So you want to add borates to your pool--Why and How

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My pool was completed last week, and I did the deal yesterday! You should have seen my wife's and teenage daughter's faces and heard their comments as I poured the Muriatic acid & 20 Mule Team Borax in! Talk about a clean smell! I cleaned out both Walmarts in the area!

Is there anything better to measure my levels with? I can't stand the dip strips which I currently have. It just too hard to figure out what color it is and what level it correlates with. The range is just too great for my liking. Is there a liquid drop test available with a readily apparent change in color?

Thanks,
Dennis
 
JasonLion said:
Fortunately it isn't important to hit the borate level exactly. Anything from around 30 to around 80 is alright. If you aim for 50, I doubt you will be far enough off to get out of that range.
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Thanks, JasonLion! That's good to know. It's like playing horseshoes!

-Dennis
 

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To add borates to the pool, you either add Borax AND Muriatic Acid (added separately) or you just add Boric Acid. Borax is a base so will raise the pH while boric acid is only slightly acidic so just somewhat lowers the pH, but even at 50 ppm it's like lowering from 7.5 to 7.2 so can be easily adjusted with some aeration or a small amount of Borax.
 
blue pool said:
I had a hard time getting my ph to rise, I needed about 5-7 boxes of borax and areated. Do I need to test my borate level?
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Not really - that amount of Borax would only have raised your Borate level by 10-15.
(you can determine this by using the "Effects of Adding Chemicals" section of the Pool Calculator. :wink: )
 
I would like to raise my borate level from 30 to 50 and my numbers are very good except for TA of 60. My PH is 7.3/4 and steady.
I found PIC Roach Killer at Walgreens for 2.99/lb, ingredients are Orthoboric acid 99%. Is this OK to use?
 
Someone earlier in this thread mentioned adding something called "soft touch conditioner". Is this something that can be used in place of the borax 20 mule/acid? I assume this doesn't change the PH when added?

If this can be used, how to you calculate how much to add?

I found some in a pool store not far from me called "soft touch conditioner", and for directions, it just said add 2kg/10,000 liters of water, but didn't mention anything about how much in ppm this adds.
 
They compare it to Proteam Supreme, which is like Borax and requires acid, and to BioGuard Optimizer Plus, which used to be borax but is apparently now boric acid and doesn't require acid, so it's hard to know which this is. You'll have to look at the label to see if the instructions say it requires any addition of acid to compensate for pH.
 

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