I want to take the plunge on Borates, but I went into Pool Math and using the Borax method of adding, the calculation for my pool raised my TA by 110! My TA is ok at the moment at 100. What I've read says get your TA down to the lower end of the scale before adding Borates. Even if I got my TA down to 50, (which it's NEVER been), according to Pool Math, to get 50 ppm of Borates, my TA would rise by 111 to 211 total! Do I really want to do that? My Ph would spike as well but at least I'm adding Muriatic Acid as part of the process in anticipation of the Ph rising.
Secondly is the cost to use 20 Mule and Muriatic Acid as compared to commercial products that would be a whole lot less work with potentially not much savings. I live in South FL and can get a 4lb. 1oz box of 20 Mule Borax for $4.47. My calculations for a 14,000 gallon pool are: 840 oz or 52.5 lbs. of 20 Mule Borax needed. At 66 oz per box, I need to by 12.92, call it 13 boxes of 20 Mule. Price for that is $58.11 plus tax. I also have to buy Muriatic Acid to lower Ph. I anticipate adding 2 gallons of Muriatic Acid which will cost me approx. $15 plus tax. Approximate cost: $75.
There are many commercial products on the market, but I'll use this one as an example. Optimizer by BioGuard is a popular product available on Amazon for $81.99 plus tax with free shipping( (20 lb. Bucket). Optimizer does not significantly raise Ph so it eliminates the need for adding Muriatic Acid. For my size pool I would have to use 20 lbs. Approximate cost: $87.00
With both methods I'll have to brush the pool to mix the powder and keep it off of the pool floor, but I like the idea of brushing 20 lbs with the Optimizer as compared to 52.5 lbs with 20 Mule Borax. With Optimizer I don't have to add the acid either. It seems like a lot of extra work besides shopping two stores and lugging acid and Borax for not a lot of savings. I'm not sure of Optimizer's effect on TA. Most commercial powdered products ask about 1/3 to 1/2 the amount of Borax for a given pool size. I'm not even talking about liquid products that are even easier to use. I wanted to give you an apples to apples comparison.
I just want to know if I'm missing anything here?
Secondly is the cost to use 20 Mule and Muriatic Acid as compared to commercial products that would be a whole lot less work with potentially not much savings. I live in South FL and can get a 4lb. 1oz box of 20 Mule Borax for $4.47. My calculations for a 14,000 gallon pool are: 840 oz or 52.5 lbs. of 20 Mule Borax needed. At 66 oz per box, I need to by 12.92, call it 13 boxes of 20 Mule. Price for that is $58.11 plus tax. I also have to buy Muriatic Acid to lower Ph. I anticipate adding 2 gallons of Muriatic Acid which will cost me approx. $15 plus tax. Approximate cost: $75.
There are many commercial products on the market, but I'll use this one as an example. Optimizer by BioGuard is a popular product available on Amazon for $81.99 plus tax with free shipping( (20 lb. Bucket). Optimizer does not significantly raise Ph so it eliminates the need for adding Muriatic Acid. For my size pool I would have to use 20 lbs. Approximate cost: $87.00
With both methods I'll have to brush the pool to mix the powder and keep it off of the pool floor, but I like the idea of brushing 20 lbs with the Optimizer as compared to 52.5 lbs with 20 Mule Borax. With Optimizer I don't have to add the acid either. It seems like a lot of extra work besides shopping two stores and lugging acid and Borax for not a lot of savings. I'm not sure of Optimizer's effect on TA. Most commercial powdered products ask about 1/3 to 1/2 the amount of Borax for a given pool size. I'm not even talking about liquid products that are even easier to use. I wanted to give you an apples to apples comparison.
I just want to know if I'm missing anything here?