Aloha Tammi!
OK, here's my perspective on it (a pool service guy in the "tropical jungle" eastern tip of the Big Island--average 8" of rain per month)...remember there are always differences from area to area, and "funny" things tend to crop up with swimming pools...but here goes:
Borates are fantastic, but not an "ends all problems" answer for pools. I truly believe they will NOT solve any high phosphate issues (and believe me, I've seen them here too, even in well water drawn from the aquifer at the ocean's edge--probably from fertilizers making their way into the water table), so those phosphates will still have to be treated with something that will absorb them out of the water. Once you get them down to workable levels, the fact that you have borates in the water should work as a decent preventative against new algae (I actually consider it to be a "chlorine helper"--just something that makes it easier for the chlorine to do its work). But the most important things are still the pH and chlorine levels (adjusted for CYA level). I almost never have algae problems with my SWCG pools...but my pools that have no residents present and are on Trichlor tablets have to be watched carefully for the dreaded "climbing CYA" problem. Many customers today want me to take care of their pools just twice a month, and living on the edge of the ocean 19 degrees North of the equator, surrounded with TONS of trees, algae, lichen, moss, and mold, it is a difficult task to keep a pool perfect or troublefree! But using the knowledge made available by the folks pitching in on this forum has certainly made my work easier...so hats off to all you helpers!
Here are my experiences getting multiple pools treated with Borates: Even WallyWorld will be resistant to selling huge amounts of Borax to you...I had to find other sources. Related compounds are available at my local "farm supply" companies...I DO NOT recommend using Granubor (too dirty and takes too long to dissolve), but Solubor seems to be the one that is meant to dissolve quickly, and is even stronger than the Borax, so you will have to change the recipe you use to treat pools. It comes in 50 pound bags, something you will appreciate with the amount of pools you want to treat. Richard (the Chem Geek) has a message he can refer you to that shows the relative strengths and their recipe ratios.
Now maybe someone can help me...I have been unable to find good test strips for borates. I've ordered the AquaCheck test strips from a water filtration online store in California, but the strips are worthless to me. They don't ever seem to match the colors on the label, and when I test against rainwater (which should have no borates in it), it comes out even more confusing. I understand most of the folks on this forum use the LaMotte brand...and I'd sure love to know where I can find them. My big pool supply store doesn't carry them. The link for the Canadian provider of the borate titration kit takes me to a website that looks like it was designed in 1994... can't get it to work for me! Any ideas, folks?