Do I need to worry about low hardness?

[Watermom]

Hmm... now I don't know whether to feel please w/myself for sticking it to da man or frustrated that I didn't work it out the first time I challenged them on the need for minerals in the first place! At least the last 2 seasons were only partial.
But I get the feeling that most of the other stuff they sell me is worthwhile. Could someone confirm or deny that:
-Balance Pak 100 for alkalinity
-Slow 'n' Go for pH
-Shock
-Chlorine pucks
-Algicide (this seems to only be when opening/closing the pool)
I guess that's it. There's not much getting around using those, is there?

Oh yes there is! There are cheaper alternatives to those pool store chemicals.

You can use:
-- baking soda to raise alk
-- 20 Mule Team Borax (laundry aisle at Walmart) to raise pH
-- plain, unscented household bleach for daily chlorination and shocking if needed (and it isn't routinely needed, by the way)

It is ok to use Trichlor pucks for awhile. They will add chlorine and CYA if yours is low but after you get your CYA where you want it (around 50ppm is good for most pools), you'll want to discontinue using the pucks or else your CYA will get too high. We have people come here all the time who use the pucks for extended time periods who suddenly can't keep algae away. What they don't understand is that higher CYA levels cause you to need to run higher chlorine levels. Take a look at the chart in this link to see more about the connection between CYA and chlorine levels. http://pool9.net/cl-cya/

You don't ever actually have to use algaecide. I never do. But, if you do use one, only use 60% algaecide. Nothing else.

Do a lot of reading here on the forum, especially the stickied threads at the top of each subsection of the forum. Also, read over on our sister website www.poolsolutions.com.

Hope this helps!

[PoolDoc]

BioLab's BioGuard line of chemicals is a master work of 'up-selling' ordinary chemicals as something special.

- Balance Pak 100 *is* baking soda.
They usually package the coarser industrial grade and call it "sodium hydrogen carbonate", but that's a synonym for sodium bicarbonate, which is the chemical name for baking soda. Ironically, the cheaper grocery store stuff is higher purity!

- Balance Pak 200 is sodium carbonate. The old trade names are "soda ash" or "washing soda". Arm and Hammer brand of washing soda is sold by Walmart for 1/3 the price of the BioGuard product.

- Balance Pak 300 is calcium chloride dihydrate. It's sometimes sold as deicing salt, but with additives, so don't use that form of it. It's NOT needed on vinyl or fiberglass pools, contrary to what the BioGuard "Alex" program prescribes.

- Slow 'n' Go is sodium bisulate, which is the partially neutralized form of sulfuric acid. But, sulfates are bad for concrete. Muriatic acid is cheaper and better for your pool, though it's a bit harder to handle safely. Read http://pool9.net/muriatic/

- Shock - like most pool chemical makers, BioGuard has a bunch of products that are called shock. The principal ingredients are one of these: trichlor powder, dichlor granules, calcium hypochlorite granules, lithium hypochlorite granules or potassium monopersulfate. Until you *know* what you need, bleach is a safer and often cheaper option.

- Chlorine pucks are usually trichlor, but more rarely, calcium hypochlorite. By the way, these two chemicals are not at ALL compatible with each other, at least until they are fully dissolved in the pool.

-Algicide (this seems to only be when opening/closing the pool) - There are a variety of algaecides, though the only one we ever recommend is polyquat (http://pool9.net/polyquat/). But the STRONGEST algaecide, by far, is chlorine.