What And Wher Can I Get Borates

[rdefino]

I've been reading Nitro's Initial startup procedure and it's mentioned to use borates. What is this and where can I get it?

Thanks

[NewB@Spa]

I've been reading Nitro's Initial startup procedure and it's mentioned to use borates. What is this and where can I get it?

Thanks

I think you are simply looking for Boric Acid. Many places (Home Depot etc) have it as an Roach killer. Make sure that it is 100% Boric Acid (or Orthoboric)

[quantumchromodynamics]

I wouldn't get anything labeled as an insect killer. It might be OK if it is 100 % boric acid, but I would rather get a higher quality product.

Here is an online source at a good price.

Here is another source for boric acid. You should get enough for several water changes.

A 420 gallon tub will need 1 pound of boric acid to achieve 50 ppm.

You can also use Borax. The only difference to using Borax is that you will need to add muriatic acid at the same time to offset the pH rise that happens with adding Borax.

You can use thepoolcalculator to calculate the correct amount of boric acid or Borax + muriatic acid to add.