Can Borate Level lower than 50 PPM be of benefit?

[jilspool]

I was wondering if you could have a lower level of Borate of say 30PPm and still get some benefit?

I was calculating amount of Borax to add for 20k pool to get it to 50 PPM and came up with 74 pounds or 16 boxes (76 oz). Plus 4 1/2 gallons of Acid. YIKES!!

So would 30PPM give you any benefit? Where did the number 50PPM come from?

Could you add borax and acid over several weeks to get level up to 50 PPM?

I just think I may have hard time going to Walmart or Home Depot and buying 16 boxes of Borax.

 

[dmanb2b]

not a problem at all...I'm sure Chemgeek, Jason or Waterbear could confirm, but I believe you start seeing the benefits around the 30ppm mark...gradually getting there is not a problem either, but I would suggest you keep track of total borax additions while you get to 50ppm. You could also choose to go the Boric Acid route from chemistry store.com and all you will need is a box or two of borax to offset the slightly acidic Boric acid...I believe it is 93% Boric acid and 7% borax to be PH neutral.

Jason's calculator has a boric acid option if you choose this route

 

[JasonLion]

Boric acid is much less work, essentially just spread it across the deep end and then brush the pool, and is only slightly more money.

Levels around 30 are effective, but you lose some every time water is splashed out or you backwash the filter, so it is best to aim higher. That way you are still at least 30 by the end of the season.

Adding borates over several days or weeks is fine, but you won't really see the benefits till near the end.

 

[reebok]

I was calculating amount of Borax to add for 20k pool to get it to 50 PPM and came up with 74 pounds or 16 boxes (76 oz). Plus 4 1/2 gallons of Acid. YIKES!!

tell me about it. I had to make a total of 3 trips to walmart before I finally got all the borax I needed because I kept buying all they had and had to wait for them to restock. it's definitely a job to do it all at once when you're dealing with a bunch of it, but it was totally worth it for ~1 hour worth of work for the feel of the water alone, not to mention all the other good things it does.

 

[Guest]

In the original tests (many of which were done in the Proteam test pools in St. Augustine before John Girvan shold his company to Haviland Corp.) and patents 30 ppm was the minimum effective level and the effectiveness inceased up to 50 ppm. Above 50 ppm the effects levels out and there was not much significant improvement.
Bioguard did some additional tests and found that in biguanide systems levels up to 8o ppm are optimum.