Zodiac VisionPro Nature2 -- V-Pack v. TriChlor

[DinoMtGreenwood]

Looking to switch my VisionPro Nature2 from using WaterTrands V-Packs from Great Escape to generic TriChlor tablets. I'd appreciate anyone who has experience doing this. I've been using V-Packs for three years, but the last two cycles, they only lasted a few weeks. They used to last me a month. I feel the V-Pack is a Great Escape up-sell and it isn't even mentioned in the VisionPro Nature2 documentation. Plus, the V-Pack is 92.5% Trichloro and 1.5% copper sulfate pentahydrate. I figure if I do regular trichlor, I can avoid adding extra copper.

I'd appreciate thoughts from anyone who's kicked the V-Pack habit. I'm ready to do it.

Also, before I get the inevitable responses, I concede for the purposes of this post that it is better for me to just remove the Zodiac VisionPro Nature2 and manually add liquid chlorine until I buy a SWG. I concede that I shouldn't sell the Zodiac VisionPro and that I should instead bury it in my yard so it can never be used to harm another pool. Let's just pretend, for the sake of argument, that, hypothetically, my wife bought the thing when she got the pool and I'd rather not go through the trouble of actually saying that she got upsold for no reason.

So, hopefully I've fronted any of those posts that I've seen in every Nature2 post on this site that don't actually answer the question. It's like going to a mechanic to see what's wrong with my automatic transmission car and the response being that I should have a manual transmission car.

 

[PoolGate]

It is better for you to just remove the Zodiac VisionPro Nature2 and manually add liquid chlorine until you buy a SWG. You concede that you shouldn't sell the Zodiac VisionPro and that you should instead bury it in your yard so it can never be used to harm another pool.

 

[ajw22]

Plus, the V-Pack is 92.5% Trichloro and 1.5% copper sulfate pentahydrate.

You never want to add copper to your pool. Don't compound the mistakes by keeping the Nature2 and adding copper.

Copper in Pool Water - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

Nature2 Fusion - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[DinoMtGreenwood]

Ha! Baby steps everyone. I decided to go ahead with just getting 1" tablets with the same formulation. Interestingly, the rep at Great Escape said to keep using the V-Pack housing for some reason, crack open the top, and poor the tablets into the V-Pack instead of in the device itself--kind of admitting that the sealed/purchased V-Pack is, itself, unnecessary.

In any event, if I ruin the device then I'll just go ahead and do a DIY automatic liquid chlorine solution.

In all fairness to the device, I haven't had any single issue with the pool in terms of algae, sickness, sanitation, green hair, etc. But I could just be lucky. I know Chicago water comes out of the tap already at 1.16 ppm free Cl and 1.05 ppb Copper.

 

[DinoMtGreenwood]

Update for those wondering.

I cracked open the top of the v-pack by peeling open that black thing at the top. I filled it about halfway with tabs from the Great Escape with the same formulation as the VPack as the VPacks themselves aren’t full to the brim. It seemed to work normally. I filled the rest of the VPack as an experiment, and it was a mistake. It struggles to get FC past 3 ppm after a full run at the highest setting. (With VPacks, max for my pool was around 5-6 ppm). I suspect that with it full to brim, it messes with the flow characteristics and the erosion of the tablets. I am going to go back to filling only about half going forward and making the setting more predictable and report back my findings.

 

[SecoSteve]

I would be very careful about mixing products not intended for certain vessels. There are chances of explosions if different chemicals are mixed together, such as putting diclor tablets in a triclhor vessel.

 

[DinoMtGreenwood]

I would be very careful about mixing products not intended for certain vessels. There are chances of explosions if different chemicals are mixed together, such as putting diclor tablets in a triclhor vessel.

Thanks! I used trichlor tabs from Great Escape that, according to the label, had the same formulation as the VPack (which includes some copper). If that works, I’m going to test trichlor alone. So far it seems to be working fine.

 

[Newdude]

. I concede that I shouldn't sell the Zodiac VisionPro and that I should instead bury it in my yard so it can never be used to harm another pool

Whoever is gonna buy it is going to buy one either way. You might as well help you both out. They aren't ready to listen to you yet about why they shouldn't buy it. Ask me how I know.

It's like going to a mechanic to see what's wrong with my automatic transmission car and the response being that I should have a manual transmission car.

In this hypothetical scenario, if the automatic transmission was harming the car, and it could be swapped out easily for a manual, or simply turned off so it at least didn't harm anything, then the advice is fair.


There are 100 ways to do it. We don't advise on the ways that bring folks to us on the daily. To name a few :

-pool store dump and pray
-UV
-Pucks
-Ozone
-test strips or digital testers

Folks are welcome to use them all, it's just not in our wheelhouse so we aren't much help.

In all fairness to the device, I haven't had any single issue with the pool in terms of algae, sickness, sanitation, green hair, etc. But I could just be lucky

Test with a reliable test kit to know one way or the other. An Overnight Chlorine Loss Test will prove if youre sanitary for all the things you cant see with your eyes. Like the start of an algae outbreak which may be kept on the fence for an extended time. It's microscopic and you can't see it until it's way too late. And if algae can grow, so can the real concerns like bacteria, viruses and such.

You've come this far and made it through ok. Well done. But now you know and can do it proper going forward.