phosphates and algae

[CarlD]

I must disagree. Phosphates only feed algae if it's alive. Kill it, keep it dead, and keep your chlorine levels up so it stays dead and there won't be anything to eat the phosphates.

Phosphate removers should not be used until other methods are no longer able to work. I see no reason to expect our simple bleach method not to work--just because some pool store clerk wants to sell Melba phosphate remover.

Use MWSmith2's free, downloadable Bleach calculator to compute how much bleach you need.

Or remember that 1 gallon of regular bleach (5.25%) adds 5.25ppm to 10,000 gallons of water. 1 gallon of ultra bleach (6%) adds 6ppm to 10,000 gallons. Adjust your bleach based on that, how many gallons you have, and how high you are pushing your FC level.

[waterbear]

Melba,
I appologize in advance for answering the questions you asked in your last post. My answers can be long winded
My pool water currently has a phosphate level of over 1000 ppm. Phosphate remover manufacturers recommend that anything over 170-200ppm is too high. I have NEVER had an algae outbreak AND I no longer use phosphate removers! One time (when the pool was first put into service) was enough for me to go through the milky pool and the constant filter cleaning for a week. There are several factors that can cause an algae bloom. The most commen is letting your FC levels drop too low or running too low a level of FC for the level of CYA in your pool. Other factors that can affect algae growth are the amount of dissolved oxygen in the water (Borax is supposed to be helpful for that but the jury is still out....but borax is the BEST thing to use to raise your pH when needed) and the amount of nutrients (phosphates AND nitrates) in the water. If you lower the phosphates and it was NOT the 'limiting factor' in algae growth in your pool (because, for example, you also had a high level of nitrates which are also algae foood) then it will be of no help. Every pool is different and had a different 'limiting factor'. If your chlorine levels are not high enough or go up and down like a roller coaster you can have 0 phosphates and STILL have an algae bloom! That is why the advice you are being given is to maintain your FC levels and don't worry about phosphate levels unless everything else fails to get rid of the algae. To find out where to run your FC for the level of CYA in your pool and also how high to bring the FC level when you shock (whether with bleach or cal hypo) can be found here:
http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?t=365

The way you switch to bleach is by just using it instead of cal hypo. To figure out how much you need you might want to download and use mwsmith2's BleachCalc program. Most of us on the board use it...It's great AND free!
Get BleachCalc 2.6.2 here: http://www.hal-pc.org/~mwsmith2/BleachCalc262.exe

There are cases where high phosphates are the 'limiting factor' and a phosphate remover can be of value but, IMHO, that is only when all other methods have failed. If you don't have algae don't worry about phosphates....just get your CYA and Chlorine levels in line from the first link I posted above.

[gregugadawg]

I would agree with the fact that typically simply keeping the pool in balanced and chlorine in there 24/7 with a good filtration system will keep algae away. However, eliminating phosphates from the water isn't a pool store gimic, it does give you some leeway as far as algae is concerned, if you were to slip up and allow the chlorine to drop it will take a lot longer for the algae to bloom. I was at first a skeptic of selling this product however I have plenty of repeat customers with nothing bad to say about it. High phosphate level will also cause a higher chlorine demand in the pool. Furthermore either in the 70's or 80's there was proven a direct link between phosphates and algae growth and laundary detergent manufactureres were required to remove phosphates from their solutions due to algae blooms in the water sources.

[waterbear]

Phosphate removers work if phosphate is the limiting factor in algae growth. they might be, they might not be. Phosphate removers have been used in salt water aquairums for years to help control algae but are only recently being pushed for pools. In aquariums they are useful if the nitrate levels are low, otherwise the algae just consume the nitrates. The same happens in pools. Oxygen level in the water is also a limiting factor in algae growth. This is how borates (Supreme, Optimizer) are supposed to work but once again, if there are high nutrient levels present then they don't work that well. Phosphates were not only banned from detergents becuase of algae problems in bodies of water but because they also had a detrimental effect on reef building marine organisms such as corals and interfered with their production of their calcium carbonate structures that the reefs were composed of. I was actually involved in some of this research in the early 70's at the University of Miami School of Marine and Atmospheric Science in Miami.

I am not saying that they don't work but they should not be the first line of attack. Also, just because there are high phosphate levels doesn't mean that an algae bloom is going to occur. IF there has been an ongoing or recurrant algae problem that is not reponding to more conventional method AND there is a measured high phosphate level THEN, IMHO, would be the time to try a phosphate remover. In these cases they seem to have a high success rate.

I am sure you have plenty of repeat customers that have nothing bad to say about it. So do I. I also have plenty of customers that swear by copper based algecide becuase they just have to pour them in and not worry about checking their chlorine levels or REALLY taking care of their pool until the first time they notice stains in their pool or their hair! IMHO, the simplest solutions to a problem are the ones to try first. If that doesn't work it is then time to try a different approach and be willing to deal with the side effects. For lanthenum chloride and lanthenum carbonate phospate removers these side effects includes a milky pool, rising filter pressure and freqent cleaning or backwashing, and possibly having to vacumn a LOT of precipitated sediment to waste for the week or two that treatment takes.

Finally, to use a phosphate remover when there is not an algae problem even with high phosphate levels in the water is, IMHO, just wasting money on a product that ultimately has no effect on your pool. Same idea as putting in copper to prevent an algae breakout when the water is clean. You are using a product that is not needed to correct a problem that is not present in your pool. If it ain't broke, don't fix it!