New member, new pool, Bbb Method

[Rkkenyon]

Hi folks, new member, first post. We filled our pool Thanksgiving 2019, been self maintaining since day 1 with a mixture of Clorox, HTH and Leslie's products. Primarily using tabs to chlorinated, dry packets to shock weekly, muriatic acid and baking soda to adjust. I did use Perfect Weekly and No Phos from Leslie's for a few months. No major problems thus far but probably spending too much on chemicals.
Moving forward I'll be following the methods prescribed in this forum. Regarding the use of borate, is it recommended to use Borax only to adjust PH as needed or is it suggested to add enough to get borate to 30-50ppm to start, then small adjustments as needed?

 

[Newdude]

Hey RK and Welcome !!

a mixture of Clorox, HTH and Leslie's products. Primarily using tabs to chlorinated, dry packets to shock weekly, muriatic acid and baking soda to adjust. I did use Perfect Weekly and No Phos from Leslie's

there are 5 words above and *ONLY* words that you are allowed to keep doing. Muriatic acid and Baking Soda. Throw all the rest of it out.

In the States, every kind of Clorox bleach has some sort of additive whether color max, floofy scents or binding agents to make it splash less. Other countries still have old skool Clorox that’s ok. Yes even the pool specific line is no good for pools. You want straight liquid chlorine. No frills generic bleach. It’s sold at a higher concentration in the pool aisle as liquid shock or less concentrated on the cleaning aisle. Use PoolMath and adjust for the strength.

-Tabs will either raise your CYA or your Calcium. Neither leaves the pool significantly without draining or waiting for 4 ft of rain water. Save them for if you need to go on Vacation. They last a long time

dry packets to shock weekly

There will be no need to shock the pool if you follow ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry. The pool store comes once a week and needs to spike the FC so it lasts until next week. Or every few weeks they need to just dump boatloads of chlorine in the pool and pray it fixes whatever wasn’t properly maintained. You will be maintaining yours evenly and daily so remove all that from your memory.

I did use Perfect Weekly and No Phos

No need for magic potions with TFP. Also, while it’s true that a combination of nitrates and phosphates is ‘algae food’ , If your chlorine levels are where they need to be per the FC/CYA Levels you simply cannot have algae and you can have all the algae food you want. Go buy 12 cans of dog food. It doesn’t give you any more dogs than you already have. Those 12 cans can sit on your shelf for years and they will never make a dog appear. So we don’t bother with phosphates unless it’s in the thousands which is rare.

So, to recap. Welcome. Purchase a TF-100 from tftestkits.net and a speedstir to make it even easier. It costs less than one trip to Leslies and it will keep you out of there forever unless you want to buy a float / thermometer etc.

Read up on pool school in ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry

ask away any questions In the right section for better eyes on it.

to answer your borax question, It depends. Borates can sometimes stabilize a swinging PH, so members may decide to try them. If that’s the case then yes, Target 75% of your end result and go from there with little adjustments. This is a good rule for any additions until you are sure of how your pool reacts to them. Most times it’s as simple as the PB miscalculating the pool volume so people overshoot by a mile and then have to correct the correction.

 

[CrystalRiver]

Your choice. Trying to get borates up only by using Borax to adjust pH is going to take forever. It's normal for pH to naturally rise on its own through carbon dioxide outgassing. Most people only need to add acid.

 

[Rkkenyon]

Hey RK and Welcome !!




there are 5 words above and *ONLY* words that you are allowed to keep doing. Muriatic acid and Baking Soda. Throw all the rest of it out.

In the States, every kind of Clorox bleach has some sort of additive whether color max, floofy scents or binding agents to make it splash less. Other countries still have old skool Clorox that’s ok. Yes even the pool specific line is no good for pools. You want straight liquid chlorine. No frills generic bleach. It’s sold at a higher concentration in the pool aisle as liquid shock or less concentrated on the cleaning aisle. Use PoolMath and adjust for the strength.

-Tabs will either raise your CYA or your Calcium. Neither leaves the pool significantly without draining or waiting for 4 ft of rain water. Save them for if you need to go on Vacation. They last a long time

There will be no need to shock the pool if you follow ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry. The pool store comes once a week and needs to spike the FC so it lasts until next week. Or every few weeks they need to just dump boatloads of chlorine in the pool and pray it fixes whatever wasn’t properly maintained. You will be maintaining yours evenly and daily so remove all that from your memory.

No need for magic potions with TFP. Also, while it’s true that a combination of nitrates and phosphates is ‘algae food’ , If your chlorine levels are where they need to be per the FC/CYA Levels you simply cannot have algae and you can have all the algae food you want. Go buy 12 cans of dog food. It doesn’t give you any more dogs than you already have. Those 12 cans can sit on your shelf for years and they will never make a dog appear. So we don’t bother with phosphates unless it’s in the thousands which is rare.

So, to recap. Welcome. Purchase a TF-100 from tftestkits.net and a speedstir to make it even easier. It costs less than one trip to Leslies and it will keep you out of there forever unless you want to buy a float / thermometer etc.

Read up on pool school in ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry

ask away any questions In the right section for better eyes on it.

to answer your borax question, It depends. Borates can sometimes stabilize a swinging PH, so members may decide to try them. If that’s the case then yes, Target 75% of your end result and go from there with little adjustments. This is a good rule for any additions until you are sure of how your pool reacts to them. Most times it’s as simple as the PB miscalculating the pool volume so people overshoot by a mile and then have to correct the correction.

Thanks for info, got lots of studying to do. Much appreciated