Phosphates

[Mackhatter]

Hello all,

I have been enjoying my newly-glass coated indoor pool for awhile. Since I have a Chemtrol automatic dispenser, maintenance has been next to nothing. What I have noticed is some debris in the bottom near the return outlets. After vacuuming them up several times, I had enough to take to my local pool guy to find out what it was. Taking a sample of water, it ended up being phosphates in the water that was coating my heat exchanger and subsequently flaking off. They did an analysis and yes, my water was high in phosphates. They said for some reason last year, the water spiked in phosphate content and that was about the time I replaced my water after the GlassCoat process.

So I installed clean filter cartridges and in went some phosphate remover and as I was told the water went cloudy. The directions say the cloudiness should dissipate after 48 hours. My pool guy said to wait that long, or more and here, put this clarifier in to bring the water back to clear. You guessed it- it was a bottle of something blue, and I know how blue chemicals are viewed around here.

So, in lieu of blue, what should I do instead? And yes Marty, my water has stayed “gin clear” thanks to everyone’s advice.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Leebo]

Let’s start simple as I call rubbish advice from the store....

what’s your test results including your phosphate level? While phosphate scale is a real thing, I don’t that’s what occurred. The cloudy water will clear on its own, do not use the clarifier as it will gunk up your filter. Let it clear on its own.

 

[Mackhatter]

I’ll get back with the results. The store did the test and said only that it was “very high”. My kit doesn’t have that test available.

 

[tim5055]

I’ll get back with the results. The store did the test and said only that it was “very high”. My kit doesn’t have that test available.

Your test kit doesn't have that test because it is not something that really needs to be tracked. Pool stores test for it because it's a problem they can sell you a very expensive solution for. If you did have an issue that a phosphate remover would solve there are much better option than what the pool store sells. There are commercial removers that are not just waterered down mixtures like the pool store sells for too much money.

As Lee said, it will clear. Return the clarifier to them.

 

[mguzzy]

yes it will clear on its own.. but it still will gunk up your filter. You don't need to use the blue stuff. I would spray off your cartridges after the cloudiness is gone...BTW which phosphate remover product did you use? I'm curious how they determined the flaking was phosphate based? I don't know of any pool stores with a mass spectrometer.

On a side note, its typically believed here that phosphates will not have a bearing on algae control if you maintain the right FC/CYA levels. And that should be true for most. . There does seem to be some evidence that it can affect some equipment. The jury is still out on that.