mguzzy
Gold Supporter
So tried Everything?! So you did converted to Chlorine and back again at some point and never told us you sly dog! BTW... I see you changed your avatar.. that's kewl.. Your secret location is safe with me.
Still didn't open this season yet...somehow just don't have the enthusiasm to do it....anybody else (in the 60+ age group) feel the same way??
- Thread starter anthonypool89
- Start date
What secret location might you be referring to? The avatar is of the local lake, which in and of itself is a source of controversy....LONG story, as I likely alluded to in previous posts.I see you changed your avatar.. that's kewl.. Your secret location is safe with me.
Just added first dose of LIne Cleaner...filter pressure holding around 13-14. Last year the issue with frequent filter cleanings / constant pressure increases started on June 10 (after opening on 5/26). Then, the fields right next to the pool were cut on the 15th - after that, all you-know-what broke loose. I still say a large part of my problem over the years is the proximity to actively-worked farm fields on 3 sides of the pool. VERY close on the west side (as in - when the farmer is going by with the baler or whatever other equipment, I can easily wave to him - not more than 20 ft from the edge of the pool - field is not quite as close to the north, and a bit farther to the east, but still....we get lots of wind here so whatever is coming off the fields can easily wind up in the water. You can't tell me that all this does not have some impact. OH...forgot to mention the chicken manure pit that is a few hundred feet from the house.....
I live in the middle of a 150 acre field. Depending on the year, I’m surrounded by soy beans, corn, tobacco, or wheat. Your right, when it’s time for harvest, the pool is full of whatever they are picking at the time. Soy beans are the worst, the whole house turns brown from the dust. During that week they are harvesting whatever is in the field i run the chlorine just above normal range but below slam level and clean the skimmers twice a day. My pool was finished last fall and I’ve had no issues through picking corn last fall and wheat this spring. Lots of Crud in the skimmer but that’s about it.
I have to battle all of these trees. Next year I'm going to cut them down.
Wow! Yeah, you have a good number of them for sure. The closest (large) tree to our pool is the neighbor's. It's super tall but also doesn't appear to be in real good shape. If that sucker comes down it'll likely do significant damage to the pool (or worse). I shudder to think. A few weeks ago he asked me if I know of a good tree service - so I gave him the name of one, but - while a nice guy - he's often away for his business and - putting it kindly - landscaping-related issues are not real high on his list. The former owner of the property, who kept everything very neat, would be appalled. We have a maple tree that is also quite large and it, too, is probably to close to the pool - had some trimming done on it a few years ago but could benefit from more. I know I'd get so much more sun on the pool if both trees were gone, but would hate to get rid of the maple and surely can't do a thing about the other one. I'd be more than happy to see the neighbor's tree go or at least see him have it cut way back. Then again, I'd be happy if he'd whack down some of the poison ivy and mini-forest that he's got growing these past few years between huge evergreens right next to the property line! It's a mess, really. I've been told by more than one tree service that we had over here that the neighbor's tree is a fast-growing but poor quality species- which makes me even more fearful of how it'd hold up if some really strong storm came along.
Good luck with your idea of getting rid of them - if you burn wood you'll probably wind up with well more than a lifetime's supply!
OK, here goes. Unfortunately all posts about baquacil are replied to with "why arent you switching to chlorine" but Anthony I have been following your postings here to get some help over the last year and I thought I'd post up my experience in case it helps you. I have an indoor pool and will not accept the potential hazard of some unexpected issue where chlorine gets generated indoors and will stick with baquacil. I will eliminate my pool before switching to chlorine, so I am always looking for ways to deal with the chemistry more effectively. Something to keep in mind that will be different for me is that my pool does not get very much environmental stress at all because of the building - my chemical use is pretty minimal and my main worry seems to be keeping ahead of white water mold. My biggest problem is keeping the pool warm enough to swim in, and i have a heat pump doing that - this also means that there is so little sunlight that my pool is probably more susceptible than usual to the mold. Anyway, I here are some anecdotal details that you might find helpful.
from your posts, i looked around for that "Assist" product you've mentioned and can't find it either. I spoke with another customer at the pool store who uses baquacil about long-term usage and he emphasized the importance of keeping up with chemical addition and was happy - so that gave me some confidence to keep going. I was dealing with mold at the time and tried a few things. One of them is the "Line Clean" product.
First off, Line Clean is just potassium persulfate - KSO5 (i have seen several different names but this is the simple formula). No need to buy the expensive stuff. This is actually the same chemical in the "In the Swim" chlorine-free shock. So, I have bought a case of the 1 pound bags of this stuff and use it. I basically follow baquacil's directions for application of Line Clean.
Second, the persulfate reacts with both the hydrogen peroxide and the biguanide - so when you apply it you will see the color changes associated with oxidizing the biquanide in a chlorine conversion. At best, my pool turns yellow-green ( I have learned to use only as much as I need ). I did consider running my pool with the persulfate rather than peroxide, but it will consume your biguanide so I am now basically using it as my shock, and follow baquacil instructions for Line Clean use. I have had good luck with it this season. I am sure you know how to use this, but i post all this because I have found it very effective for my pool - which was to kill all of the white mold before season start up. This season, I did the Line Clean process twice, two weeks apart, while the pool was cold, and after adding in the peroxide and biquanide my water has been good for a month. I learned to hate the white mold last year because i was not adding enough peroxide and my levels were too low for too long.
Another thing to consider is this. This year, while considering switching to chlorine and deciding against it, I convinced myself that I could benefit from using boron (borax). I was initially interested in the pH buffer effect you'll get so that my pH levels would be one less worry, but I later found out that boron also helps control the mold. I am only at 30 ppm boron, and as I said, my water has been great. I will post again later in this season whether i have issues or not this year.
My focus now is maintenance. I dont need anything like the recommended levels of peroxide and biguanide suggested for my pool, but I do think the weekly maintenance is important. The question for me is how much to add - and i am running samples to my store more often than I'd like to check on things. I also located some hydrogen peroxide test strips that work in water (we use these where i work to test organic solvents), and I am hopeful that i will be able to track my peroxide level effectively with them (my last sample showed over 100 ppm peroxide when i was expecting about half that...).
Last thing. I have been using pool socks in my skimmers for the last 18 months, but this year's maintenance has shown how well they are working for me. the baquacil generates this tan or orange light flock while it is working, and using these pool socks - I use two layers - collects quite a bit of this material during normal use, saving my filter (sand filter). They were also very effective during my cleanout work earlier - I changed them out at least every day while the persulfate was working and generating a lot of baquacil decomposition. This protected my filter so well that I've only had to do one backwash this year. Unfortunately the previous owner set up the filter and pump in a location where it is very difficult to do a typical hose cleanout or change filter media so I rely on backwashing to reset the filter.
I hope this helps.
-Poolhockey
from your posts, i looked around for that "Assist" product you've mentioned and can't find it either. I spoke with another customer at the pool store who uses baquacil about long-term usage and he emphasized the importance of keeping up with chemical addition and was happy - so that gave me some confidence to keep going. I was dealing with mold at the time and tried a few things. One of them is the "Line Clean" product.
First off, Line Clean is just potassium persulfate - KSO5 (i have seen several different names but this is the simple formula). No need to buy the expensive stuff. This is actually the same chemical in the "In the Swim" chlorine-free shock. So, I have bought a case of the 1 pound bags of this stuff and use it. I basically follow baquacil's directions for application of Line Clean.
Second, the persulfate reacts with both the hydrogen peroxide and the biguanide - so when you apply it you will see the color changes associated with oxidizing the biquanide in a chlorine conversion. At best, my pool turns yellow-green ( I have learned to use only as much as I need ). I did consider running my pool with the persulfate rather than peroxide, but it will consume your biguanide so I am now basically using it as my shock, and follow baquacil instructions for Line Clean use. I have had good luck with it this season. I am sure you know how to use this, but i post all this because I have found it very effective for my pool - which was to kill all of the white mold before season start up. This season, I did the Line Clean process twice, two weeks apart, while the pool was cold, and after adding in the peroxide and biquanide my water has been good for a month. I learned to hate the white mold last year because i was not adding enough peroxide and my levels were too low for too long.
Another thing to consider is this. This year, while considering switching to chlorine and deciding against it, I convinced myself that I could benefit from using boron (borax). I was initially interested in the pH buffer effect you'll get so that my pH levels would be one less worry, but I later found out that boron also helps control the mold. I am only at 30 ppm boron, and as I said, my water has been great. I will post again later in this season whether i have issues or not this year.
My focus now is maintenance. I dont need anything like the recommended levels of peroxide and biguanide suggested for my pool, but I do think the weekly maintenance is important. The question for me is how much to add - and i am running samples to my store more often than I'd like to check on things. I also located some hydrogen peroxide test strips that work in water (we use these where i work to test organic solvents), and I am hopeful that i will be able to track my peroxide level effectively with them (my last sample showed over 100 ppm peroxide when i was expecting about half that...).
Last thing. I have been using pool socks in my skimmers for the last 18 months, but this year's maintenance has shown how well they are working for me. the baquacil generates this tan or orange light flock while it is working, and using these pool socks - I use two layers - collects quite a bit of this material during normal use, saving my filter (sand filter). They were also very effective during my cleanout work earlier - I changed them out at least every day while the persulfate was working and generating a lot of baquacil decomposition. This protected my filter so well that I've only had to do one backwash this year. Unfortunately the previous owner set up the filter and pump in a location where it is very difficult to do a typical hose cleanout or change filter media so I rely on backwashing to reset the filter.
I hope this helps.
-Poolhockey
Cledee that's a beautiful spot you have there. I used to live in Groton, wish I'd known you then
Strange. The Line Clean instructions say to add to skimmer with a note that if you add it directly to the pool, the water may turn green. When i was using it, i never had the water change color.
Wow...thanks so much for all that info. It's nice to get an encouraging post compared to the usual "you need to switch to chlorine" variety. If you've been reading my posts from last year, you undoubtedly know about the fiasco I ran into with doing a heavy-duty algae treatment right on top of a line-clean treatment. Stupidest thing I've ever done with the two treatments so close together; however, subscribing to the old adage that 'good often comes from bad', I started using Line Clean as a weekly treatment. There are seemingly no instructions for doing so but I started adding 1/2 pound just about every week. Line Clean followed by 1/2 gallon of peroxide 3 days later, followed by Line Clean again 4 days after that. It worked like a charm from mid-August through the end of the season with virtually no problems. No mold, clear water, easy-peasy. Hated to close the pool when it came time. This season the jury is still out on how things will go relative to filter cleanings. So far it has been more than I was hoping for, but it has also been a bit of an unusually rainy spring thus far. Thankfully there were NO issues whatsoever with the recent field cutting / raking / baling by the farmer who works the field right next to the pool. That surprised me. Last year things went crazy immediately after that. This time, however, water stayed clear. The water has really never seemed better. Reminds me of immediately after it was refilled following the renovation. When mold becomes a problem, as you undoubtedly know, the water has a different feel and smell to it. I'm not experiencing any of that. Hate to get out of the pool everytime I'm in it. That has not always been the case for sure. One thing I've always liked about baquacil is that there's really no need to test the water every day. I'll check the biguanide level every few days, plus add occasional algicide. Admittedly, my peroxide tests always show a level that calls for more, but, hey, if the water's clear - it's clear - and good enough for me. The line clean is possibly mitigating whatever ill effects might otherwise result from neglecting to add enough peroxide (?) In the past, as you also probably well know, the water can start to cloud quickly if peroxide level is too low. Plus, with using the line clean, I've reduced my CDX use by over half. Again, just doesn't seem to need it.
Oh well..."knock on wood" as the saying goes for good luck. Watch all heck break loose now that I've written this glowing endorsement for line clean....
That's what I do. I also have never seen any sort of color change since using it.
Ahh....somewhat different situation, from what everyone tells me, relative to using biguanide, compared to DE. Basically pool store advice, but have heard from others as well that sand works better with biguanide - less issues with the mold, etc. (?) I can't speak to it though having never used sand.
Interesting...never used that either.
Yes...I'm wondering if this could well be the key to making biguanide work long-term. I'm cautiously optimistic and am still open to converting to chlorine if things turn out to not go as well as I'm hoping for. I do think, though, that I might now be at the same place where I was last summer after things settled down with the fumes and strong odor. IF I still need to change the DE on a weekly basis AND the water stays in good shape without having to deal with accumulations of mold/slime, I can live with it. Is a weekly cleaning more than I prefer? Definitely, but I'll take that over converting back to chlorine at this point. That conversion process, for one thing, sounds like as much (or more) work as possibly all the filter cleanings I could wind up doing for an entire season, with the exception, of course, being that once it (the conversion) is done, it's done. All the above being said, if I wind up in a situation where the filter pressure goes up significantly every 3-4 days, I can't do that. Then it's time for a conversion to see what would be different at least with regards to the filter. People here using DE and chlorine report hardly ever having to change the DE. That does indeed hold some appeal. Can't even remember what that was like anymore.
It was discontinued. I think I managed to find one of the last containers (and this was probably 3+ years ago by now) online- possibly eBay - and the seller was charging an exhorbitant price....kinda like toilet paper during the start of the pandemic
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Penny wise and pound foolish old friend !!!
You have many years left on this ride called life. Upgrade the dang ride and enjoy years of fun times with smooth operation. Stop throwing good money at a bad ride.
Plus, the conversion is right up your alley. You are a tinkerer and will enjoy seeing it through. You are also free to babysit it which will speed the process along. The psychedelic colors that ensue will give you fond memories of the 60s.
Are you referring to the Buick or the pool?
Or both.....? Actually, you're probably right. It's an intriguing prospect in that regard.
lol....like my days of playing "In a gadda da vida" at wedding receptions...still have the old Iron Butterfly LP (on vinyl, of course). Recently started selling some stuff I don't listen to anymore on eBay. Amazing what people will come across and buy. Just sold an old Burt Bacharach album to a guy in Manila (!). He paid $27 shipping on a $8.50 album. Amazing. Probably a collector.
Again....the buick or the pool??!! If the buick, it's WAY too late in the game for that. I alwasy said I helped put my mechanic's kid through college with that car. For many years it liked the service station's parking lot better than my own garage.
No no no no !!! Both the Buick and the Apollo filter deserve to be kept alive for future use at the Smithsonian. The Baqua has to go.
mguzzy
Gold Supporter
If you drive the Buick into the pool... you solve both challenges at once!
The whole 20 minutes! MAN! that is a LONG Dad's dance... I'm gonna have to remember that one when I marry off my daughter!
LOL...yeah, man, and if my drummer had a few too many beers during our breaks, that long solo got a little out-of-kilter at times!!! I always loved noodling around with the organ solo though. Being a church organist, it just felt like being at the console doing some D minor improv. Funny how ALL that early music has had an impact on how I play. I occasionally find myself slipping into something similar to Rick Wakeman's chord progressions from his days with YES.
mguzzy
Gold Supporter
Early bets?!.. I think there is a PM thread somewhere with a pool going.
(ah hah... I made a pun
)