polyquat 60 and borates

[ric]

I have never used polyquat before at closing and would open to no cya low ph and low ta but a clear pool. so i bought some polyquat to try it now i am thinking i have 30 borates and it would be just as easy to add the borates to 50 at close and i could save the poly for a acid treatment next spring. any thoughts of how the borates at 50 would compare to the polyquat 60 for closing.
thanks Ric W

 

[gonefishin]

I was wondering the same thing Ric. I usually add polyquat when I close, but I've now got 50ppm of Borates. I was wondering if I would have any advantage of still using the polyquat. I'll await the answers!


dan

 

[chem geek]

The two operate by different mechanisms so doing both would likely be better than one by itself. The Borates will last longer -- probably through the entire winter. The PolyQuat will slowly get broken down by the chlorine and will also consolidate particles and get caught into the filter. Even in colder water, I wouldn't expect it to last much more than a month, but I could be wrong. So unless you plan to add more PolyQuat every so often during the winter, then it will likely only do good during the early part of closing.

The times when you really need an algaecide is when the water is warmest, so the early part of closing and just before you open for the spring. So you could add PolyQuat upon closing and then add some more if the water starts to warm up in spring.

Richard

 

[ric]

Thanks for the reply Richard I will plan to use both. winter cover is on with pump running 24-7 till the water temps drop below 60 and i can lower the water and finish.