What are thoughts on using Baqua Line Cleaner? Will it work?

[anthonypool89]

....or is it another way of merely temporarily eliminating the biofilm problems? Here is a link to the MSDS: http://www.hydropool.com/downloads/MSDS/baquacil/baquacil-line-clean-msds.pdf The main ingredient is potassium peroxymonosulfate.

My problem with using stuff like this is that I have no way to vacuum to waste. The line cleaner calls for the use of a flocculant. My (Apollo VA-52) filter is not a multi-port system such as I've seen descriptions of. It has a handle with 2 o-rings on it that is either in the up or down position - down for normal circulation and up for backwash. I've never tried to actually sweep while backwashing. I suppose it would work ok but, while vacuuming whatever is in the pool (even if it would work), I'll also be discharging significant amounts of water.

 

[pookiesunshine]

i used it when i saw white mold coming out the returns or pink slime on my ladder. it seemed to clear it up, but i do not recall ever using a flocculant. i also do not recall having to vacuum to waste. line clean does call for using oxidizer (hydrogen peroxide) and cdx if you are using that system. expensive and eventually the more frequent recurrences got too much for me.

 

[anthonypool89]

Interesting about not having used floc or vacuuming. In that case, maybe it's worth a try. The thing is, as you say, any one product - even one that works well - does nothing to prevent reoccurrences. Or at least that has been my experience. It appears we've been on Baquacil nearly the same number of years. My best guesstimate is that I started on it around 1992-93.

Now I must ask....over the course of the 25 years, would you say most of them were reasonably trouble-free (in terms of mold/slime) or the opposite? When I started on baquacil, it was by using "Softswim". I believe that is how the program was introduced. Baqaucil products, if I'm not mistaken, were always around moreso for hot tubs and spas. I might be wrong about that though. I switched to Baquacil just a few years ago and found it worked better - and it really seemed to until this season. This has been an especially bad season for mold and slime problems...certainly as bad as any I've had. Interestingly, when I spoke with reps at Lonza Chemical Company (owns Baquacil and many others), they said that they have had an increasing number of calls this season from people who use chlorine also complaining about mold/slime. I have no idea what to make of that or what the implication is, other than that he also said the severity of the problem seems to vary regionally and differs from one year to the next. Certainly the fact that my property is surrounded by very actively managed farm land (mostly for hay) doesn't help my situation. I'll have all sorts of stuff blowing into the pool no matter what sanitizing system I use.

 

[pookiesunshine]

for the most part i would say the first 15 to 20 years were trouble free, once i got rid of the DE filter the second year. but after that the white mold/pink slime events became increasingly more frequent. i started in 1990.

 

[anthonypool89]

So over the long run, you're saying that three to four-fifths of your total years spent with biguanide were fine. That's actually a pretty good track record. Your key, I'll bet, was going to (I assume anyway) a sand filter. Otherwise, with DE I don't think you would have had that level of success. Also, I'm thinking that vinyl liner as opposed to plaster invites fewer problems with the mold and slime. Again, this may be wrong, but I don't believe the biofilms can latch on to the vinyl surface as easily as that of plaster. As my plaster wore out, there were increasing numbers of pockmarked areas and depressions - so along with regular algae the bottom of the pool started to vaguely resemble a reef. Almost impossible to brush accumulated stuff out of that rough a surface. So that being said, why is the biofilm adhering so rigidly to my reasonably new and smooth plaster? Can hardly brush it off. That is what is so different about this season.

 

[pookiesunshine]

no idea