I decided to add borates to my pool this year after reading all of the various posts on the positive effects of borates. In an attempt to make things a bit easier I opted for the boric acid method. I order my boric acid from The Chemistry Store. Great customer service and very fast shipping by the way. I choose to add my boric acid in stages instead of 1/2 & 1/2 or all at once. Based on the values from The Pool Calculator I increased my borate levels by 10 ppm every 3-4 days until my LaMotte Insta Test test-strips indicated 50 ppm.
After a few weeks even my wife noticed the water is silkier feeling and has a better sparkle.
We have had some heavy rains here the past few weeks and we have had to lower the water level in the pool more than once. Today I re-tested borates and they are off the chart high, 80+ ppm. No boric acid has been added since I hit 50 ppm more than a month ago.
What could have caused this and do I need to take any immediate action?
By the way, the water is amazingly clear. At night with the pool light on the pool almost looks empty, there is not even a bit of haze in front of the light. I just want to be sure I'm not causing a problem with the elevated borate levels.
Additional info, pool chemistry is measured daily with a TF100 test kit. We now use about a quart of bleach a day, a quart of baking soda a month and a cup of pH down every 6 weeks as directed by the pool calculator. Our baking soda and pH down consumption seemed to have decreased dramatically since the addition of borates.
Thanks for your input,
FC 3
pH 7.5
TA 65
CH 60
CYA 15
Borates 80+
CSI -0.58
After a few weeks even my wife noticed the water is silkier feeling and has a better sparkle.
We have had some heavy rains here the past few weeks and we have had to lower the water level in the pool more than once. Today I re-tested borates and they are off the chart high, 80+ ppm. No boric acid has been added since I hit 50 ppm more than a month ago.
What could have caused this and do I need to take any immediate action?
By the way, the water is amazingly clear. At night with the pool light on the pool almost looks empty, there is not even a bit of haze in front of the light. I just want to be sure I'm not causing a problem with the elevated borate levels.
Additional info, pool chemistry is measured daily with a TF100 test kit. We now use about a quart of bleach a day, a quart of baking soda a month and a cup of pH down every 6 weeks as directed by the pool calculator. Our baking soda and pH down consumption seemed to have decreased dramatically since the addition of borates.
Thanks for your input,
FC 3
pH 7.5
TA 65
CH 60
CYA 15
Borates 80+
CSI -0.58