Am I right or am I suffering from a all too common human delusion.

[smallpooldad]

In this thread:

http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?t=8639


chem geek suggested I might want to try phosphate remover.

I am not sure if this too belongs in the China Shop if so please put it there.

I purchased Natural Chemistry's "Salt Water Magic Liquid".

It contains Lanthanum Chloride and Lanthanum Sulfate according to the MSDS info on their web site.

Well although I only measured about 200-300 ppm phosphate it certainly did seem to make the pool very clear; I added 4oz via the skimmer (10,000 gal pool). Why it is clearer I do not know. The pool does receive large amounts of wind driven dirt as it is located in an area where the trade winds blow down over it, between 16 mph to 26 mph on average, near the ridge of a 2000 ft mountain at a 1000 ft.

I run a Sta-Rite Pool Shark to clean the sides.

I am wondering if it does truly help with organic dirt or am I suffering from the all too human delusion of thinking that this is so to validate my $26 purchase? Any thoughts appreciated.

Finally I am fully aware that Phosphate remover is not necessary below 1000-2000 ppm but the reason for this post is that it might have other helpful properties and was wondering what the chemists among you thought. The pool measure no nitrites and nitrates.

[chem geek]

When you thought you had yellow/mustard algae I first suggested the high shock level (FC that is 60% of the CYA level) and a second choice was a phosphate remover, especially if the level was high.

Your 200-300 ppm phosphates is not high. There are those that have pools with 2000-3000 that are able to manage them. It's only those rare pools with 3000+ (I recall one with 7000 ppb) that seemed to only be resolved with a phosphate remover because it took too much chlorine. This isn't your situation but we didn't know that since you didn't know your phosphate level.

After I mentioned that many people mistake pollen for mustard/yellow algae, you said in this post that what you had was pollen and that covering the pool helped (I had also suggested a skimmer sock).

So I'm not sure why you got the phosphate remover except just to try it out since you had determined you had pollen.

As for the water clarity, the Lanthanum combines with phosphates to form a precipitate that is either vacuumed out or gets caught in the filter. That's how it removes phosphates from the water. It's not a clarifier so I don't know why it would clear up the water unless there happened to actually be some nascent algae growth -- but sufficient chlorine levels should have worked for that.

Maybe someone else knows, but I don't see how the phosphate remover would directly make a pool more clear other than preventing algae growth.

Richard

[waterbear]

the Lanthanum precipitate will 'dirty' the filter, which is why phosphate removers tell you to watch your filter pressure. A dirty filter will filter better than a clean one. Perhaps that is what occurred.

[smallpooldad]

Thank you both for your replies.

Well I suppose I should have known better, being that I have wasted money before on Phosfate Remover, but stupid is as stupid does.

On the brighter side the ORP now for some strange reason registers higher and seems to fluctuate less through the day, this might be due to my lowering the pH to 7.3 from 7.4. Also I ran the pool for 12 hours after I poured in the treatment, this equates to a 3.5 turn of the pool and that might have helped.

So now I have a somewhat expensive pool filter liquid.

I will try not to mess around anymore, at least for the next week or so.

[waterbear]

So I guess that means you were suffering from a all to common human delusion!

[smallpooldad]

No I do not think that is it. The cigarettes here in Hawaii are wayyyyyyyyyyyy stronger than the mainland kind and after you get to 50 they are wayyyyyyyyyyy stronger still. Especially if you only inhale them and dont smoke them a la Bill. I loveeeeeeeeeee my phosfate remover. Wow those little faces of yours keep changing color that's neat.

Aloha

If you believe this you will believe anything. I think this is what the pool stores hope you are doing. It is the only logical answer as to why one would buy this stuff!

[CarlD]

Thank you both for your replies.

Well I suppose I should have known better, being that I have wasted money before on Phosfate Remover, but stupid is as stupid does.

On the brighter side the ORP now for some strange reason registers higher and seems to fluctuate less through the day, this might be due to my lowering the pH to 7.3 from 7.4. Also I ran the pool for 12 hours after I poured in the treatment, this equates to a 3.5 turn of the pool and that might have helped.

So now I have a somewhat expensive pool filter liquid.

I will try not to mess around anymore, at least for the next week or so.

Anyone can be ignorant of the information they need. There's no shame in that--we've all done it.

Stupid is when someone doesn't learn from it!

And that's clearly NOT you!

[smallpooldad]

CarlD,

Thank you you saved me I'm back to smoking Camels.

Aloha and have a great 4th.