i posted last year about my bug invasion. nothing i did ever got rid of the bugs. i was using the BBB method for the first two years after my pool was built. Its a 17,000 gal gunite. I followed the advice here and did overnight chlorine loss tests a few times. my chlorine was always good with no problems or issues with algae. i added borates using the borax and Muriatric Acid. I brushed. I tested everyday and had my water balanced perfectly. nothing would ever get the little black, biting, water beetles out. i would scoop 'em and stomp 'em. new ones would crawl back in right away. they loved my water! we even started putting dawn dish detergent in a garden sprayer and we would spray the top of the water. this would kill them initially, the ones that were trapped, but it only lasted for about one hour or so until the soapy top layer was gone. I was and have been ready to fill this pool in after spending $40,000 only 3 three years ago.
Fast forward to last spring. we decided that adding clorox every day was getting old. we added a SWG. this had made pool ownership much easier. this did not slow the bugs down. after leaving for the winter, they were back in full force when it warmed up this spring. I am eating my words now(as my thread title states) because after all of the times that i have preached to my MIL, and other people with pools to do their own testing, blah, blah, blah, and that everything that they need to balance their water can be found at their grocery store, and most importantly that "pool" store chemicals are bad. Out of my frustration, i purchased some algaecide in the gallon container at wal mart a month ago or so. i didn't tell anyone because of all the times i told them not use this stuff. All of can say is that within one hour after pouring this stuff in, the bugs were dead and no more were crawling in. OMG!!! i finally found something that works! unbelievable that a solution has been here all along right on my local wal mart shelf, and not in the grocery aisle either. it was in the swimming pool area all along. i've always read that the borax is the same thing as adding the algaecide, but less expensive and more natural for your pool. i don't know what is in the algaecide, but its more than borates. there is something in there that the bugs don't like.
i still have not admitted to my MIL and everyone else that i actually bought that terrible pool store stuff and have been using it. I will stay a 'closet user'. the bugs are still around. its not that they are out of season or anything. i have been so busy with my photography business and have not been out there every other day or so checking things like i used to, even though i don't need to since getting the SWG. my chlorine stays high enough and my pH is within range of where it needs to be. We had to add some algaecide yesterday because the little boogers were making my water home again. Once again, within one hour, they were dead and gone. this stuff definitely works. i didn't mention above that after adding the algaecide, the bugs will stay away for atleast a week or longer. it works like the dawn dish detergent, but much longer.
i just wanted to share this with anyone else going through this torture. you sure can't enjoy a pool with bugs biting you. and, hopefully a moderater might be able to explain whats going on here and why this algaecide is working when the borax never did. i read in the "so you want to add borates to your pool" article that the borax was the same thing as algaecide. i was a believer before, please bring me back. i want to believe because this site has helped me so much since getting my pool. the bugs are the only problem in the three years of pool ownership that i've ever had. i have never had cloudy water, green algae, yellow algae, or black algae. my water had always since day one been crystal clear and sparkly.
Fast forward to last spring. we decided that adding clorox every day was getting old. we added a SWG. this had made pool ownership much easier. this did not slow the bugs down. after leaving for the winter, they were back in full force when it warmed up this spring. I am eating my words now(as my thread title states) because after all of the times that i have preached to my MIL, and other people with pools to do their own testing, blah, blah, blah, and that everything that they need to balance their water can be found at their grocery store, and most importantly that "pool" store chemicals are bad. Out of my frustration, i purchased some algaecide in the gallon container at wal mart a month ago or so. i didn't tell anyone because of all the times i told them not use this stuff. All of can say is that within one hour after pouring this stuff in, the bugs were dead and no more were crawling in. OMG!!! i finally found something that works! unbelievable that a solution has been here all along right on my local wal mart shelf, and not in the grocery aisle either. it was in the swimming pool area all along. i've always read that the borax is the same thing as adding the algaecide, but less expensive and more natural for your pool. i don't know what is in the algaecide, but its more than borates. there is something in there that the bugs don't like.
i still have not admitted to my MIL and everyone else that i actually bought that terrible pool store stuff and have been using it. I will stay a 'closet user'. the bugs are still around. its not that they are out of season or anything. i have been so busy with my photography business and have not been out there every other day or so checking things like i used to, even though i don't need to since getting the SWG. my chlorine stays high enough and my pH is within range of where it needs to be. We had to add some algaecide yesterday because the little boogers were making my water home again. Once again, within one hour, they were dead and gone. this stuff definitely works. i didn't mention above that after adding the algaecide, the bugs will stay away for atleast a week or longer. it works like the dawn dish detergent, but much longer.
i just wanted to share this with anyone else going through this torture. you sure can't enjoy a pool with bugs biting you. and, hopefully a moderater might be able to explain whats going on here and why this algaecide is working when the borax never did. i read in the "so you want to add borates to your pool" article that the borax was the same thing as algaecide. i was a believer before, please bring me back. i want to believe because this site has helped me so much since getting my pool. the bugs are the only problem in the three years of pool ownership that i've ever had. i have never had cloudy water, green algae, yellow algae, or black algae. my water had always since day one been crystal clear and sparkly.
