Phooey on Phosphates Removers

[famousdavis]

No question - just a life experience from a new pool owner.

I'm a new pool owner, and am learning to take care of my own pool. Our pool is crystal clear and nicely balanced...or so I thought.

I'm currently taking our pool water to two pool stores to be evaluated. I'm trying to get a sense of which pool company I want to work with. The two companies routinely report different values for my water (not too different usually, but different). Chlorine is an exception; the two companies report wildly different values. One company has consistently said my free chlorine is 4.0, whiile the other says my free chlorine is between 6.9 and 10! I can see that their testing methods are different. The first company uses drops, the second uses a test strip and a computer.

This second pool company told me last Thursday that my chlorine was almost 0 (though my OTO kit showed 2.0). They did some further testing, said my phosphate level was too high, and was eating up all the chlorine (500ppm). They said to put this $25 chemical into my pool to remove the phosphates, so I did.

What happened next was my crystal-clear water went very cloudy! Then, over the next 24 hours, my DE filter worked hard to remove the cloudiness, but then the DE filter got all gunked up and I had to backwash it.

I thought to myself: Did I really need to worry about phosphates to be troubled like this? Interestingly, the next day I took a water sample to the other pool company and, like always before, they said I had 4.0 ppm of chlorine.

So I searched the Internet for answers. Before phosphate-removing chemicals were invented, people dealt with algae by just ensuring that their chlorine levels were correct. It doesn't matter as much that one's pool has phosphates if the chlorine is killing all the algae (I also use a weekly dose of algaecide, too).

So, I feel like I was duped out of $25 to fix a problem that I suspect I really don't have. Once I get my K-2600 kit, I'll just trust that kit instead of either pool store to get my correct readings (maybe use those two stores just for sanity checking if I spot something amiss).

Anyway, I'm concluding from hereon not to worry about phosphates in my pool. People don't worry much about nitrates, either...but that's because there's no nitrate-removing chemical on the market (you have to empty pool water to remove high levels of nitrates).

Your thoughts?

[CarlD]

Ah, another poor soul duped into being "Pool-Stored". Happily it was only for $25, not a season's worth of this garbage. Welcome back into the light!

OK. Your OTO kit and the drop-testing store are pretty compatible with each other. Never trust stores that use strips.

Second, get your own kit and don't bother with them. In 12 years I've never take a sample to a pool store. Can't imagine why I would.

On the sig for PoolDoc, Watermom, or aylad, you can find a link to buying the test kit we recommend: The Taylor Technologies K-2006 and K-2006C (larger amounts of test chems). If you click on the link, if it takes you to Amato industries you can go ahead and get it. If it takes you anywhere else, they've been sending the K-2005, which costs as much but should cost $25 less (because it doesn't have the most important test: FAS-DPD which is different from DPD). Anything you buy that way pays a small commission to the site to help maintain it.

There are a couple of good alternatives if it's not available. There's the Leslies Chlorine FAS-DPD Service Test Kit which is the K-2006 rebadged as Leslies, but is full MSRP at $70. TaylorTechnologies.com charges full MSRP as well.

Carl

[famousdavis]

I found it interesting, while reading over at the Taylor company's website, that the dropper method of testing is still the "gold standard" for water testing. In that light, I'm highly suspect of the chlorine readings I'm receiving from the one company that uses a test strip and a computer to evaluate my water. In the last water test I had done, the dropper-based pool company said my TA was 160, whereas the strip-based pool company said my TA was 100. Other numbers were all different, too, but not by much (stablizer is 70, 80; salt is 2700, 2900; calcium is 275, 300).

I found it interesting that in the Pool Tips link at PoolSolutions, they say that a simple OTO test kit is the best kit for everyday testing. I'm inferring, then, that the K-2600 is more accurate, but perhaps a little more tedious to perform - true, or no? I'll be anxious to get the K-2600 kit and compare its results to my OTO kit and the two pool companies I'm having test my water. I'm curious to see to which other test does the K-2600 most closely align.

[Watermom]

The OTO kit is fine for daily testing. Unless your chlorine levels are higher than 5 (like if you are shocking the pool or run a high CYA/high cl pool), you can use the OTO for quick checks. I use my OTO kit frequently. The K-2006 (not 2600) is used for when you need to test everything including your CYA or if you need to test for high chlorine levels or to find out if you have an CC.

BTW --- I just checked the Amazon links. Apparently, Amato Industries is sold out today of the K-2006 but they do show the K-2006C as being in stock. That one is actually a better buy. However, if you prefer the K-2006, try back in a day or so. They seem to quickly restock.

Do us a favor, please. To make it easier for us to help, if people will create a signature line with their pool specs, it keeps us from having to reread through posts to find out basic information. You can create a signature by clicking on 'settings' in the upper right-hand corner of the homepage. In your sig, please put type of pool, volume, type of filter, size of pump, whether or not you have a SWCG or any water features and the fact that you do or do not have a K-2006. Thanks!

[famousdavis]

Would love to comply with your sig request, Watermom, but as I'm on probation still, I don't yet have permission to that area of the website.

[Watermom]

My bad. I forgot. Once your 'in' you can do it! Glad to have you with us here on the Forum! Hope you enjoy it.