Accu-Tab Si Tablets

[lewmel]

Hey everyone,

A friend recently gave me a 55 gallon bucket of Accu-Tab Blue tablets with Scale inhibitor.

The bucket says for use with a power base chlorinator unit.

I was curious if I could use these in my Floater Chlorinator.

I put two tabs in the floater for about a half hour and the water started turning cloudy. So I took them out right away and put my regular leslies tabs back in.

Has anyone ever used these tabs in a regular inground pool without having a power based chlorinator.

Thanks!!

[waterbear]

DO NOT MIX THESE WITH TRICHLOR TABS OR USE IN A CHLORINATOR THAT IS PRESSURIZED OR YOU CAN HAVE AN EXPLOSION!!!!!! DO NOT ALLOW THEM TO COME INTO CONTACT WITH TRICHLOR OR TRICHLOR RESIDUE IN A FLOATER OR FEEDER!!!!!!

The reason these tabs are blue is to indicate that they are NOT trichlor but cal hypo tabs. They are made by PPG and need to be used in a special vented dispenser that only gets the bottom of the tab wet so it does not dissolve too fast.

You can use them in the skimmer but you will find that they dissolve very fast.

If they clouded your water then you have:

high calcium hardness

high total alkalinity

high pH

and you precipitated out calcium carbonate.

Without knowing your water balance and having a full set of water test results I really cannot tell you more.

[lewmel]

Thanks for the infomation.

Here is my water analysis

Free Avail Chlorine 4 ppm

Total Avail Chlorine 4 ppm

Cyanuric Acid 99 ppm

Total Alkalanity 130 ppm

Ph 8.0

Total Dissolved solids 1500

Phosphates 0

I added 22oz of Acid Magic to lower the Ph.

So is there a way that I can use this bucket of AccuTabs? Or should I just go ahead and spend the hundred bucks to get the normal leslies 3" tabs?

I really appreciate the help!!

[waterbear]

with your cyanuric acid at 99 ppm you should NOT use any more trichlor tabs since your pool is already overstabilized.

What is your calcium hardness and what is the surface of your pool?

Like I said you can use the cal hypo tabs in your skimmer but they will dissolve very fast

[lewmel]

My pool is plaster.

I dont know how to test for calcium hardness? I have never tested for it in the 7 years I have lived at this house.

With my cyanuric acid level so high, will leaving out the the chlorine tabs lower this? How long should I leave them out?

Wont that lower my available chlorine levels?

As far as the accutabs go, should I just keep one at the bottom of the skimmer bucket?

Thanks so much for your help! It is truely appreciated!

[waterbear]

My pool is plaster.

I dont know how to test for calcium hardness? I have never tested for it in the 7 years I have lived at this house.

With my cyanuric acid level so high, will leaving out the the chlorine tabs lower this? How long should I leave them out?

Wont that lower my available chlorine levels?

As far as the accutabs go, should I just keep one at the bottom of the skimmer bucket?

Thanks so much for your help! It is truely appreciated!

You have a plaster pool. Plaster is made with calcium. IF the calcium in your water is too low the water is aggressive and dissolves the plaster. if it is too high the excess calcium can deposit as scale and ruin the pool finish. That is why the calcium saturation index is important for plaster pools.

The way to test for it is to get a good test kit. It is a basic piece of pool maintenance equipment. Best value for the money is a Taylor K-2006 (NOT the K-2005). You will not find this kit in stores and will probaby have to order it online.Amato Industries seems to have one the best prices on it. You mentioned Leslies. Their Chlorine FAS-DPD Service Test Kit is a rebranded Taylor K-2006 BUT THEY ONLY SELL THIS KIT ONLINE AND NOT IN THEIR STORES!

This kit will test free chlorine, combined chlorine (and can test up to 50 ppm without doing dilutions and it does not bleach out at high free chlorine levels), pH with acid and base demand, total alkalinity, calcium hardness and cynauric acid (stabilzier or CYA). These are the basic things you need to be testing on a regular basis (chlorine and pH at least a few times a week, TA and CH weekly to monthly, depending on how much they change in your pool, and CYA montly to a few times during the swim season, once again depending on how much they change in your pool.

You need chlorine in your pool at all times. You just have to stop using trichlor tabs OR you need to do a partial drain and refill to lower your cyanuric acid (CYA). CYA hellps protect chlorine from destruction by sunlight but too much keeps the chlorine from being able to sanitize or kill algae. The trichlor tabs are a chemical made from chlorine and cya (a chloirinated isocyanurate) and is the slowest dissolving chlorine chemical used in pools, which is wny it is pressed into pucks and used in erosion feeders and floaters. It is one of the two stabilzied chlorine sources. The other is dichlor which is very fast dissolving. Both of these leave the CYA behind when the chlorine is used up and CYA stays in the water. They only way to remove it is by water replacement. The normal levels of CYA in an outdoor pool is 30-50 ppm. Anything over 70 ppm can be a problem and 100 ppm (basically where yours is) will shut down a public pool! If you have a cartridge filter or a non backwashing DE filter (bump type filter) the CYA rises even faster since you are never replacing water during bachwashing.

This chart by Ben Powell of Poolforum and PoolSolutions explains the chlorine/CYA relationshop.

There are three forms of chlorine that do NOT add CYA, sodium hypochlorite (liquid chlorine or chlorine laundry bleach--same chemical), Calcium hypochlorite (usually sold as "shock" but can cloud pools and increases calcium hardness), and lithium hypochlorite (extremely expensive). Downside is that these chemicals need to be added every day to every few days or you have to invest in an automatic feed system (which will cost more than a floater for tabs).

Your other option is a salt water chlorine generator, which makes sodium hypochlorite in the water. It is an initial expense but automates the chlorine additions. It does NOT, however, eliminate the need for water testing and balancing!

Bottom line is this, you can continue what you have been doing or you can learn to take care of your pool properly and save a lot of money in the process since properly balancing the water saves a LOT on chemicals (something that anyone who has ever taken care of a commercial pool knows and something that pool stores do not want you to know since it cuts into their bottom line!)

[PoolMaster]

The safest, most accurate, and easiest way to dispense the tablets in question is through a PowerBase Chlorination unit built specifically for Accu-Tab tablets like these chemical feed systems. As waterbear said before, DO NOT MIX trichlor and cal hypo together as it can explode.

[Unclere]

Can these tablets be used with sodium hypochlorite?

[waterbear]

19 hours ago, Unclere said:

Can these tablets be used with sodium hypochlorite?

All form of chlorine can be used together when added to a pool properly. For example, it is very common for a pool to be chlorinated with trichlor and shocked with cal hypo or sodium hypoclorite. The trichlor is contained in a feeder or floater and the shock is either broadcast over the pool water or predissolved and broadcast. IF a floater is used for the trichlor then it is good practice to remove it from the pool or to take the feeder offline when adding the shock.

In this case I would assume you are using the cal hypo tabs in the correct feeder system and are shocking with sodium hypochlorite added directly to the pool water. However, the concentrated chemicals should never be mixed or stored near each other since this could lead to combustion or explosion.