waterbear
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Posts posted by waterbear
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The moderators have heard you -
I think we can relax finally.
no they haven't, he is still here insulting people and disrupting the forum.
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Forgot something, while borates are not necessary they do help stabilize pH by introducing a secondayr borate/boric acid buffer system into the water. They also have an algaestatic effect when above 30 ppm. They make the water feel 'silker' ( I know that is a subjective term but borates are used in bath salts for this very reason). I personally have borates in my pool and spa. The main benefit I have reaped is a slower upward pH drift than before I added them.
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Thanks Waterbear!
I think he uses a salt meter. They tested my water this afternoon.
Temp 88
Si .2
TDS 4000
CYA 85
Tot Cl 4.4
Free Cl 4.4
pH 8.1
Tot Alk 144
Adj Tot Alk 118
Tot. Hardness 63
Minerals 3600
Borates 37.
The salt/minerals level on my unit is 3400. Its the first time they had a reading higher than my unit and I have not added any salt to my pool lately. They told me I needed to add 7# of Balance Pak 300 to raise my total hardness from 63 to their ideal range of 200-400. Should I care what my calcium hardness level is with a composite pool? A 5# container of BP300 is $10.95.
First of all, your ACUTUAL TDS measurement would be the TDS -salt which is 400 ppm....that is very low....like I said TDS is a bogus measurement. I noticed that they tested total hardness and not calcium hardness. Are they using test strips and a reader by any chance (ALEX system by Bioguard or one of it's clones?). If so I would recommend finding a store that does testing with liquid reagents such as Taylor or LaMotte. The results will be much more accurate.
Borate levels are not critical and are in the 30-50 ppm range. They are NOT necessary in the pool and can be increased with plain old 20 mule team borax if you want to maintain them. You do need to add muriatic acid to offset the pH increase they will cause.
As far as the calcium hardness, I would check your pool warrenty and see if the manufacurer recommends keeping it at the certain level. The jury still seems to be out as to whether calcium is needed in a fiberglass pool or not. I have seen conflicting reports and no definative answer. Some say it helps prevent leaching of cobalt from the finish and might help prevent staining but others refute that. IF you have any grouted tile work or a heater then you do need to have some hardness in your water. How much is necessary is a subject open to debate. I can tell you this. I have a fiberglass pool, heater, and grouted tile work and keep my calcium above 150 ppm. I have never let it go above 220 ppm.
Hope this helps.
Thanks again...
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I respect your knowledge waterbear and I have been involved in watercare for many years myself. Can you elaborate on your comment regarding TDS and how it's bogus?
Thanks,
Steve
Certainly,
First example is a pool with a SWG. The TDS is going to be the salt level along with all other dissolved substances such as calcium, magnesium, borates, phosphates, carbonates, bicarbonates, sulfates, etc. Since the salt level is ususally around 3000 ppm or higher the TDS in such a pool can be usually over 4000 ppm or higher (my own pool is over 5000 ppm) yet these pools exhibit NONE of the problems attributed to high TDS.
Second example, The biggest problem attrributed to high TDS included sanitizer not working leading to algae outbreaks with normal chlorine levels. A second problem attributed to high TDS is pitting of plaster in plaster pools. There are others. Now, most pools out there are chlorinated with trichlor (or dichlor). We all know that trichlor causes CYA levels to rise as the water 'ages'. The TDS will also rise but is the problem the high TDS or the high (sometimes as high as 200 ppm) CYA? All of the problems attributed to high TDS are KNOWN to be caused by high CYA levels, In fact, the research on plaster finishes was done by Arch Chemical who manufacture a lot of trichlor!
It is only recently that high CYA levels in residential pools are getting attention...manufacturers make a lot of money selling people algaecides and clarifiers to combat the problems of an overstabililzed pool and the problem has been compounded by the recent popularity of cartridge filters which cause the CYA levels to rise much faster than when sand filter are used because of the dilution effect from backwashing.
Think about it...chem manufacturers needed a way to tell people that they had to drain and refill their pools...if they told them it was because of the stabilized chlorine that thay were using do you think that would help their sales? As customers become educated it is amazing how many of them switch to liquid chlorine or cal hypo for chlorination.
Most states will close a commercial pool when the CYA hits 100 ppm. Not that many commercial pools are chlorinated with stabilized chlorine. Orp controllers and peristaltic dosing pumps for sodium hypochlorite seem to be among the most popular options.
Also, pools with CYA in the 30-50 ppm range that are chlorinated with unstabilzied chlorine AND have high TDS do not exhibit the problems attributed to high TDS either. Could this be because they have CYA levels in the 'recommended' range?
While it is true that "old water" that has been chlorinated with stabilized chlorine will have problems are the problems from the high TDS or the high CYA levels?
If you are talking about a bromine system this still applies if tabs are used...the dimethyhydantoin used in bromine tabs has an effect similar to CYA but not as pronounced. After a while the bromine becomes less effective because it it bound up by the excess dimethyhydandoin in the water Also, bromine systems develop a lot of bromamines after a while. These are not destroyed by 'shocking' as in a chlorine system. While it is generally held that bromamines are effective sanitzers some of the organic bromamines that form interfere with sanitation. The bromine locked up by the dimethyhydantion is a prime example. In spas, they are usually refilled on a regular basis, not because of TDS but because of organics that collect in the water from sweat and body oils. These organics are NOT measured by TDS meters since they are not ionic. This applies whether the spa is using chlorine or bromine.
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I haven't been able to find any independent info on the EcoSmarte product. It looks great in the marketing materials from the company and dealers, but is there any non-dealer out there who is using it on their pool? I'd love to hear about it because we will be having our pool done in about 3 weeks and I like the idea, just not sure it's legit enough vs. the tried and true chlorine (salt generated). I read some pretty nasty stuff about EcoSmarte at http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/ripoff155840.htm, so I'm not too sure what to think at this point...
Phil
Salt water chlorine generators have been around for about 30 years now and are used in about 90% of all pools in Austrailia. They really do make maintenance much easier. Ionizers still require a residual chlorine level in the water for proper sanitation and, in fact, the Austrailian governtment has recently passed legislation requiring them to be used with NORMAL and not reduced chlorine levels in light of recent research on kill times for water borne pathogens. Ionizers work by putting metals (usually copper and silver) into the water. They can cause staining of pools and of peoples hair and skin (green hair from copper....that is what causes it, not chlorine)
IF you want to read what the Austrailian government has to say about ionizers here are some links.
http://www.apvma.gov.au/qa/poolspa_FAQ_May2005.shtml
http://www.apvma.gov.au/qa/poolspa_recallupdate.shtml
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I would look up the dealers who have good standing on the BBB.
Just because a dealer has good standing on the BBB does not really mean much. There is a pool builder in North Florida that has a good BBB rating that currently had 18 pools that are over a year overdue for final inspection, has been before the contractors review board, has criminal charges against him, and STILL has a good BBB rating!
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I went over to the RV they were using and was greeted by some sleazy sales guy
I guess it takes one to know one.
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Man, what got under you craw? Do you know how ions work? Obviously not.
Do you know that it is my reasearch including testing for bacteria and other microoganisims that created the whole ion system. Do you know that it was my reaseach that a software company put in their software for anyone using ions to get proper levels. It is my numbers used in the programs.
Did you know that a whole bottle of instant ions lasts over a year and a half in a spa for $22 bucks. It sounds like I am gonna make a lot of money from that?
When I first discoverd ions I was like you, pretty stupid about them. I was out repairing a swimming pool with my service tech. We were changing out a leaky old sand filter. I noticed the ionizer on the wall and proceeded to tell the lady all the crap that you were just stating from the chemical companies. I learned from them too.
She looked at me with compassion and said: "I have heard that negative stuff from every pool repair person who has been in the equipment room. However, I have been using it for 15 years and it is wonderful. My guests all love it and tell me how they don't have to breath fumes and their eyes don't get all red."
I sort of took my foot out of my mouth and proceeded to ask her how it worked for her pool. The water was clear as can be and there was no chlorine smell in the beautiful indoor pool room she had. I was very interested to find out how it worked. This was in 94 or 95.
I went and bought ionizers from different places. I paid as much a $800 for one unit to test it out. All my intensive testing resulted in the instructions you see on our site. It is a really nice way and very safe to take care of water. I put the formula past one of the best water chemists who appears from time to time on forums, Bob Lowry. He is a very knowledeable man and many of you may know him. He told me that it was all good and that he recommeded sligtly more shock, potassium peroximonosulfate. We added that and it became even easier to take care of the water. The shock got rid of all the chlorine smell.
Anyway, you need to get that chip off your shoulder. I am just an old man with a lot of experience and I don't like bull **** from anyone.
read this.
Your first mistake is assume I am a spa saleman....Your second mistake is assuming I have no background in chemistry. I probably have a better understanding of how metal ions in the water work than you do and the mechcanisms by which they are bacteriostatic and algaestatic (They are NOT virostatic, however).
It's just that you are so fast to slam everyone else but you are just as guilty of commiting the things you are so fast to accuse others of....just trying to point out your hippocracy. By the way, you might be interested to know that in the US Zodiac just increased the chlorine levels used with the Nature2 spa cartrdiges (a passive silver/copper system) to normal levels and NOT .5 ppm. This has been very quiet but if you read the instructions in the new (copyright 2006) boxes you will see they now recommed a 6 ppm FC and shock to 10 ppm with dichlor and have cut back on the use of MPS (Oxone) which is only an oxidizer and not a sanitizer.
BTW, posting a link from YOUR OWN WEBSITE does not show anything except your overblown ego. When I have posted links they have been from outside sources to back up my statements. There are some people selling copper sulfate and silver nitrate 'snake oil' to the unsuspecting public and telling them it will keep their water safe with little or no chlorine and has no negative side effects. Seems like you are one of them too!
I also wonder why you feel it so necessary to include vugarities in almost every one of your posts. Do you really think using the term "bull S**t" is necessary or proper in conversation in the forum? I guess this just shows the caliber of person that you really are.
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Did you read what you wrote?
A crook doesn't sell a good product? They sell crap.
A crook like a company who sells unsafe, not ANSI conforming spas, dealer, sells crap and lies to people for money.
You mean like someone who sells copper/silver ionizers on their website and tells customers that they do not have to use chlorine, bromine, biguanide, (Hydrogen peroxide is NOT an EPA approved sanitizer), only keep .3 to .6 ppm copper in the water to keep it safe? Then on the instuctions page for the ionizer it says that dichlor must be used with it? How about an explanation that ions are just another word for metals in the water and they can be just as toxic and can stain hair and nails? Sounds like selling lies to people for money to me!
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Try using the Eco One system. It is really nice with no bromine or chlorine in the tub while you soak.
Right on the eco one website it says that it must be used with an EPA approved sanitizer such as chlorine or bromine! It is mearly an enzyme product of dubious value! If you soak in a tub with eco one and NO chlorine or bromine you are also soaking in a vat of replicating bacteria, viruses, and fungi! BAD ADVICE jim the jim!
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I would recommend trying Soft Soak or Baqua. It's a little more maintenance, but I've never heard anyone coming away with a rash from it.
Biquanide based sanitizers (baqua, soft soak, etc.) have their own unique set of problems, among them much higher maintenance in terms of filter cleaning and filter elelment life, cloudy water issues, burning eyes, and water mold, not to mention the MUCH higher co$t. There is no perfect santizing system but my first choice has always been chlorine with bromine as an alterantive in spas and indoor pools.
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Ozone is an oxidixer so you ar correct in that it will reactivate the bromine bank and keep the bromine levels constant. By adjusting the ozone output you can ajust the level of bromine in the spa. It still might be necessary to 'shock' (not really the proper word but the one commenly used) by adding a stronger oxidizer than the ozone since the amount of ozone used is not that much. How much of the bromine ions in the water are converted to hypobromous acid really depends on the amount of oxidizer added. The bromine bank is an excess of bromine ions that are ready to be converted into sanitizer. Unless you add a way too large quantity of the 'shock' you will not convert all of them.
As far as the amount of soduim bromide added, it's not super critical but the dosing guidlines shoudl be followed. You adust bromine levels (actually hypobromous acid and bromamines) by adding the oxizider and then testing. You cannot test for sodium bromide with test kits that are available. The amount is less critical with 3 step systems that use tabs in a floater since the tabs themselves contain bromine and either chlorine or MPS.
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I have been reading about Spa Magic on this forum and after check ingredients (water,agar,lanolin,and glycerin), I don't see any "Magic". Agar is a medium used for the GROWTH of Bateria and fungi; so why is this considered a bacteriacide? The rest of the ingredients are off the self stuff that make your skin feel slippery, etc.
Help me out on understanding the "MAGIC!"
Pete in SC
The MAGIC is in the way it lightens your wallet and makes money for those selling it!
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I called capo industries today and talked to their chemist. [ they are the makers of the artic pure products]
waterbear you were spot on. Yes the peak boost does contain sodium bromide and is used as our bromine bank. steve
Thanks for the validation!
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It's been 13 days without using the peak boost. Water looks great, smells great and no complaints from the peanut gallery. [ except me] jumped in the other night.[ aprox. 35 min.] this time it took 48 hrs. for the skin reaction. Not quite as bad as before , but to the normal person it would be nasty. bromine level is staying pretty much even, no change in the ph, but our alky. seems to drop off quite a bit???? We shock with 1oz. activator after every use and 3oz. actvator once a week. No floater. The spa seems to like it, I know my pocket book does because other than bringing the akly. up we have not used any other chemicals. Which is a first. steve
Test results
hth drop test kit. [ taylor k-2006 on the way]
bromine: 3ppm
ph: 7.2/7.5 range
alky: average 60ppm [ we have to bump it up to around 100ppm]
tds:: bogus
Keeping up the alkalinity in a spa is alway a challange because the constant aeration is what is causing it to always fall!
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Do you shock your pool. I maintain mine with chlorine tabs in the skimmer but when the ta and ph start to wander, I shock and it usually brings it back into balance for a while.
Diana,
first, trichlor tabs in your skimmer are not a good idea. they can cause damage to your pump seals, heater if you have one, and the end caps on a cartridge if you use a cartridge filter. The tabs have a pH of 2.0 and it is similar to pouring acid right into your skimmer. The constant use of trichlor with cause both the TA and pH of your pool to lower with time.
second, shock is a verb not a noun. It means raising your free chlorine levels high enough to reach breakpoint chlorination. It will have litte effedt on TA and pH. I assume you are shocking with cal hypo since this is what is usually in the bags labeled 'shock'. It has a high pH so it will possibly raise the pH of your pool pH and TA tend to move together but it is not really raising the TA if it is too low at your nornal operating pH.
To raise TA you need to use sodium bicarbonate (aka sodium hydrogen carbonate, baking soda...all the same chemical)
To raise both TA and pH at the same time you need sodium carbonate (aka soda ash, washing soda). be aware that it raises TA a LOT while it raises pH. This is the indgredient in pH increaser sold at pool stores.
To raise pH without impacting TA use borax (20 mule team in the green box from the laundry aisle of the grocery store)
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Well we figured out what was causing the water to be a little off. As we were in line yesterday with our 15 gals. of bleach the lady at the checkout said. Having a problem with algae in the pool are we. I just smiled. She said she had bought hers this morning. We had been keeping our chlor. level at aprox. 3 ppm. Now that I understand what cya are Well you might say game over. Were on top of this and will fight the fight till we clear the pool up. Just for the record we have ordered a real test kit from taylor and not one of these cheap ones that ever pool store in our area says you need. steve
chlor: very high, no way to test [1 gal. bleach = aprox. 2ppm] I put us at 22-24ppm
ph: 7.5/7.6
alky: 150ppm
cya: 70-80
I hope you got the K-2006 kit and NOT the K-2005! Send me a PM and I will give you some info that you will find very useful!
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Hi there,
I'm in Canada so my choices of hot tub chemicals is somewhat limited. I'm tired of getting dry skin and red bumps once and awhile from the Bromine. I found this product called spa Magic, which is natural seeweed enzymes and is a stand alone product, you dont need Chlorine or Bromine. Has anyone on this forum, used this product with or without success. In Canada it is called spa Solutions.
thanks
Enzyme products will NOT sanitize the water. On the spa magic website in the FAQ it states that the product is compatible with chlorine, bromine and ozone. Why would it state this if a sanitizer was not necessary!?!?!?!
Enzymes can be a useful suplimental product but they do NOT take the place of a sanitizer in your water!
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I would shock after you use the spa since it can take up to about a day for the bromine levels to drop to 6-8 ppm. for a 400 gal spa 1 cup of regular bleach or 3.4 cop ultra bleach is the upper limit to use. I would start with about half that amount and if you get any cloudiness or your bromine levels are too low I would increase it.We have only just filled this spa for the first time and it has only been filled since the end of May. We followed the spa store instructions and added a bromine concentrate (Leisure brand) at set up to create a "bank." Since then we only put the little pucks in the floater and shock weekly. It has been chugging along fine ever since. I just bought a $25 bucket of spa shock so I guess it will be a while before I will need the bleach, but this is good to know.
Does the bleach fade swimsuits in the spa post shock? Should we wait longer than 1 hour before getting in?
The only advantage to MPS shock (non chlorine) is that you can go in sooner but you still need to check the bromine levels and make sure they are not above 8 ppm. It can still take as long as with a chlorine shock!
The floater (which contains both bromine and chlorine in the tabs) is used to help maintain a constant bromine level between shocks...ususally about 6 ppm. It is not really necessary but it does make keeping a constant bromine level a bit easier....but at the price of having to keep closer tabs on your pH and Alk!
The bleach will not cause any more fading than you have right now. It is instantly converted to hypobromous acid when it reacts with the bromide ions in the water. The bromide ions don't care whether the oxidizer is hypochlorous acid (chlorine), Potasium Monopersulfate (MPS...non chlorine shock, doesn't matter what brand, they are all the same and manufactured by DuPont under the trade name Oxone. DuPont developed and patented the product), or ozone.
The net result of bromide ions reacting with an oxidizing agent is the formation of hypobromous acid in the water. That is your active sanitizer in a bromine system.
A second advantage of bleach is that it will not cause the pH to drop like non chlorine shock will.
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Am I reading this correctly? Instead of Spa Shock I can just use a cup of plain old bleach to shock my 400 gallon bromine spa?
I currently add very little to it, some metal out weekly, some water clarify weekly, some bromine in the floater weekly, and shock 3T weekly with Leisure brand spa shock.
Correct, the sodium hypochorite will be instantly converted to hypobromous acid because of the bromine reserve in the water (you DO add sodium bromide each time you refill the spa, don't you?) If you look at the ingredients on bromine tablets you will find that they all contain chlorine or MPS. Bromine does not form an active sanitizer (hypobromous acid) without the addition of an oxidizer (chlorine, MPS or ozone) to activate it.
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Ok please inform me as to cya? I hope it's in the same file as tds!!!!! I checked and our cya are aprox. 70 - 80. I know dump the water right. When I stated what we have used in our pool for two yrs. Your first question was what is your cya measurement????? Fill us in on what the chlor. we used and cya have in common. The chlor. we were using ain't the cheap junk, but just the oppisite. Why would it have a effect on this measurement. Not to sound impolite but I'll fill the pool in with dirt before I dump anymore water and have more trucked in this year. Were already up to 25,000 gals. and enough is enough. Sorry about that , but I do feel better now. Please for all to benf.. explain. thank you. steve
CYA (cyanuric acid, stabilizer) is necessary in an outdoor chlorine pool. It keeps the sun from burning off all the free chlorine in a matter of minutes. However, if the level is too high the pool becomes overstabilized and the water is not properly santized and algae blooms become commen. Both trichlor and dichlor are stabilized chlorine. This means that every time you add chlorine you are adding CYA. This will work fine for a while (expecially with a sand filter that you backwash so you are always diluting the pool water) but you will eventially reach a point where the CYA is too high and you need to drain and refill. The recommeded level for cya in a manually chlorinated pool is 30-50 ppm. A pool with a salt water generator requires a higher level (60-80 ppm) because of the way the clorine is created in the cell. In Florida (and many other states) a commercial pool with a CYA level over 100 ppm will be closed!
A CYA level of 70-80 ppm is livable if you STOP using dichlor or trichor and switch to non stabilized chlorine (sodium hypochorite....liquid chlorine or bleach, calcium hypochlorite....cal hypo, but this can cause your calcium hardness to rise so you need to keep an eye on it, or lithium hypochlorite....very expen$ive to use!
With the CYA at 70-80 ppm you need to maintain a free chlorine level of 5-10 ppm for normal chlorination (I would not go below 6 ppm!) and you need to shock to 20 ppm or higher to properly shock the pool and reach breakpoint! This will insure that there is enough Free chlorine to do it's job and it is not all combined with the CYA to form chloroisocyanurates (which do test as free chlorine but do not have the sanitizing or oxidizing power). The plus side is that you will find that you do not have to add chlorine as often to maintain these levels since the chloroisocyanurates act as a reserve of chorine in the water. IF you use bleach you might find that you only have to dose it once or twice a week to maintain these chlorine levels. IF you are going to run a high CYA pool I would strongly suggest investing in an FAS-DPD test kit such as the Taylor K-2006 so you can accurately measure the higher chlorine levels (as well as your other water parameters). A DPD testkit will beach out at chlorine levels above 10 ppm and OTO just measures total chlorine....it's good for a quick daily check but not much else.
The good news is many people do successfully run pools with high CYA levels by following the recommendations that I just gave you. (And save a lot of money compared to what they were spending on dichlor and trichor!) PM me for more info.
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With BaquaSpa you need to use a cleaner compatable with the sanitizer. The above suggestions are risky. We sell the filter cleaner for less than $10.00. Have have seen Internet stores that sell and ship.
Listen to hottubdan! I have been saying the same thing!
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We are new pool owners. 16,000 gal Compass (Ceramic composite Fiberglass) pool with in-floor cleaning system and Mineral Springs system. So far things are going pretty well. We have been adding Muratic Acid to keep the Alkalinity and pH in check at the advice of our dealer. When he tested our water this weekend we had a Saturation index of .7, TDS=4200, CYA=40, Tc=Fc=7.1, pH-8.2, Ta=107, Adj Alk=95, Tot Hardness=175, Minerals=2800, Borates=27.
The dealer printout recommended adding Muratic Acid to adjust pH, but also Optimizer Plus to adjust high saturation index along with additional Muratic Acid as the Optimizer is added.
I am curious what this optimizer does and if there are other more direct methods to correct this Saturation Index. The printout has indicated to add the Renewal, but my dealer has not stressed this as something I need. Will adding Renewal make things easier? I have noticed that the Fc levels have been testing unusually high since I am only running my pump 12h/day and have the MS set at 20%. Also, the mineral/salt level on my unit never matches the test performed by the dealer. When he reads 2800, I get 3300 to 3400ppm on my MS unit.
The Mineral Springs unit is a rebranded Goldline Controls Aquarite unit. You can get a lot of info at WWW.Goldlinecontrols.com.
The Optimizer is basically borax! it is Sodium Tetraborate pentahydrate. (Borax is sodium tetraborate decahydrate....it has 5 more water molecules attached so to achieve the same borate level you need to add more by wieight compared to the pentahydrate) It really won't affect the SI much but it does have algaestatic properties when the borate levels are 30-50 ppm and will introduce a secondary buffer system that can help stabilize pH. The addtional acid is needed since borax will raise the pH.
TDS and SI are bogus measurements that dealers use to sell you chems! (I work in a pool store and have a chemistry background).
AS far as the difference in the salt readings....frst, how is the dealer testing for salt? Meter, test strips, or liquid reagent....all of these have a variance of precision in the range of 100 ppm or higher. Also, the minerals readout (exactly the same as a salt readout according to tech support at Goldline!) is done by measing the conductivity and is temperature dependant! It can vary by a few hunderd ppm from an actual salt test done chemically or with a true, properly calibatred, temperature compensated salt meter!
You don't need Renewal....you just need to add salt when the level drops too low...it should be about 3200 ppm for your unit and make sure your CYA (stabilizer) is 60-80 ppm. Keep your pH below 7.6 at all times for optimum chlorine generation and to help prevent scale buildup on the cell.
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Because to the average consummer is appears inexpensive. But, it's only 1/2 the strength of liquid pool chlorine and can lose half it's strength in 30 days after being manufactured (how long has it been sitting on a store shelf, or in a warehouse?). It also has a pH of 13, and every gallon adds 2 pounds of salt to the water, quickly raising TDS levels. But it's cheap.
BOGUS INFO....sodium hypochlorite is sodium hypochlorite....Lower concentrations will retain their strength longer (such as 6% ) than higher (12.5%) . 12.5% liquid chlorine will be about 8% within a few weeks. 6% will stay stable for months! ALL sodium hypochlorite will add sodium ions to the water and when the hypochorous acid loses it's oxygen it leaves a chloride ion. This will raise TDS but it is BOGUS MEASURMENT! ALL sodiuim hyposchorite has a high pH but the actual pH increase in a pool chlorinated by liquid chlorine is small and easily controlled by a bit of acid. Many users of sodium hypochorite report stable pH!
For an interesting discussion of how much salt bleach adds to a pool you might want to check this out
http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.ph...32073#post32073
Just wondering if this is normal. We have used sodium dichloro-s-triazinetrione, dihydrate in our pool for two years. We are in the process of swithing our spa over to bleach and felt we would like to try it on the pool too. Our levels[ clor, ph, alky] are spot on, but I notice the water seems a little peakess. It just doesn't have that sparkle. Should I be concerned or is there a trick to using bleach. For the record it's straight clorex unscented and we have been using it for a week now.Thanks for all info. steveIf you could post your test results from a drop based kit and not test strips it would be helpful. If you have been using dichlor for 2 years I would be interested in knowing what your CYA reading is. Also, what free chlorine level are you maintaning in the pool?
Question For Waterbear
in Hot Tub Water Chemistry
Posted