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It looks like I have water boatman and can not seem to get rid of them. I have started with the BBB recently and have gotten the levels in good shape. Trying not to use other chemicals, but am getting very frustrated. I have started physically removing them with the net, but they are fast and how do I know they will not come back.
Any suggestions? Frustrated.
A remedy that often works is to get some pool tile soap from a pool supply that sells to professionals. (You will have to buy a gallon unfortunately.) Put some in a squeeze bottle with a nozzle spout like a refillable ketchup dispenser or a hair color applicator bottle and shoot a stream of tile soap across the surface of the water wherever they are swimming. Tile soap will lower the surface tension enough to usually cause them to sink and drown so they can be removed with a leaf net. Tile soap will not cause your pool to foam and will have no lasting negative effects on your water quality.
I don't know of any way to get rid of them other than physically removing them.
All that said, borate is toxic to insects (and they are true insects) so adding 50 ppm borate to your water MIGHT be a more permanant solution (but I have not tried this particular use for adding borate but it seems like it might be a worthy experiment) and you will have all the usual borate benefits of better pH stability, algaestatic properties, more "sparkling" water (due to the change in light refraction ), etc.
Ya got a brand name, Evan? -- some of those foamy tile products DO mess pools up!
The kind I have always used locally is Dumont Tile Cleaner Degreaser. It's basically the old fashoined tile soap that one would use by itself or mix with muriatic acid for stronger cleaning that would be used a daily basis to clean pool tiles or be sprayed on a cartridge filter to degrease it.Quote:
Originally Posted by PoolDoc
Dumont is produced here in Florida but they do have an 800 phone number on the jug. I do not know if they sell directly or ship out of state. I buy the stuff at the local Pinch a Penny (Florida pool store chain very much like Leslies) and I know it is also sold by some of our local distributors but I don't remember if it was SCP, Superior, Horner, or Gorman.
800 330 1369
I do know that tile soap is available in other parts of the country because Terry Tammininen talks about tile soap in his book "The Ultimate Guide To Pool Maintenance" (has some useful info, a lot of outdated info, hardly anything on testing and chemical management, and is geared mostly toward service professionals) and he was located in California.
It is basically a non foaming detergent/degreaser. I suspect it is a wetting agent similar to Kodak Photoflo wetting agent used in developing film (an old hobby of mine) since they look very similar and behave very much the same but I do not know the actual surfactant used.
Forgot to add...the stuff I am talking about is NOT the thick (and often acidic) 'tile cleaner' that is sold retail. It is a thin liquid, clear to light amber, and sold normally to pros which is why it only comes in gallons but around here it is also sold to homeowners
This company's pool/tile cleaner product http://www.cleanadvantage.com/HAbuff.html MIGHT be similar from the description but I have no actual experience with it. They do sell directly in orders of over $25.
Gotta fix whatever permissions force me to moderate y'all's posts when you post here. Darn, I hate vB's permission system!
i'm still being moderated as well. Sorry to derail...
Ben, I noticed that Kem-Tek has a tile cleaner but can't find any info on it and don't know if it is tile soap or a thickened acid/cleaner. I believe you once mentioned that you have been in contact with them so maybe you can find out.
Thank you. I think I am going to first go with manually removing them and then go from there.