Water chemistry, about to start addition of boric acid...

Jump to latest Follow Reply
B

bubbles^2

Well-known member
Jul 2, 2021
117
Arizona
Adjusting the water chemistry to prep for adding borates to the pool. Looking to add borates because there is a SWG and there is a pretty large negative edge with water feature in the pool. I am only running the water feature/negative edge for roughly 2 hours a day to keep the negative edge trough chlorinated. I find that I have to add acid every few days to keep the pH and Ta down. Hoping that borates will help stabilize them, and I certainly wouldn't mind a bit of help in maintaining the free chlorine level, so that I can turn down the SWG a bit.

FC: 5.5, Truclear SWG running 100%, pump running 20 hours daily 20 gpm
CC: 0.5
Ta: 70
pH: 7.2
CYA: 70
Ca: 575
Salt: 3400

From what I've read I want Ta to be 60-80 and pH to be 7.6-7.8. I'm aerating to raise the pH and intend to raise to either 7.6 to 7.8 then add the boric acid, which would then bring the pH down slightly. I'm happy with the Ta at 70, just waiting for the pH to rise to 7.6 or 7.8.

Initial borate test shows 0 borates. Pool math is saying about 60 lbs of boric acid to get to 50 ppm. Pool math is saying 36 lbs to get to 30 ppm. I figure I'll add the 36 lbs and then retest. If it's 30 ppm then I'll know I've estimated the pool volume correctly and will add the remaining 24 lbs to get to 50 ppm borates.

Am I reading this correctly, or am I missing anything?
 
Borates will only buffer, you will still have to add the same quantity of acid. I would highly suggest you get a stenner acid pump setup, simple cheap. No way around adding acid, i suspect you have a high TA fill water? Can you post test result of fill water? Have you tried to let the ph settle on its own?
 
Flying Tivo said:
Borates will only buffer, you will still have to add the same quantity of acid. I would highly suggest you get a stenner acid pump setup, simple cheap. No way around adding acid, i suspect you have a high TA fill water? Can you post test result of fill water? Have you tried to let the ph settle on its own?
Click to expand...

I've read that I will still need to add acid, just at less frequency, but ultimately the same amount. I'll have to look into a Stenner acid pump, I had not heard about those.

I'll check the fill water Ta and report back. I have my pH records back home and will check that as well. I believe I have seen it drift as high as 8.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Flying Tivo
If u are confident in your pool volume you can add it all at once.
Its not that finicky of a thing- I test once at the beginning of the season & add what poolmath says to get back to 50ppm then let it ride.
It’s not something i test often.
To get the possible benefits from borates you just need to be between 30 & 50ppm.
Knowing your round about amount is needed for other poolmath calculations but it doesn’t need to be exact .

Lowering ta to 60 may help your cause just as much, if not more than adding borates.
I do both.
 
  • Like
Reactions: EASyDAII
Mdragger88 said:
If u are confident in your pool volume you can add it all at once.
Its not that finicky of a thing- I test once at the beginning of the season & add what poolmath says to get back to 50ppm then let it ride.
It’s not something i test often.
To get the possible benefits from borates you just need to be between 30 & 50ppm.
Knowing your round about amount is needed for other poolmath calculations but it doesn’t need to be exact .

Lowering ta to 60 may help your cause just as much, if not more than adding borates.
I do both.
Click to expand...

I'm currently sitting at 70 Ta, I had considered lowering to 60, but had noticed that it was considered acceptable low/ideal, really likely just splitting hairs at that point. Since Ta and pH wll likely raise given my perimeters slower with borates, there probably isn't any harm in lowering Ta further to 60. So point taken I'll push Ta down further to 60, and then wait for pH to settle to 7.6/7.8.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Mdragger88
Not a bad idea using borates, I never have as I went with a water softener for fill water but others in our area use borates. The only real advantage is keeping the SWCG from scaling. With our high TA fill water and high evaporation, you will still need to add acid twice a week or more.
 
mknauss said:
Not a bad idea using borates, I never have as I went with a water softener for fill water but others in our area use borates. The only real advantage is keeping the SWCG from scaling. With our high TA fill water and high evaporation, you will still need to add acid twice a week or more.
Click to expand...

Forgot about that, I've found that I need to clean the SWG ever few months to get the deposits off the plates. I normally check FC, CC, Ta, and pH every week, and CYA, salt, Ca once a month. I've found that I've needed to add acid pretty much every week because of the Ta. The prior pool guy mentioned to me this particular pool seems to take quite a bit of acid, and that makes sense given the SWG, negative edge and water feature, and likely fill water.

I admit I'm a bit skeptical, but the pluses for borates appears to be reasonably positive in this case. My only real worry is that once it's in, it's not going to be easy to remove it.
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
You should not have to clean the SWCG if you manage your CSI.
Using soft water for make up water is the best thing you can do, if possible.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Mdragger88
mknauss said:
You should not have to clean the SWCG if you manage your CSI.
Using soft water for make up water is the best thing you can do, if possible.
Click to expand...
I had not been tracking CSI, but looking at it with my current data without borates, poolmath notes my CSI levels are good. I don't have my pool levels with me right now, but I may have exaggerated on cleaning, but I believe I've cleaned the SWG cells at least three-four times in the last year.
 
My first SWCG was on for 7 years. Never had to clean it with acid.

Everytime you clean it with acid, you lessen its life.
 
mknauss said:
My first SWCG was on for 7 years. Never had to clean it with acid.

Everytime you clean it with acid, you lessen its life.
Click to expand...
I'm somewhat hoping the addition of borates might help that. Cleaning it this often and running it at 100% for 20 hours a day has got to be burning up it's usable life. I think the prior pool guy may have undersized this SWG for this pool, and I'm likely going to have to replace the SWG with something that's capable of producing more free chlorine, but I'm going to try to get as much life out of this SWG as I can.
 
Your SWCG is undersized. It is a Truclear so it will only last about 3 years at most before it fails. They are not the most robust units made.
 
mknauss said:
Your SWCG is undersized. It is a Truclear so it will only last about 3 years at most before it fails. They are not the most robust units made.
Click to expand...
That's not that encouraging, but honestly not all that surprising. I believe it's a little over a year, perhaps 2. I've started eyeballing some other SWG's for the eventual replacement, but figured I'd try to help the truclear as much as possible for now.
 
Last edited:

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply