Bleach vs Tri-chlor pucks

[waterbear]

My TDS Rant!
TDS is a bogus test for the most part. IF TDS caused problems then every pool with a SWG would be in big trouble because the TDS is going to be the salt concentration PLUS whatever else is dissovled in the water. TDS is usually given a bad rap in pools with old water that has been using stabilized chlorine and hare having problems. These pools will also have very high CYA levels. The 'cure' for high TDS is to drain and refill. This also lowers the CYA levels. Which is the culprit? TDS? I think not! High CYA levels are KNOWN to cause all the problems that some manufacturers of stabilized chlorine attribute to high TDS such as algae outbreaks and pitting plaster. One company that shall remain nameless is even including copper in their trichlor to help combat the algae that will take over when the CYA levels get too high for the amount of chlorine in the water.

[grangerhj]

Thank you so much for the info- I have enjoyed reading all of your posts. They are always filled with good info. Someone should publish a book with all of these tidbits of info in it. I certainly would buy it! I am not a new pool owner- we have had this pool for 7 years- we only started having problems about a year ago a stuborn algae problem and trouble getting our readings tohold steady-I blamed a lot of things for this porblem and I listened to our pool store and I think we have made the problem much worse. I am still going to research SWG and if you know of any that you like more than others I would appreciate the info- Again thanks for all you knowledge- I am going to use bleach!

[Simmons99]

Check out the posts on the SWG forum - there have been a lot of discussions about them and the different manufacturers.

[tphaggerty]

I have an Aquarite SWG and love it for making life easy. Don't forget the side benefits (that most SWG users feel) of the softness and better feel of a salt water pool.

I still use bleach for shocking when I need to (opening plus cases where I screwed up and the SWG "fell way behind" - my timer presets got screwed up and the filter/SWG didn't turn on at night after a heavy use day). The combo works great to balance convience (SWG) against control/quick results (bleach). I prefer the SWG but love the option of bleach when I need it. Best of both worlds.

Controlling PH has not been much of an issue for me. There is a thread about that now, one of the senior forum users is very chemically astute and is trying to figure out why SWG in vinyl doesn't seem to have the PH issues that SWG in gunite does (not sure how fiberglass fares). In fact, I have had to raise my PH slightly (using Borax), not lower it (yet).