The Great Tetraborate Experiment!

[waterbear]

They are selling acid that is weaker in strength now. Don't know if it's a safety issue or what but regular pool acid would be 20 Baume or 31% by weight. This stuff they are selling is about 10 Baume so it is half strenth. I've noticed the price is the same!

The borax calculations for acid are for 20 Baume or 31% Muriatic acid!

[chem geek]

Yes, my calculations (in the spreadsheet) are for Muriatic Acid that is 31.45% Hydrochloric Acid that has been a standard for a very long time.

[mas985]

Hi ,
Today I started my quest to get my borates up to 50 ppm. I went to home depot to get some muriatic acid. The first thing I noticed is that it looks like water. I haven't purchased acid since last season. The acid I had from before was yellow in color. I looked at the ingredients and it has 14.5% acid. Unfortunatly I didn't have any left over acid jugs from last season to see if they lowered the percentage of acid. I know the acid I had before would almost knock you out if you caught a smell of it. This stuff doesn't do a thing. Has anyone else noticed any difference? I am in California Modesto area.
Chem Geek when you calcualted the amount of acid per box of borax what percentage was it for? Maybe this is the reason why I am having to add so much acid to my pool to get a change. If in fact the percentage has changed. Well off to add some borax and acid to the pool. cya

I had the same problem. Lowe's still has the strong stuff but who knows for how long. The thing that burned me about HD was the price was the same as before but half the strength. Lowe's has the same price but 29%.

[cgc2]

$221.00 for the Boron Test Kit from Taylor KIT NUMBER: K-1541
Kinda pricey....looks like strips for me as I convert my pool

[ccr-n-ia]

An additional benefit to adding the borax is that it wiped out all of the water bugs in my pool.

[waterbear]

$221.00 for the Boron Test Kit from Taylor KIT NUMBER: K-1541
Kinda pricey....looks like strips for me as I convert my pool

NOT the test kit you want. It will only test up to 15 ppm boron.
Proteam has a similar titration test kit that is designed to test Supreme (their brand of borax for pools) that is about $70. Any pool store that is a Proteam dealer should be able to order it. I have not been able to find it online. I have ordered one from our Proteam ditributor at work (it's backordered until July 19) so when it comes in I will post how it works. I have also talked to tech support at LaMotte and they told me that their borate test strips have a better color differentiation than the AquaChek. I have not been able to find the LaMotte test strips anywhere yet since they are a relatively new product but I am trying to find them so I can check them out. Perhaps if enough people contact LaMotte about the unavailability of the strips they might get them more widely distributed.

The Proteam test strips are rebranded AquaCheks. I do not know what the Bioguard ones are but I suspect they are the same since both strips are used in the repective companies strip readers for their in store water testing and all the strip readers I am familiar with use AquaChek strips.

[leejp]

Here in the Northeast we always have to raise the ph because the rain is so acidic. Would I get the same benefits simply using Borax to raise the ph after each rainstorm over time?

[waterbear]

probbaly not since it will take about 97.5 lbs of borax (each box is 4.75 lbs so that is about 20.5 boxes) to raise your 26k gallon pool to 50 ppm borates if you are starting out with no borates in the water. You would also lose a little each time you backwash your DE filter. Using borax to raise pH will add a small amount of borates to the water but you will not get anywhere near the 30-50 ppm range that is required to see it's other benefits.
EDIT: you would also need just over 6 gallons of muriatic acid to neutralize the pH rise from the borax addition and create the boric acid/ borate buffer in the water.

[cgc2]

[QUOTE=waterbear;34007]I will continue running my pool with the ajusted alkalinity at 97 ppm and see how long the pH remains stable and if I can repeat the results before I lower the ajusted alk to around 80. then I will see how it goes with the lower alk. I intend to post my results weekly. So far I think the addition of borates is a good idea. It certainly is not an expensive experiment when done with 20 mule team. It has only cost me about $35 for the 6 boxes of borax, 2 gallons of acid, and borate test strips!


In process of converting a 29k pool now...figuring close to 20 - 23 boxes for a 50 ppm...I will start with 15, and work my way up from there. Test strips should be ready for my pickup on Monday.

So far, 10 boxes, 2.5 gallons acid in pool that had readings of ph 7.4, TA 80 (unadjusted..69 adjusted), ch 360, cya 40 and building up to 70ppm, Salt 3000ppm and may add another bag.

Water sparkles and is very clear...going to take a test dip.

[bizbad]

Waterbear I really dont know how you keep the borates high enough, every time I add Borax it rains and I need to add more. I have given up. I would be adding Borax twice a week and it would just take the place of the acid I have to add every two days. I am glad it seems to be working for some of you, but I have had no luck. I get to the 50 ppm and it rains and I am back down again. I think I will just keep adding acid and occasionally buy some polyquat 60. I think its an even trade.