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[7sanders]

Thanks for all of the advice... Had my PH creep up above 7.8... not quite to the 8.4 on my test kit, but somewhere in between the 7.8 and 8.4. Added about 3 oz of dissolved PH Minus that we had on hand yesterday, and today the chlorine has held steady at 3 and the PH was back to about a 7.6. I'm guessing it's due to high aeration, as our kids plus the neighborhood kids have spent at least 4-6 hours a day splashing around in the pool. And the pump return into the pool really ripples the water since we don't have the pool filled to capacity. (And rain two nights in a row)

Anyway... I pulled out all the chemicals we've purchased/been given over the years and was curious if any of the following are worth keeping around?

* HTH PH Minus (I understand Muratic Acid is the chem of choice, but we already had this on hand)

* HTH Dual Action 1" chlorinating tablets (active ingred. trichloro-s-triazinetrione 93.5% and copper sulfate pentahydrate 1.5%... avail chlorine 84%)
* SpaGuard PH Decreaser (sodium bisulfate 93.2%)

And the jug of "HTH Algaeguard" is definitely getting tossed.

How do you dispose of unwanted pool chemicals? Are they safe to dump, or best taken to the hazardous waste facility?

Thanks!

Intex 16'x48" UltraFrame, approx 5000 gal

[Watermom]

The PH Minus and the PH decreaser are both just dry acid and should be fine to use unless they list some other unwanted ingredient on the label. If it is just sodium bisulfate, that's ok. Do NOT use the chlorinating tabs since they have copper in them. You do NOT want copper in your pool. And you're right. Do NOT use the HTH Algaeguard.

I'm not sure of the best way to dispose of the unwanted stuff. Ben will have a better idea. I'll ask him.

[7sanders]

Thank you! You are all so helpful

[Watermom]

You are very welcome!

[PoolDoc]

Disposing of them might be tricky. Lemme ask some questions:

1. Are you going to leave the pool up for winter, or take it down?
2. Are you on a sewer or a septic tank?
3. Do you have any sidewalks or concrete or roofing that has algae you'd like to remove?

[7sanders]

1) take it down (we are routinely below 32degrees, even gets as cold at -17 here, and not sure that's a good idea to leave an Intex pool up in those conditions)

2) city sewer (and a storm drain on the property - we were told last year it was safe to empty our pool into the storm drain as long as we let the chlorine drop to 0 before hand)

3) nope, sure don't. have a brother in law with a big algae problem on his waterfall/koi pond, but I dont' think pool chemicals are safe for those expensive fish! lol)

thanks!

[PoolDoc]

OK.

1. Keep the sodium bisulfate to use in your pool.

2. I can't tell you what to do with the algaecide. What *I* would do, if I was on a city sewer, and had that stuff, is flush it down the toilet a cup at a time. But, it might be illegal for me to tell you to do that, so I can't suggest that for you.

3. Tabs are harder. If no one in your household has blonde or gray hair, I would use them up, slowly, along with other forms of chlorine. Do NOT put them in the garbage. Trichlor can make big bangs, when mixed with various forms of garbage.

[7sanders]

Thanks!

Seeing as how 6 out of 7 of us are blondes, I'll probably not put them in the pool Perhaps I'll just post them on the freecycle group and pass them along to someone who might be able to use them.

[7sanders]

After a month of beautiful water and LOTS of swimming... we have something going wrong

We were only loosing chlorine during the day... starting most days between 3-5ppm, but by the end of the day we were between 1-2ppm (figured high bather load and sunlight loss - pool gets used 2-6 hours most days). I would add enough bleach to get back to 4 or 5 ppm and it would be between 3-4ppm each morning. Last week the pool started to get a little cloudy and we appeared to have a lot of dirt/dust in the pool. Hooked up the vacuum to the filter intake and cleaned the bottom of the pool (turned the filter cartridge brown). Replaced the cartridge and cleaned the dirty one. A couple of days ago the pool developed a greenish hue, clear water on top, and slightly cloudier at the bottom. I have been adding bleach 2-3 times a day to keep the OTO test kit (HTH 5 way) in the orange range. (Sorry, no Taylor kit just yet). It has not dropped below 5ppm in the last 3 days. 20 minutes after adding the bleach, I brush the walls/floor/skimmer/return etc. (ladder has been removed). It always stirs up what looks like brown dust on the bottom. Some gets caught in the filter cartridge, some must be blowing right on through and back into the pool. (Intex Type A cartridges - Unicel's are due to arrive from Amazon tomorrow).

We have had highs of 110+ for quite awhile, so the water temp has been in the high 80's / low 90's.

Chlorine orange on OTO test kit
PH was 7.8 before bringing the pool to shock levels (I understand that the PH test is not reliable when chlorine levels are very high? but it shows as 7.8 now too)
CYA was 30-40ppm before letting the final 3/4 cup dissolve.
TA is about 150

I'm wondering if I'm fighting mustard algae, or if it's just pollen/dirt/dust etc. I'm hoping that the Unicel cartridges will make a big difference. The water definitely has less of a "green/tan hue" today than it did yesterday (although, on grey overcast rainy days it seems enhances the "green" look - even the sky looks green around here before thunderstorms, especially those with hail).

I have some pictures here:

water color



residual "dust" left on ladder steps after removing from pool and allowing to air dry



pockets of "dust" on bottom



Thanks for any advice you can give!

[7sanders]

Had a friend give us their pool "left overs" extra pumps, tubing and such... plus a couple of bottles of chemicals:

* Leslie's Ultra Bright (from what I've read I probably don't need this one either)
* Aqua Chem Filter Cleaner (bottle doesn't list ingredients, this is what I could find online: )
Dipropylene glycol monomethyl ether 6%
Sodium Hydroxide 8%
nonylphenol ethoxylated phosphate ether 4%
Benzensulfonic acid, dodecyl(sulfophenoxy), diammonium salt (DDBSA) %
would love to know if this filter cleaner is safe to use on my cartridge filters (right now I just have the Intex ones)

Thanks!!