SWG/Ozone/Nature 2

Jump to latest Follow Reply
N

NardelliM

0
Jun 9, 2010
4
Hello,
I will soon join the ranks of pool owners. I would like some advice on pool cleaners. I am leaning toward a Nature 2 mineral cleaner with chlorine as well. Can anyone give me advice on Nature 2, SWG, and Ozone? Can I use any together (such as Nature 2 and SWG or Ozone and Nature 2?) Would any combinations be 'overkill?' I have 2 small children and want the best water quality for them without the affects of straight Cl (burning eyes, bad smell, etc.)
 
Not that I am an expert or what not but I do know that a chlorine system is your best bet. If you follow what these guys say and keep everything in check and have a tf100 test kit you will have a trouble free pool.

Burning eyes is caused from no salt in the water (assuming you dont have SWG). My SWG suggest 3200ppm and me and my kids can open our eyes under water and no burning at all. Does not hurt. The 3200ppm is close to the salinity of your body, which is why NON-SWG's can irritate your eyes.

Now thats not 100%. If you dont keep your chems in check on your pool, those things could probably cause eye irritation as well. pH off, high/low FC (low FC means something is living in your water). If you smell chlorine, then something is trying to live in your pool.

At any rate I am sure that everyone will agree to stay away from the mineral systems.
 
Welcome to TFP.

Go with the SWCG. You have to have chlorine in the water to be safe, and the use of other systems doesn't change that.

Burning eyes and a chlorine smell are symptoms of a poorly maintained pool. My pool is at 5ppm chlorine, which most pool stores will tell you is way too high, but you can't smell it even if you put it in a container and hold it to your face. When chlorine combines with body waste or other organic debris, if there isn't enough chlorine in the pool, you get an odor.

As paxination said, salt in the water makes the pool much easier on the eyes and the skin.

Steer clear of the Nature2. It adds metal to the water. Copper is a great algaecide, but it's not very good at controlling bacteria, viruses or other pathogens. The copper can cause staining of pool surfaces and your hair and even fingernails. Proper chlorination makes the N2 useless at best, and a nusance if copper levels aren't controlled by water exchange.

The ozonator is a question mark. It can make the pool a little more sanitary, but I don't think it is necessary in a residential pool. There are a couple of bugs that chlorine isn't very good at getting rid of: Cryptosporidium and Giardia. Both are parasites. An ozonator will get rid of those two, but the odds of them showing up in your residential pool are slim to start with, and if you do swim with someone infected with either of these, there is a good chance of being infected before the water has a chance to circulate through the ozonator.

Personally I'd go with the SWCG alone. Research Giardia and Crypto to see what you think of the ozonator. I thinks it's a waste of money, but everyone has a different threshold of risk, and a different mix of bathers in their pool.
 
We owned a Nature 2 for about 10 years. I am not sure it ever actually did anything. The cartridge is/was around 100$. I was constantly battling the mustard algae. We have a different house and pool now and I would never consider installing Nature 2 again. Currently I am hand dosing 10% bleach and the pool looks fantastic. If I was starting fresh.. SWG is the way I would go. Limestone and SWG don't play well together.
 
And I keep my pools FC in the higher range. I dont like my FC to drop below 5! I have noticed here lately with my pool living under the tree's it gets alot of debris and Crud loads of bugs in it. So it drops like 3ppm a day. I try to keep it about 8ppm. My suggested FC range based on my CYA level is 2-8. So I like it closer to 8. And numbers above 8 wont hurt you in any way as I have had it higher than 8 before and swam in it and all is good. Even at that level you dont smell it or any burning eyes!

simicrintz said:
I'm just going to go get a cold drink, make some popcorn, and sit back and enjoy the show :cool:

Welcome to the 'page! Opinions will be along soon!
Click to expand...

LOL! :lol:
 
I had a Nature 2 on the pool when we bought it. Worthless. Although the copper/silver can kill bacteria what do you do with them and all the other organic load from sweat, skin, leaves etc. Nature doesn't remove any o this stuff, that is why you need an oxidizer. Chlorine and ozone both work, however you can afford the chlorine system while most people can't afford to buy enough ozone production capacity to do the job right.

Get a SWG. I love mine.
Thumbs up for borates too.
 
If your pool is outside, you don't need an ozonator. The sun will give you way, way, way more UV light than any ozonator system can and it does it for free.

Things like the Pool Frog and the Nature 2 system do nothing more than add minerals to your water. These minerals (in the form of metal ions) cause staining to pool surfaces. Not only that, but they are very slow to effect their antimicrobial action (hours compared to seconds with chlorine). Metals are also the culprit when it comes to blonde hair turning green when exposed to pool water. Blonde hair turns green because of copper in the water and not because of chlorine.

Chlorine is best. It's the cheapest and works better than anything. The only time that chlorine results in a odor is when there isn't enough chlorine in the water. Bad smells and burning eyes are the result of chlorine byproducts (combined chloramines where there isn't enough free chlorine to oxidize the byproducts). Even at shock levels above 10 ppm in my pool, there is no odor of chlorine at all. Properly chlorinated water has no more odor than does pure water. Sometimes, I can actually tell that my pool need more chlorine based on odor alone.

I also have a little girl (4 years old). I trust the science behind these principles and chlorine as a sanitizer. As it stands, my family has gotten to a point where they would opt to not swim in other pools because they enjoy not having the burning eyes and the stinky smell that comes with sub par water balance.

Like JohnT said, a SWCG is an excellent way to go.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply