Quote Originally Posted by CarlD View Post
...Lots of people like about 50ppm of borates because it inhibits algae, some, and makes the water feel better, but, unless you CONSTANTLY are fighting algae problems, it's not necessary to have a borates pool.....
The first season with our new pool (installed 2004) we had a continuing problem with the liner getting slick (nothing visible, but was told it's algae starting to grow) despite FC levels of 7+ (CYA at 60-80). I would shock and brush per pool store instructions, but it would quickly return. The following season, my pool store said they've had good results from adding a product called Bor-X or Bioguard Optimizer Plus (I've since learned both are borates) to the pool. They also suggested I use a polyquat (poly 60). Since adding those things to my routine the slick liner issue has not returned.

Fast forward to now, based on information on this forum it's not clear to me that I need both the poly60 and borates to control algae. However, it is apparent to me that I need something since maintaining good FC levels wasn't enough. I'm thinking about stopping the poly60 treatments to see what happens (I may put that experiment off until next season since I've already purchased enough poly60 [bought online] to last the entire season).