PM/E-mail I received from you so that others can also help you and that the info can help others as well.

Your E-mail said the following with regard to the ingredients of the products you used:

THE BLACK ALGAE OUT
ACTIVE INGREDIENTS ARE

ALKYL (60% C14-- 30% C16--5% C12-- 5% C18)
DIMETHYL BENZYL AMONIUM CHLORIDE 49%

DIALKYL(60% C14 30%C16 5%C12 5% C18)
METHYL BENZYL AMONIUM CHLORIDE 0.2%

INERT 50%


THE GREEN OUT SHOCK

ACTIVE
SODIUM DICHLORO-S-TRIAZINETRIONE DIHYDRATE 64%
ALKYL (95% C14 3%C12 2%C16 )DIMETHYL BENZYL AMONIUM CHLORIDE 1%
INERT INGREDIENTS 35 %
TOTAL 100 %

AVAILABLE CHLORINE 35%


So in fact the algaecide that you accidentally spilled into the pool was a linear quat algaecide ("ammonium" type as waste described) and these are known to foam. Also, the Green Out Shock product you used is a weak Dichlor (not near 100% pure as with most Dichlor) and it also contains a small amount of linear quat algaecide. You should not use Dichlor for shocking or as a regular source of chlorine unless you intentionally want to raise the Cyanuric Acid (CYA) level along with the Free Chlorine (FC) level.

The foaming will dissipate over time. In a 10,000 gallon AGP, 4 one pound bags of Green Out Shock would increase the FC by 17 ppm and would also increase the CYA by 15.5 ppm. This is not unsafe, though it is a higher shock-level of chlorine. You should get yourself a good test kit such as the TF100 kit sold at tftestkits.com here (or the Taylor K-2006 at a good online price here though the TF100 has 36% more volume of reagents so is comparably priced "per test"). To really know what is going on in your pool and to know how high an FC level you need and whether you need to drain water to reduce the CYA level, you need to measure your pool water parameters with a good test kit. The kits I referred to will measure Free Chlorine (FC), Combined Chlorine (CC), pH, Total Alkalinity (TA), Cyanuric Acid (CYA) and Calcium Hardness (CH).

Richard