Phosphates in town water supply insanely high

[Katodude]

^^^^^^^^^^

Put a 1 in front of those numbers and I promise you phosphates will never be an issue.

 

[Newdude]

Also, you may beat algae, but algae is harmless.

If you don't maintain a proper CYA/FC relationship, you aren't sanitary. Bacteria, viruses and such will go buck wild while you think you've won the battle.

When you maintain a sanitary pool so that the dangerous things can't grow, the algae can't grow either.

 

[Dirk]

Also, you may beat algae, but algae is harmless.

If you don't maintain a proper CYA/FC relationship, you aren't sanitary. Bacteria, viruses and such will go buck wild while you think you've won the battle.

When you maintain a sanitary pool so that the dangerous things can't grow, the algae can't grow either.

What a great point. Algae in a pool is like the dead canary in a coal mine. No canary, alive or dead, ever caused any injuries in any coal mine, whether they fed it any phosphates or not.

 

[Leebo]

I mean, is that not one single other person on here who can say "yes, Phosguy, i've tried TFP methods too, and for me it just didnt work, only thing that worked was for me to eradicate the phosphates. If the answer is no, there is nobody, then okay, i'm doing it wrong. . (either that or nobody else is using NJ water! ha)

I, myself, am one of the ones who has tinkered extensively with the use of phosphate removers on the forum. I, too, can say that I have seen benefits from using a phosphate remover in our pool. In the past, I’ve reduced phosphates in our water and noticed that the water was less "reactive" to algae. In addition, I personally noticed a reduced amount of chlorine used when our phosphates were low... but there's a catch!

I'm a train wreck!

Between a full-time job, helping run/maintain a larger website, building an app, high school band, softball, dance, Little Flowers, cheer, and lord knows what else I do as a father of 3 daughters, maintaining a pool consistently was rather difficult for me. Before I utilized phosphate removers, I commonly dealt with algae because my FC frequently dropped below the suggested levels—just like yours is now. When this happened, I personally found myself dealing with algae rather quickly. To combat this, I would often attempt to "run hot" and maintain a level well above the target levels to ensure my FC never dropped below the minimum. In fairness, this did help as the number of times my FC dropped below the minimum was reduced. However, if/when I slipped at all, I would be facing algae rather quickly. Additionally, I found that the amount of chlorine I was burning through each day was rather high.

Once I started utilizing a phosphate remover, I found that the water wasn't as "reactive," and if/when I allowed my FC to drop too low, I had a bit of wiggle room to recover. It provided a safety net for me, so when my FC dropped too low—like yours is now—I could act and add chlorine before the algae took hold. Additionally, after I reduced my phosphate levels, I found myself using less chlorine than before, often seeing far less than 2 ppm FC loss per day during the hot summer months.

Long story shot.........

Someone running FC between 2 to 4 is asking for trouble.

This nailed it! Even with very low phosphate levels, you're in a danger zone for algae. Get that chlorine level up and keep it there. Don’t look at phosphate removers as a magic potion—use them only as a safety net for times when you slip (or your testing is inaccurate) and your chlorine levels drop below the minimum.

 

[Phosguy]

Someone running FC between 2 to 4 is asking for trouble.

it got to between 2 and 4 because my Phosphates are creeping back up.. in July and August, after i killed the phosphates it maintained a 5 or 6 FCL at ~60 CYA.. but as the summer went on my phosphates rose (because i've had to add a lot of municipal water?) the FCL is being eaten up or not being produced by the SWG. I'll end this thread here now..

 

[Phosguy]

I, myself, am one of the ones who has tinkered extensively with the use of phosphate removers on the forum. I, too, can say that I have seen benefits from using a phosphate remover in our pool. In the past, I’ve reduced phosphates in our water and noticed that the water was less "reactive" to algae. In addition, I personally noticed a reduced amount of chlorine used when our phosphates were low... but there's a catch!

I'm a train wreck!

Between a full-time job, helping run/maintain a larger website, building an app, high school band, softball, dance, Little Flowers, cheer, and lord knows what else I do as a father of 3 daughters, maintaining a pool consistently was rather difficult for me. Before I utilized phosphate removers, I commonly dealt with algae because my FC frequently dropped below the suggested levels—just like yours is now. When this happened, I personally found myself dealing with algae rather quickly. To combat this, I would often attempt to "run hot" and maintain a level well above the target levels to ensure my FC never dropped below the minimum. In fairness, this did help as the number of times my FC dropped below the minimum was reduced. However, if/when I slipped at all, I would be facing algae rather quickly. Additionally, I found that the amount of chlorine I was burning through each day was rather high.

Once I started utilizing a phosphate remover, I found that the water wasn't as "reactive," and if/when I allowed my FC to drop too low, I had a bit of wiggle room to recover. It provided a safety net for me, so when my FC dropped too low—like yours is now—I could act and add chlorine before the algae took hold. Additionally, after I reduced my phosphate levels, I found myself using less chlorine than before, often seeing far less than 2 ppm FC loss per day during the hot summer months.

Long story shot.........



This nailed it! Even with very low phosphate levels, you're in a danger zone for algae. Get that chlorine level up and keep it there. Don’t look at phosphate removers as a magic potion—use them only as a safety net for times when you slip (or your testing is inaccurate) and your chlorine levels drop below the minimum.

THANK YOU FOR THIS ONE. but here is my issue, when i would try to crank up the chlorine to combat it all i noticed is that i would get the FCL back up and then like a dagger in the heart it would just drop back down again.. one summer i SLAMMED three times! each time within a week i would just be back to square one.. i got tired of spending so much money on Chlorine that it forced me to go the Phosphates route.. and well, it worked. thank you..

 

[Phosguy]

Honeslty, guys.. this 6th year of my pool has been the happiest year i've had the pool.. i went an entire 2 months of decent FCL and first time ever a summer of zero manual scrubbing to get algae away. (just the Robot).. the only reason i even posted here in the first place was because i happened to have checked my phosphate one last time before closing and i saw it high again and i was wondering how it got high again afteri had eradicated it in June.. so i just went to the forum to talk about how to possibly source phoshpate-free water.. im gonna crawl back into my hole now.. if next summer i dont have to add much municipal water i'll report back.

 

[Donldson]

but here is my issue, when i would try to crank up the chlorine to combat it all i noticed is that i would get the FCL back up and then like a dagger in the heart it would just drop back down again.. one summer i SLAMMED three times! each time within a week i would just be back to square one..

Hmm, so you maintained your FC at the absolute bare minimum, no doubt dropping below it on a regular basis, and mysteriously you eventually couldn't maintain your FC. And then if you performed the SLAM Process (which I'm doubting you did to completion, based on your comments) it fixed it. Yet that process doesn't reduce phosphates. It does kill algae, which just so happen to have a habit of eating FC. Phosphates, on the other hand, do not eat chlorine. Very odd that you've concluded beyond a shadow of a doubt that phosphates are the issue here.

But hey, you do you. You posted because phosphate removal is a labor intensive and takes your pool out of service for days. So options not requiring phosphate control were offered and to a one you shot each down. I suppose you have reasons for not wanting to change anything, just curious that you would post if that's the case.

 

[mas985]

I, myself, am one of the ones who has tinkered extensively with the use of phosphate removers on the forum. I, too, can say that I have seen benefits from using a phosphate remover in our pool. In the past, I’ve reduced phosphates in our water and noticed that the water was less "reactive" to algae. In addition, I personally noticed a reduced amount of chlorine used when our phosphates were low... but there's a catch!

I'm a train wreck!

Between a full-time job, helping run/maintain a larger website, building an app, high school band, softball, dance, Little Flowers, cheer, and lord knows what else I do as a father of 3 daughters, maintaining a pool consistently was rather difficult for me. Before I utilized phosphate removers, I commonly dealt with algae because my FC frequently dropped below the suggested levels—just like yours is now. When this happened, I personally found myself dealing with algae rather quickly. To combat this, I would often attempt to "run hot" and maintain a level well above the target levels to ensure my FC never dropped below the minimum. In fairness, this did help as the number of times my FC dropped below the minimum was reduced. However, if/when I slipped at all, I would be facing algae rather quickly. Additionally, I found that the amount of chlorine I was burning through each day was rather high.

Once I started utilizing a phosphate remover, I found that the water wasn't as "reactive," and if/when I allowed my FC to drop too low, I had a bit of wiggle room to recover. It provided a safety net for me, so when my FC dropped too low—like yours is now—I could act and add chlorine before the algae took hold. Additionally, after I reduced my phosphate levels, I found myself using less chlorine than before, often seeing far less than 2 ppm FC loss per day during the hot summer months.

Long story shot.........



This nailed it! Even with very low phosphate levels, you're in a danger zone for algae. Get that chlorine level up and keep it there. Don’t look at phosphate removers as a magic potion—use them only as a safety net for times when you slip (or your testing is inaccurate) and your chlorine levels drop below the minimum.

This has been my experience/situation as well and why I pay attention to phosphate levels. For me, it makes pool maintenance just a little easier.

 

[dereksanders]

From what I gathered here is this. Keep your FC in line with CYA/FC guidelines and work on phosphates if you choose to. Shouldn’t be an philosophical disagreement.

 

[AUSpool]

With almost 15 years of TFP over two pools I’ve used no phosphate removers or algacides. My goal is 7ppm FC with a CyA of 70ppm over summer and 5ppm/50ppm over winter. Removing phosphates takes a bit of work to do it properly. Test for phosphate, buy the treatment, add the product, mix well, let it settle, vacuum to waste and test again to confirm the results. A good phosphate remover is not cheep, it takes fair bit of time and effort to apply and washes a lot of water. I think I would rather go through a slam but by keeping my FC/CyA at ~10% I’ve avoided that too.

But being inquisitive I have a test kit for PO4’s - last time I checked I was at 100ppb. No action required.

There is anecdotal evidence that reducing high phosphates will improve the efficiency of a SWCG.

@Phosguy Welcome to TFP. But please excuse me for being a little skeptical. Your first post as phosguy about phosphate removing with a name branded product. Give TFP a go. With a CyA of 60ppm target a FC of 6ppm. Threat that as your minimum. If you’re testing weekly that should be easily doable. Dropping down to a FC of 2ppm is a recipe for an algae disaster. Your SWG may be a tad small, think about the T 5 if you ever need to replace the cell. Use as much rain water as you can, that helps for those with high alkalinity in there tap water too.