RiverbendPoolSupply.com - Todd's Blog - Episode 76

I have been out the past week and a half with a bacterial infection so I didn't make a post last week. Apparently if you don't switch out your Brita filters like you're supposed to they grow bacteria. Change those filters people!
El Nino is apparently back in full blast and that means we can expect March/April weather well into June. Heavy rains, humidity, and cooler temperatures will be with us for another two weeks or so.
Keep an eye on your chlorine levels and your PH as rain water can have a severe effect on both. Do not go chemical happy though, especially if you are using SupremePLUS, PoolRX, PolyQuat60 and Enzymes. I have still not had to shock the pool, even with all of this rain. Instead I add a couple extra ounces of PolyQuat and Enzymes each week.
Despite all the rain in the past 6 weeks our pool still has no algae, cloudiness, mold growth or any other real chemical issues.
Free Chlorine - .4 PPM
Total Chlorine - .4 PPM
I am still only using one tablet per week and holding a fine amount of chlorine despite all the rain. This is testament to the power of combining Borates, Mineral Ions, Quats and Enzymes. I still have not had to shock the pool in over a year now!
PH - 7.5
This is perfect. I haven't really had much of an issue with keeping the PH balanced this year.
Total Alkalinity - 50 PPM
Two weeks ago I added 5 lbs. of alkalinity up because the alkalinity had dropped to 20 PPM. I will add another 5 lbs. next week to get it back to the 80 PPM range.
Calcium Hardness - 225 PPM
With all the rain water being added to the pool, calcium hardness has been diluted from 275 down to 225 PPM. If this trend continues and the calcium drops below 200 PPM I may well have to add some hardness in order to get it back up. If water does not have enough calcium in it to feel sated, it will seek calcium from the plaster by leeching it out. This can cause etching. While it is not a good idea to have a high level of calcium hardness, having too low of a level is just as bad.
Cyanuric Acid - 15 PPM
Cyanuric Acid protects chlorine from the UV rays of the sun. It does this by allowing free chlorine in your pool water to bind to its nitrogen atoms. This happens thousands of times a second. The amount of free chlorine you are attempting to hold in your water determines the level of cyanuric acid that you need.
Since those of us on our low-chlorine system are only trying to hold .5 - 1.0 PPM Free Chlorine, we only need between 15 and 30 PPM cyanuric acid to protect it. So I am now at the low end of the CYA and if it drops below 15 I will have to add some.
Phosphates - 200 PPB
With all this rain it is going to be difficult to keep phosphates at 0. 200 PPB is not that bad and since I just added some PoolPerfect+PhosFree to the pool, phosphates will be removed.
Borate - 80 PPM
Still golden on my borate levels. It has been between 70 and 80 PPM for the last 15 months.
I ran out of CV-700 Enzyme and Phosphate Remover, so instead of using another bottle I decided to switch over to PoolPerfect+PhosFree to see if there is much of a change in phosphate control and water clarity. Both products are powerful and effective so it will be interesting to see their differences.
I also added 2 extra ounces of PolyQuat60. I normally only do about 4 but with all this rain we want to be sure to have enough Quat to deal with excessive algae. A TON OF OUR CUSTOMERS HAVE RAMPANT ALGAE - none of these people use our low-chlorine method and rely solely on chlorine to keep algae and other contaminants out of the pool. Most rain water contains live algae ready to take over your swimming pool. Our low-chlorine system attacks algae in 4 unique ways, thus making it virtually IMPOSSIBLE for algae to grow.
Next week I am going to add some more alkalinity up. Until then keep an eye on the weather and your pool!