Boric Acid Suppliers?

[Guest]

Hi all,

I've gotten fed up with my continuing algae problems (most likely due to well water fill and exacerbated by a pebbletec finish) and am intrigued with the idea of borates. Since my pH tends to to rise anyway, I think boric acid would be the way to go. I've found a decent bulk price of $1.32/lb here: http://www.advance-scientific.com/Prope ... %28BULK%29 for 50lbs. With ground shipping the price is $1.77/lb.

Wondering if others have any better suggestions for suppliers. I'm in CA and would love to find one based out here.

Thanks.

 

[duraleigh]

Welcome. Unless you maintain adequate levels of chlorine, you will always have algae issues.

Borates can be a nice supplement but your real issue lies with inadequate chlorine levels.

Posting a full set of test numbers will get you started down the right track.

 

[Guest]

What Dave said! Borates are really only going to be useful once you've gotten your other water balance issues under control. If you have frequent algae outbreaks and pH stability problems then you have water balance issues.
(And I am the one that wrote the HOWTOs on borates and TA!)

 

[Guest]

Thanks, guys. I feel like I stay on top of my chlorine level. I try not to let it drop below 3. It just seems like I have to keep it well above 5 *all* the time to minimize the algae (and this still doesn't eradicate it), and I"m not really comfortable having my kids swim at that high a level. I've tried using polyquat regularly and it only helps a little. My only surefire way to keep it under control is to brush the pool twice a week, but this means backwashing a lot, which means lost filter substrate and lost water (and the pool leaks enough as it is).

Am I being too concerned about a regular chlorine level of 5-10?

 

[reebok]

if you follow the plan on this site, you won't get algae, and you will be able to get rid of what you do have. can you post a full set of test results, specifically cya and do you have an swg? I can tell you my 1 year old has been swimming in fc 8 (cya 70) for over two months.