- May 23, 2015
- 25,693
- Pool Size
- 16000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
I kinda knew this was going to happen but decided to do it anyway ...
You can see my PoolMath logs for the latest test results. I added an 8oz start up dose of SKILL-IT algaecide (BioDex) to see if it would help with wasp control. We have mud-daubers (paper wasps) around here and they LOOOOVE pool water. I get 2 or 3 wasps per day landing on the pool water surface many times per hour and then watch them as they fly off to their nests in the neighbors yards. Once I had a wasps nest INSIDE the bathroom exhaust vent pipe up at the roof. Had to spend quite a few days blocking off the vent, poisoning the the nest and then covering the roof cap with plastic so that they would all die. What a PITA!! So whenever I see a wasp at my pool, I always tend to watch it to see where it flies off to. If it heads towards my roof, I get up on the ladder and go on a wasp hunt. Thankfully no more nests up there since the last one.
The interesting part to me is that there are two theories to how SKILL-IT works - (1) either the chemical is displeasing to, or kills, the wasps when they draw up water, OR, (2) the primary chemical in SKILL-IT is both an algaecide and a surfactant and the surfactant changes the surface tension of the water enough to make the wasps not able to walk on the water.
I won't have enough evidence to decide which is which, BUT, if you look at the photo with the aerator setup (its a Venturi aerator that I screwed into my waterfall's auxiliary return line), the bubbles being generated by it are champagne size and very diffuse. Before adding SKILL-IT, that aerator would simply put out huge, globular bubbles like the kind you get by blowing back through a straw in water. So the SKILL-IT definitely changes the surface tension of the water as that is the only way that you could get such a drastic change in bubble sizes.
Suffice it to say that the stuff pours like Palmolive dish soap ... and has nice fruity aroma ... not that I'm sniffing the chemicals or anything ....
Note that this stuff is what TFP calls a "cheap, linear quat algaecide" and so it is known that these algaecides breakdown easily from chlorine and eventually dissipate. So even if nothing changes for me, the bubbles should be gone in a week or so as I tend to run the FC on the hot side.
You can see my PoolMath logs for the latest test results. I added an 8oz start up dose of SKILL-IT algaecide (BioDex) to see if it would help with wasp control. We have mud-daubers (paper wasps) around here and they LOOOOVE pool water. I get 2 or 3 wasps per day landing on the pool water surface many times per hour and then watch them as they fly off to their nests in the neighbors yards. Once I had a wasps nest INSIDE the bathroom exhaust vent pipe up at the roof. Had to spend quite a few days blocking off the vent, poisoning the the nest and then covering the roof cap with plastic so that they would all die. What a PITA!! So whenever I see a wasp at my pool, I always tend to watch it to see where it flies off to. If it heads towards my roof, I get up on the ladder and go on a wasp hunt. Thankfully no more nests up there since the last one.
The interesting part to me is that there are two theories to how SKILL-IT works - (1) either the chemical is displeasing to, or kills, the wasps when they draw up water, OR, (2) the primary chemical in SKILL-IT is both an algaecide and a surfactant and the surfactant changes the surface tension of the water enough to make the wasps not able to walk on the water.
I won't have enough evidence to decide which is which, BUT, if you look at the photo with the aerator setup (its a Venturi aerator that I screwed into my waterfall's auxiliary return line), the bubbles being generated by it are champagne size and very diffuse. Before adding SKILL-IT, that aerator would simply put out huge, globular bubbles like the kind you get by blowing back through a straw in water. So the SKILL-IT definitely changes the surface tension of the water as that is the only way that you could get such a drastic change in bubble sizes.
Suffice it to say that the stuff pours like Palmolive dish soap ... and has nice fruity aroma ... not that I'm sniffing the chemicals or anything ....
Note that this stuff is what TFP calls a "cheap, linear quat algaecide" and so it is known that these algaecides breakdown easily from chlorine and eventually dissipate. So even if nothing changes for me, the bubbles should be gone in a week or so as I tend to run the FC on the hot side.
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There are test kits available for measuring the concentration of quaternary ammonium compounds (which this stuff is) but I’m not about to drop money on a kit for that.
