High Phosphates - Nothing seems to work

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J

jaulbert

New member
Jul 22, 2020
4
Tomball, TX
Background - new house/pool so trying to get a handle on chemistry. been here 3 months. Current testing
35,000 pool
FC - 4.9
TC - 4.9
PH - 7.9
TA 84
CH - 216
CA - 34 (it just rained like heck for 3 days so its a little low)
Phosphates 2100 Was as high as 2900ppb

I have tried two different types of phosphate remover. A residential Phosfree and a Commercial grade. Here is my story in summary.
Residential Phosfree called for 3 gal. adding 1 liter at a time. My issue was my pump pressure would rise from 20 to 25 in a few hours and then climb to 30 in another couple of hours. I have completely stripped and cleaned the filters and repeated the process and felt that decreasing the phosphates 100-150ppb at a time is a losing and costly battle. I did a total of 3 maybe four rounds and said, I'm done with this.

Round 2 - perhaps something a little stronger (like what you might treat commercial pools or ponds) would be more effective. The commercial grade made by Natural Chemistry called for 12 oz based on their website. I have completed 2 rounds of this backwashing filters between and seen very little reduction in phosphates....again a couple 100ppb maybe.

Any suggestions?
 
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I had a pretty mild flair up of brown algae even with FC/TC in the 3-4ppm range. Brushing the walls and vacuum would get rid of for a few days and then it would reappear. Shock had little to no effect. Simple algae treatment did work. As we approach the winter months in Texas it is less of an issue/concern, but not something I want to fight all next season (algae or high phosphates). I'm gathering most here don't mess with? Open to suggestions and theories.
 
I suspect you have algae because your Free Chlorine (FC) is too low and your CYA (stabilizer) level higher than you think.

Pool Store tests are notoriously inaccurate. Have you read our Pool School article on test kits yet? If not, please do-
www.troublefreepool.com

Swimming Pool Test Kits Compared

What pool test kit should I buy? Why not use test strips? Our recommended test kits will pay for themselves in no time!
www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com
The TF-100 is the best buy of the group--> www.tftestkits.net

How do you sanitize your water??

Maddie
 
Taylor 2000?? IT's the blue box with all the red/yellow, green and blue caps. Because it is a new to me pool, I am testing 2-3x a week. I also use some AquaCheck strips to confirm salt readings and every couple of weeks will go to a local pool store to have them cross reference. This is where I am getting the high phosphate number from.
 
The data you posted above cannot be gotten by testing with a Taylor 2005 or 2006 test kit.

Run the tests you can with your test kit and post them.
 
Pardon me for being blunt. You're being pool-stored. With the proper test kit and the knowledge you can gain by hanging out here at TFP, you can leave the pool store behind, forget all about phosphates, and save a ton of money. The TFP method of pool care is based on science and has been torture-tested by hundreds of thousands of pool owners just like you, many of whom came here after being pool-stored, just like you. TFP works. The pool store method of pool care, on the other hand, is based on selling you product, whether you need it or not. Phosphate removers are one of their favorites.

There is a correlation between phosphates and algae, but if your pool never has algae, then that correlation can't exist. Period. If you decide to get onboard with TFP, we'll show you how to never have algae. Ever. I've never tested my pool for phosphates and never plan to... In the last three years, I've used four chemicals in my pool (chlorine, two kinds of acid, and salt), and absolutely nothing else. The water is perfect, and crystal clear. And I know for a fact it's safe, for both my family and my pool finish, because, thanks to TFP, I know how to test my water myself.
 
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Your test kit is very limited- it is missing the all important FAS-DPD test for FC up to 50ppm, nor does your comparitor block show you the Combined Chloramines (CC). CCs basically show that the water contains undesirable contaminates. You also are missing the CYA test.
You can order the individual tests to add to your box and bring it up to speed, but a complete TF-100 probably costs the same and you'll have plenty of reagents.

Maddie
 
mknauss said:
The data you posted above cannot be gotten by testing with a Taylor 2005 or 2006 test kit.

Run the tests you can with your test kit and post them.
Click to expand...
it's not the basic blue kit. It's old, like 10 years old maybe even 15. I'll post up test this AM and we can go from there.

As I said in one of my earlier posts, I'm open to suggestions and knowledge, including TFP. Ordinarily I would not be concerned about algae, but did have a flair up, which got me concerned.
 
Do you have a salt water pool?

The basic premises of TFP are:
1. Test your own water with a quality test kit. Pool stores and inaccurate and they are trying to sell you stuff.
2. Keep your FC at the appropriate level based on your CYA. See my signature for the chart.
3. Only put known chemicals in your pool. No pool store magic potions with cool sounding names, but the actual ingredients are a mystery.

My guess is that you have algae and need to SLAM, which is keeping your chlorine level elevated for days/weeks to completely eradicate the algae.
 
jaulbert said:
it's not the basic blue kit. It's old, like 10 years old maybe even 15. I'll post up test this AM and we can go from there.

As I said in one of my earlier posts, I'm open to suggestions and knowledge, including TFP. Ordinarily I would not be concerned about algae, but did have a flair up, which got me concerned.
Click to expand...

Hi, neighbor- I'm just east/south of you in the Spring/Champions area.

Are the REAGENTS in the kit 10 to 15 years old? Because that could definitely be steering you in the wrong direction.

I've seen it said here that controlling algae in your pool through lowering phosphates is a bit like controlling rodents in your house by removing all of your food. You could do it, but there are definitely better approaches.
 
jaulbert said:
it's not the basic blue kit. It's old, like 10 years old maybe even 15. I'll post up test this AM and we can go from there.

As I said in one of my earlier posts, I'm open to suggestions and knowledge, including TFP. Ordinarily I would not be concerned about algae, but did have a flair up, which got me concerned.
Click to expand...
Check the expiration dates on the reagents. If expired, throw them out. Don't bother posting any results from them. Using test results from strips, pool stores or old test kits is the opposite of what we teach here.

Open you say? OK, Mr. Blunt says...

Suggestions:
1. Buy a new test kit. Don't skimp. Buy one from the link that Maddie gave you (post #7 above). Do it today. When you receive the kit, do a full suite of tests and post the results here.
2. Buy a Taylor SpeedStir.
3. When one of the TFP experts asks you a question, answer it. They're looking for data to give you some informed advice. Help them help you.
4. Fill out your signature with everything you know about your pool. Something like mine is especially helpful to the advice-givers that want to help you. Include the kit.

Knowledge:
1. Read this.
2. Then read all of this. I recommend the eBook version, which you can find at the bottom of the same page.
3. Read it again.
 
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