Reviews of Bioguard swimming pool chemicals?

[CarlD]

Actually, according to this MSDS, Balance Pak 300 is calcium chloride, not calcium carbonate (which does not dissolve very quickly except in acid). It's the same as Peladow (90% calcium chloride) and similar to Dowflake (68% calcium chloride).

Thanks for the correction, Richard.

Of course, the point is they are selling very ordinary chemicals at 3x or 4x what you can buy them at when you go to the supermarket or CostCo. Even the fanciest market in my town sells both borax and washing soda for about $1/lb.

[Bardo213]

My patio was just finished around the pool yesterday, and the pool company came back to get rid of any wrinkles in the liner. Apparently they shocked and put algecide in the pool as well. I took my readings today and this is what I have:

pH around 7 so I added 4 doses of borax according to the SS recipe
FC of 6.4
CC of 0 (?)
TA 50
CH 80 (but could be lower since I'm color blind and this one was hard for me to tell, no one was around at the time to ask)
CYA was less than 30

I have the Pool Brand dichlor from Sams that I have been adding nightly since the pool was completely filled for about 3 or 4 days now. I have only been adding one bag, should I increase it to two? Also, the guys who did the patio knocked a lot of dirt and some rocks into the pool. I tried vacuuming most of it out, but need to dive in and get some of the pebbles out as the vacuum didn't have enough suction.

Do I hold off on adding bleach for now until the CYA is up?

Any other advice is appreciated. Thanks

[Watermom]

Yes, keep using dichlor until your CYA level is around 50ppm or so and then switch to bleach.

Your CH is fine and since it is a liner pool, this is not a test that you need to worry about. In a vinyl pool, CH is only a problem if it is high.

The TA is ok at 50 but it may help your pH to be more stable if you increase it a little with some baking soda. Aim for 80-100ppm. Add a couple of pounds, and then wait several hours before you retest and add more if needed.

[PoolDoc]

And . . . you do NOT need 2 bags of dichlor. With FC=6 and CYA<30, you are fine.

Chlorine levels need to be 10% or more of the CYA level -- you are at 20% or more.

[Bardo213]

Thanks for the advice. I will update in about a week to see if my CYA levels are higher at that point. I appreciate the help

[Bardo213]

I tested my water this morning and have the following:

pH: 7.2 (I added a small amount of borax)
FC: 5
CC: 0
TA: 80
CYA: 60 (possibly a little lower)

It looks like I should hold off on the stabilizer now, and start using the bleach. I have used the stabilizer for over a week now I believe, and was hoping you could help me set up some type of regular schedule for me going forward. How often should I check TA going forward? Weekly? Same with CYA? Also just wanted you to know that the water looks amazing so far and no complaints. Thank you

[Watermom]

First of all, please make a signature. In it, please tell us type of pool, volume, size of pump, type and size of filter and also add the fact that you have a K2006 kit. That will keep us from scrolling through the entire thread looking for info when we make replies. You can click on the link in my signature below to make your signature.

As far as a routine -----

Every evening, test your pool. Add enough bleach to take your chlorine back up to the maximum level based on your CYA. You want to make sure that your chlorine never drops below the minimum before the next evening. More about the CYA/Chlorine connection can be found here:> http://pool9.net/cl-cya/ You may find that you can add bleach every other day instead of every day and still not drop below the minimum. You'll get more familiar with your pool's behavior as you test more.

In a 23K gallon pool, each of the 121-oz jugs of 8.25% bleach will add about 3.5ppm of chlorine. You can use that as a reference to help you figure out doses of bleach you need to add when you test. (Since your CYA is around 60, I would only use bleach from now on for your source of chlorine. You really don't want the CYA any higher.)

Also, test pH daily. If it drops below 7.2, add a little borax. TA can be tested every week or two, unless you start to see your pH bouncing around. CYA doesn't need to be tested very often if you aren't using dichlor or trichlor (which you should not use). Maybe test it monthly.

Hope this helps.