Fighting Algae with Borax

[jhm]

It wasn't me, it was the borax!

Someone in another thread expressed concern about dogs drinking pool water with a high borax level. Any truth to that? I don't think I can keep my dog from drinking the water, but I read your whole other thread and the borax looks like it will kill two birds with one stone for me.

Thanks!

[Tredge]

Chemgeek had shown that borax at 50ppm is really no more 'toxic' than chlorine at normal levels. (At least thats how I read it).

Anyways....my dog drinks out of the pool regularly and shes very healthy. The way I see it that water is the cleanest she'll ever drink.

Most dogs can handle far more toxins than humans can due to their exceptionally large livers.

[jhm]

Chemgeek had shown that borax at 50ppm is really no more 'toxic' than chlorine at normal levels...

Awesome! Time to pack in the Mule Team.

[topless]

Here's an update, I still have 50 ppm borates in my pool.
Sunday, my pool was crystal clear and I had to add a lb of cya, the level had dropped below 30ppm. Sunday evening a storm moved in and I closed the pool cover.
This morning I opened it, to a green pool, after about 60 hours.

no FC, no cya, ph 7.5. I'm so irritated I'm thinking of filling the pool with concrete.
Whatever kind of algae is in my pool is proving to be impossible to eliminate completely. So now, I'm back to square 1, adding bleach in crazy quantities.

[salinda]

Curious and jumping in here....do you have an swg? If you don't, I would consider trying that BEFORE filling in the pool with concrete. All the water going through the cell gets a brief shock so intuitively, it should work for you.

[waterbear]

Here's an update, I still have 50 ppm borates in my pool.
Sunday, my pool was crystal clear and I had to add a lb of cya, the level had dropped below 30ppm. Sunday evening a storm moved in and I closed the pool cover.
This morning I opened it, to a green pool, after about 60 hours.

no FC, no cya, ph 7.5. I'm so irritated I'm thinking of filling the pool with concrete.
Whatever kind of algae is in my pool is proving to be impossible to eliminate completely. So now, I'm back to square 1, adding bleach in crazy quantities.

What was your FC BEFORE you covered the pool? Also, why did your CYA level drop? If the chlorine was low before you covered the pool borates by themselves won't prevent algae.

[topless]

What was your FC BEFORE you covered the pool? Also, why did your CYA level drop? If the chlorine was low before you covered the pool borates by themselves won't prevent algae.

I'm sure the FC was fairly low after a day of swimming, I checked it in the morning and it was about 3ppm. The storm came in very quickly and if I had just added another bottle of bleach before closing, I'm sure I would have had no problem.
I added cya back into the pool, dropped the ph to 7.2 and shocked it to about 40ppm yesterday. This morning I could see the bottom in the 6' area while brushing. I expect to have it cleared out by tomorrow.
I don't know why the cya disappeared unless the algae already had started to grow and bacteria was consuming it. It had been pretty level for the last couple of weeks, then suddenly started dropping over the weekend.
I was really surprised how quickly it turned green and cloudy.

[salinda]

It is my understanding that the bacteria that consumes the cya is found in soil in particular. Maybe that bacteria got swept into your pool even with the cover. Not an expert, but this is what I have gleaned from all of the research I have done on it....