Using a Nature 2 system with the BBB method

[tdkorson]

What alterations do I need to make to the BBB system, if I have a nature 2 purifier?

[aylad]

Nature 2 adds copper and silver to the water. When copper levels get high enough, you can get green staining of the pool, blonde hair, fingernails, etc. So you're going to need to either use a metal sequestrant or keep the chlorine and pH on the lower side--which means keeping your stabilizer on the lower side and adding chlorine more often.

[tdkorson]

If I wanted to get rid of the nature 2 and go total BBB, Any conversion issues I should be aware of?

[aylad]

No, not really, since what you have is already a chlorine pool--the only issue would be whether there's already enough copper in your pool to create a problem, and you won't really know that until you shock the pool. Several of our forum members were prior N2 users and just leave the system in place but without the mineral cartridges. Have there been any reports of hair or nails turning green after swimming in your pool? Can you shock your pool without the water turning clear but greenish?

[tdkorson]

I'm very late getting the pool going this season ( I had some plumbing issues). It was a green swamp. I have just shocked it hard and have continued to shock it daily. After a week it still isn't quite clear, but much better, and yes greenish. Haven't had any problems with hair or nails from the pool. I have ordered a test kit from Amazon and will check everything as soon as it gets here, but from my simple test kit I know the PH is 6.8 or lower, so I'm going to add Borax tonight.

The pool company had me add 16 lbs of baking soda before starting the shock treatment.

[aylad]

Yes, go ahead and get the Borax in to get your pH up, and if you've been shocking it, keep up the shocking process until it all clears up and then if there is staining, we can help you deal with that later. Make sure your pump/filter are running 24/7 and you're cleaning the filter as the pressure indicates.

[tdkorson]

how much borax to start with and how many gal of bleach each evening?

[Watermom]

Add a box of Borax slowly to the skimmer while the pump is running, breaking up any clumps. Test it a few hours later (or tomorrow if you add it this evening) and add more if needed. You need to get the pH above 7.0. Once your pH starts moving, go with half box additions.

Do you have current testing results for chlorine and for CYA? We need those to really be able to advise well on bleach amounts. How high have you been taking the chlorine when you shock it? I can tell you that in your pool, each quart of 6% bleach will add 3ppm of chlorine to the pool.

[tdkorson]

one cup of Borax did the trick. My PH up to about 7.7

Last night I added 4 bottles of bleach (1.42 gals per bottle) and now the chlorine OTO test shows off the scale high.

[Watermom]

I'm not sure how a cup of Borax in a 20K gallon pool raised the pH up from 6.8 to 7.7??? Maybe you meant one box. Or tester error or something, but oh well. As long as the pH is above 7.0, that is what is important.

Your 4 bottles of bleach would have added 17.2ppm of cl to the pool. Until your test kit arrives you can use a dilution method to test the water which is described here: Testing Without a Good Kit