Quote Originally Posted by chem geek View Post
I don't think the borates are going to change his experience with hair and skin. It might, but I wouldn't count on it. Let us know.
The hubby loved it when I added optimizer to our former water and is convinced borates will be the answer now. I don't plan on telling him what you said about borates probably not making a difference and just see what his reaction is when he next goes in. I will let you know what he says!

And to you also, JimK, I wish now that I hadn't stocked up on MA before reading Richard's and your posts about granular boric acid. (At $1.99/G, it was hard not to... my Menard's now raised their price now to $3.57 -still a deal). I found the process of adding borax and MA to be the pits. I would have loved to avoid that!

Btw, I only added 18 boxes of borax before running out. (I wiped out the shelves at several stores). I tested with the Lamotte strips and it seems to read between 50 and 80. I'm not sure why since I didn't add all the borax called for. I will keep an eye on it and see if my reading changes for any reason. I thought I was done reading test strips. Ugh!

Quote Originally Posted by PoolDoc View Post
Something else to consider: most of the chemicals that form in chlorinated pools, which cause undesired (effects) on skin, hair, or eyes are NOT broken down by 'shocking' but ARE broken down by chlorine + solar UV.

Opening your cover on sunny days will probably have MORE effect on the water quality, than the borates will. Of course, the borates won't hurt.
I was keeping the auto-cover closed a ton trying to warm up the water. If it ever gets sunny, I will open it up. Thanks for the info; I didn't realize that UV radiation had an effect on breaking down bad stuff. Always learning here on the forum!