Borates and target FC

[PoolStored]

Interested in opinions. Seems like a credible source. Target FC, with borates, .05 x CYA. Without, .075 x CYA.

What’s the fallacy in the thinking?

Don’t Just Throw Some Borate in Your Pools and Think You Will Have No More Problems

Lately I have been hearing a lot of service techs asking where they can buy borate or boric acid because they heard it is a good thing. While it is true that just adding borate or boric acid to your pool will certainly help, there is a whole method that will make the pool stable and water conditions

www.linkedin.com

 

[PoolStored]

Ok, so after a bit of reading/research, there is a long history here with Bob, chemgeek and TFP. Feels like I’m unqualified to swim in the deep end…

 

[mknauss]

Feels like I’m unqualified to swim in the deep end…

Most of us are ........

 

[JoyfulNoise]

A lot of what Lowry writes there is just hand-waving over-simplifications. The fact is, adding borates does not mean you can lower the FC/CYA ratio, period. While it is true that borates can act as an algae inhibitor (algaestat), 50ppm B concentration is not enough to have the desired effect that would allow you to use lower FC levels. The boron concentration would probably have to be closer to 200 or 300ppm to make that kind of impact.

This is just another example of service providers using “old wives tales” and “rules of thumb” thinking rather than actual critical thinking skills.

And you can absolutely have CYA levels higher than 50ppm. My pool has had levels between 70 and 90 all its life with no impact on manageability or chemical balance. Arbitrary “you must never cross this line” thinking only results in more pool owner work not less.