Cationic Polymer - Pool Clarifier from HTH -Questions

[chem geek]

My understanding is that the clarifier (by itself) won't do anything for metals. I have seen some products that combine a clarifier with a sequestering agent, but that's just having two products mixed together into one. I don't know of any selectively precipitating agent that will allow the filter to remove metals from the water without staining other surfaces. It seems that whatever precipitates the metal has a tendency to deposit it on surfaces as a colored stain and not just keep it as a particle that can get filtered.

So the way metals are handled is to keep them dissolved in the water and that is done with a sequestering agent which is generally a larger molecular ring that can hold the metal (charged ion) within it. I believe the details of this including the two types of such agents has been written up in another post on this board, but such details are not important for this discussion. Eventually, drain/refill will dilute the metals out of the water unless your fill water contains metals in which case you'll have to constantly refresh with sequestering agents or will have to remove the metals (by precipitation) before adding the fill water to the pool (as described in another post).

As for other particles that cause cloudiness, the clarifier will work as Evan described but I found in my own pool that a little patience works just as well. I used to use clarifiers to handle general cloudiness and detergents for oil film (suntan lotion) on the water surface. After learning more on this board I haven't used such products and what I found is that initially one does get some slight cloudiness and/or oil film after heavy bather usage, but that it does eventually all break down and go away, the slight cloudiness after only a day and the oil film usually after only a couple of days. A chlorine shock makes it go away faster, but isn't normally necessary. I have a cartridge filter, but suspect it is one of the modern ones (was installed 3 years ago) that are in between a sand and DE filter in terms of what it can filter (though a sand filter with some DE thrown in is probably better).

Generally speaking, whatever is making your pool water cloudy is likely to be an organic substance and eventually it will breakdown and get oxidized by chlorine or the chlorine will form a chlorinated organic that will breakdown by sunlight. So if one keeps their pool covered and not exposed to sunlight (or if its an indoor pool) then it will be harder to get rid of cloudiness, oil films, and combined chlorine levels in general. In such situations it might make sense to use a non-chlorine shock (potassium monopersulfate, KPMS) since that oxidizes organics quite readily and can be used (expensively) as a weekly or bi-weekly maintenance. In my own pool, I now keep the cover open if the water looks like it still has stuff to breakdown (mostly oil film) or if the combined chlorine is measurable (hardly ever happens) and that seems to do the trick and only takes one or two days.

In your situation, you've killed a lot of algae (apparently) so there is a lot to filter out and that just takes time. I would expect that the pool will be completely clear within a week of good filtration, exposure to sun, and maintained chlorine levels (even normal levels, though higher levels will make the process go faster). If you don't care about spending money, you can use non-chlorine shock or a clarifier, but patience is much cheaper and will limit the amount of chemicals you add to your pool.

Richard

[smallpooldad]

Thank you both for the replies.

I have not bought it, nor will I use it. I will remain a loyal Wal-Mart chlorine customer.

Aloha