Well, I finally did it! I'm gonna be one of the cool borate havin' kids. I searched and did all the math for every possible way to do borates in my pool. I did the math a few weeks ago, and Duda diesel won by a few bucks, and an easier process than borax and acid. Fortunately for me, though it didn't seem like it when I saw it, they are now out of a lot of their sizes other than the 55lb and some small bags. I checked around online and found that rural king has, at least on their website, the 76oz borax for $3.99. Based on what the cool poolmath app said, it would cost me $131.12 to get 50ppm borates in my pool using borax and acid. The Duda diesel route put me at $166.32 for 110lbs($1.51/lb including shipping). $108.86 of that would be the initial dose to get me to 50ppm, and the rest would be for later. Then I started looking for other places that had it. I scoured Amazon, eBay, and then searched google shopping. That's where I stumbled upon bulk apothecary. They were cheaper on the product, a tad higher on shipping, and lower overall; and I found a 10% off coupon on RetailMeNot. I got 110lbs shipped for $145.65 which is $1.32/lb., and the initial dose will cost $95.33. Now I just need the borate test strips from tftestkits. They're tied for the best price on those.
