The Truth About Phosphates in Your Pool
There are several methods you can use to eliminate and
prevent algae in your pool all season long. I am a big fan of adding borates to
your pool to prevent algae and alternatively, you can use the PoolRX product or
a maintenance dose of a sodium bromide product like YellowTrine or No Nor
Problems. But what happens if you are currently using one of these methods or
none of them and you still have persistent algae in your pool? This is where a
good Phosphate remover can come in and save the day.
Keep in mind phosphates are measured in ppb – parts
per billion instead of the standard ppm – parts per million used in the
industry. To give you an idea of how small a ppb is, imagine a roll of toilet
paper stretched from New York across the Atlantic Ocean to London. 1 ppm would
be one tiny sheet of the entire roll that is stretched across the ocean! So a
phosphate level of 100 ppb is extremely minuscule but any amount of phosphates
in the water is food for the algae. We are dealing with the microscopic world
in your pool and strangely these very small amounts can destroy the pool’s
chlorine level and cause algae to bloom on the pool surface.
There are of course factors that contribute to algae
in your pool. The main factors that I see are poor filtration, not running your
pump long enough, flow issues due to air leaks in the system and improper
chemistry – low chlorine levels each week. After addressing these issues, you
can still get algae in certain areas of your pool and attached spa. That is
where a phosphate remover like PHOSEfree can come in handy.
I have a handful of pools on my route that will
develop algae in certain spots during the season. In this case, it is due to
poor circulation in the attached spa or in the corner where the steps meet the
pool. So what I do is add 8 oz of the PHOSEfree into the skimmer with the pool
running for 6-8 hours and this usually takes care of it in one application. You
may need to repeat it the next week are two if it is tough algae.
What a phosphate remover does is remove the food for
the algae. It the food source is destroyed the algae cannot grow. By doing this
you also give the chlorine a boost since it will not be used up fighting the
algae growth in the pool. So, there is a dual benefit to this. The algae in the
pool are eliminated and your chlorine level stays high each week.
I rarely will use the phosphate remover to actually
treat a pool with high phosphates. Most of my pools have a phosphate level of
100 ppb or less so there is no use for the product for me except to treat algae
spots in a pool or spa. Of course, if your phosphate levels are over 300 ppb or
higher you would benefit from the full phosphate treatment outlined on the
product directions. For spot algae treatment you are just using a small dose in
the affected pool and are not doing the full phosphate treatment.
I am not a big advocate of adding chemicals to your
pool and suggest adding a phosphate remover only if you need it. Rarely will
your pool actually have a phosphate issue? I have only had a few pools with
phosphates over 1,000 ppb and again very high phosphates are not a major issue
for those in my area of the country. But it is not uncommon in very rural areas
to have high phosphate issues and full treatment, when needed, is perfectly
called for.
The only time I suggest this method is if your pool
has trouble holding chlorine week to week and you see algae in certain areas of
your pool. There could be microalgae that you can’t see using up the chlorine
in the pool. A maintenance dose of the phosphate remover will quickly eliminate
the food source for the algae and in turn free up the chlorine allowing the
levels to stay consistent.
So, using the phosphate treatment in the way that I am
suggesting will help your pool if you are noticing algae in certain spots and
if the chlorine level is not holding well week to week. Use the treatment with
the understanding that even a small amount of the phosphate remover can go a
long way in eliminating the algae because we are removing the algae’s food
source. You do not need the full phosphate treatment unless the levels are
elevated in your pool. Get a good phosphate test kit or use test strips just to
be sure you are not dealing with high phosphate levels in your pool. If the
levels are low, close to 100 ppb this method will work very effectively for
you.
YouTube Video Index: http://poolmandave.blogspot.com/2014/03/swimming-pool-tips-reviews-how-to-video.html – A
list of all of my videos.
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