Using PhosFree for algae control

[chem geek]

Some phosphate remover products contain a clarifier in them so that may be the case with Kem-Tek. I believe that the Natural Chemistry Phos-Free products have clarifier.

Yes, using a clarifier should prevent or at least limit the time for any cloudiness. My pool cleared up very quickly once I added the clarifier and ran the filter 24/7. It was clear the next day, but I don't know when in that roughly 15 hours it actually cleared up (i.e. how long it actually took). Basically, the lanthanum chloride not only combines with phosphate in the water to form lanthanum phosphate but it also combines with carbonate to form lanthanum carbonate. This usually gets caught in the filter and if there is any additional phosphate then then carbonate is exchanged for the phosphate.

I did not notice any rise in filter pressure and I have a cartridge filter, but it's oversized 4-cart 340 square foot total area for a 16,000 gallon pool. When I cleaned the filter, I didn't notice any unusual amount of plugging up. It has the normal mixture of mostly suntan lotion along with cedar needles.

[PoolDoc]

I'm not sure the more recent products have the severe side-effects I experienced, which has been limited to whatever product I used on that pool many years ago, and the Kem-Tek.

But it did surprise that I did not see any cloudiness -- even briefly -- from the Kem-Tek product. Initially, it made me afraid the product wasn't even working, so I was careful to do pre / post PO4 testing to reassure myself.

I should note that the product itself is a milky mixture, maybe like a water/skim milk mix. So when I poured it in, there was some haze from the unmixed product. But that disappeared as the product was diluted.