Getting Started with Borax

[jhm]

Three questions on raising the borates:

1. I've got a 23k IG gunnite pool, so it's a fairly significant amount of borax and acid. Should I stage it over 4-5 sessions, or just stick with the half and half approach? I'm a little nervous about that much acid in such a short time.

2. Should I completely get any algae under control before introducing the borax? Or will its presence actually help.

3. I think I read in another thread that raising the borates will also help keep an ever rising ph in check. Is that accurate?

Thanks!

Jim

[waterbear]

Add half the borax needed, brush to dissolve it, then add half the acid. Repeat with the rest of it. Wait 48 hours and readjust the pH to 7.6. If it is high add a bit more acid. If it is low aerate to bring the pH up.
Kill any algae before adding the borates and make sure your TA and pH are in line.

Borates will add a secondary boric acid/borate buffer system to the water that will help with pH stability. If you pool is still curing then you won't see a big improvement right away since new plaster will always be causing a pH rise anyway. In a cured plaster pool it will help with pH stability but keep your TA in the lower end of where it should be.

[jhm]

What is the procedure to aerate? I've never had to worry about ph being too low, it's constant battle to keep in down for me (and my pool is about 6 years old).

[jhm]

Just thought I'd share my experience with everyone in case it is helpful. I'm about to start with Borax for two reasons.

First, I've never been able to keep my ph down without adding acid all the time. Higher borates have helped others control this so I'm hopeful this will get it under control.

Second, I've been battling mustard algae for about 1 1/2 years now, and I'm hopeful this will help that as well.

Here are my numbers going in for my inground pool about 23k gallons:

FC 5
CC 0
pH 7.5
Alk 90
Cal 220
CYA 45

Any helpful advice as I proceed is welcome. I plan to start adding Borax and Acid tomorrow. Hopefully sharing this will be helpful to others who have similar problems (assuming this helps me )

Jim

[waterbear]

adding borax is really a no brainer. Don't make it into something harder than it really is. Calculate how much you need, add half the amount and half the acid, brush, and add the rest. Wait 48 hours, adjust your pH to 7.6 and test your borate levels. Check them about once a month and when they drop to 30 ppm add enough borax and acid to bring them back up to 50 ppm.

[jhm]

thanks waterbear. you're the inspiration for this. even still i'm a little nervous putting that much borax in my water. but it sounds like it has positive effects on both my problems. i'm going for it!

[waterbear]

If putting the borax in makes you nervous you can always go out and buy a product like Proteam Supreme or Bioguard Optimizer or one of the other Tetraborate 'water enhancers' and use that. It will do exactly the same thing and cost twice as much or more!
The ingredient in these products is sodium tetraborate which is the chemical name for borax! Here is what Ben has to say about these products (but remember that this is before I did the "Great Tetraborate Experiment" in the China Shop!)
http://www.poolsolutions.com/gd/grocery.html

Read the borax section!