using an aqua smarte chlorinator

As I've been reading, I am getting more and more nervous about using the system that cam with my pool from watsons. Especially the mineral pack. Should I use it once the pool is filled and reaches a certain level of chlorine and then switch to BBB? What about the mineral pack? Seems like that's what allows the FC to stay btwn .5 and 1.0. Should I even hook it up?

24' x 52" AGP, 14,000 gal., 19" 1.5 HP filter/pump by ecco

The chlorine tabs in the canister are trichlor....only came with one...not too excited about purchasing one every couple weeks at $20 each.

Thanks!
Lee

Hi, and welcome to the forum!!

If you're talking about the Frog mineral pack (or something similar), that uses silver (or in some cases copper) in the water to act as an algae inhibitor. They claim to allow you to use less chlorine, and that's probably so--except that algae is not the threat in a swimming pool--bacteria and viruses are--and those minerals are not effective against them! So....in order to keep your chlorine levels high enough to make your pool sanitary to swim in, you also will be keeping them high enough to keep algae gone--so the mineral pack really isn't needed. Besides, when you add metals to your water, you're opening up a whole 'nother can of worms when it comes to maintaining your water chemistry...if you don't believe me, log out, go to the Metals forum, and read through a few posts there and see for yourself!!

I would not use the mineral pack at all--it's gonna cost you some bucks (and headaches) in the long run. If you have a trichlor dispenser, you can use trichlor tabs in it (they're not $20 each, though) as long as they're not the ones that contain copper or zinc (the zinc ones probably won't hurt the water, but we don't know for sure--we know for a fact that copper is what turns blonde hair and nails green, so you don't want that!). Trichlor adds CYA, which you'll need to keep the sun from consuming all your chlorine, adds chlorine, which you need, and drives pH down--you'll need to keep an eye on that and make sure it doesn't go below 7.0. Alternately, you could use dichlor powder, which does the same thing except it's a powder that is added to the pool, rather than a tab. If you use dichlor, the best places we've found to get it are either Sam's PoolBrand, or KemTek from Amazon--other chemical companies are starting to add "goop" to their blends to make it "new and improved"--and unpredictable in pool water. Or...you could always add your CYA (stabilizer) seperately and just use plain, unscented bleach. It's all up to you and what works best for your schedule--once you decide what you want to do, let us know and we'll be happy to help you figure doses.

Please please please please do yourself a favor and get yourself a good test kit so you won't fall prey to the pool store's selling tactics. We highly recommed the K-2006 that you can find linked in my sig. It's only available online, but if you'll look at Amazon in the mornings when Amato Industries is the seller, it's available for a good price and will save you tons of money (and headaches) this season!!

Thanks for the response!

I can't tell from the canister of trichlor tabs if they contain metals (1% "other" ingredients). And the $20 referred to the entire canister (approx 2.4 lbs) of 1" tabs :)

I will take your advice and not use the mineral pack!

My plan is to use up the one canister of trichlor tabs and then test on my own (ordering taylor 2006a on fri morning) and use the BBB method.

Should I wait to add anything until the pool is completely full?

You can go ahead and drizzle in some bleach as the pool is filling and stir the water around with a clean broom or whatever. If you don't already have one, try and pick up an OTO/Phenol Red kit (yellow and red drops) so you can use that while waiting for your K-2006 to arrive. (And, actually, even after you have the good kit, you can still use the OTO for quick daily checks. That is what I do.) Use the OTO to test the pH of your fill water.