Phosphate treatment has really taken hold within the pool industry in the past few years, but what are phosphates and why should you be concerned.
One of the other major concerns, and why phosphate treatment is much more common now than it was even just 4 years ago, is that high levels of phosphates in a pool will have a significant impact on your salt water chlorination systems performance.
Phosphates are one of the main ingredients found in plant fertilizers.
Since Algae is a simple plant the presence of phosphates in the water will have an impact on the difficulty controlling algae in your swimming pool.
The more phosphates that are present the more difficult it becomes to kill and control the algae in your pool water.
Thus the increased use of phosphate treatments.
If you find that 1) your pump is running an appropriate amount of time and you are turning over your pool at least 1 time a day, 2) you have plenty of FREE chlorine in the pool, and 3) your PH and alkalinity are balanced, but you continue to have an algae problem...
then it's probably time to check for phosphates.
So what do you do? There are simple tests which can be performed to evaluate if phosphate treatments are necessary, and the approximate concentration of phosphates in the water.
There are liquid tests, tabs, and test strips available to accurately tell what your phosphate readings are.
We have found the test strips to be fairly accurate, and BY FAR the easiest tests to perform, and analyze.
I personally prefer to have no phosphates in the water at all, but in reality we generally do not use phosphate treatments until they reach about 250 ppb.
Phosphate treatment involves adding the phosphate removing chemicals to the pool, typically through the skimmer while the pool pump is running.
This rapidly disperses the chemical throughout the pool, allowing it to have the maximum effect.
The chemical precipitates the phosphates out of the water, and they fall to the pool floor, where they can be vacuumed up.
We usually recommend that the pool pump run for 24 - 36 hours continuously during this process, which will speed the progress along.
Once the process is completed the filter will need to be taken apart and thoroughly cleaned (and it's not a fun process).
We usually recommend that an additional test be performed to confirm that all the phosphates have been removed from the water.
Not all phosphate treatments are created equal! There are dramatic differences in the effectiveness across different brands.
Read the directions carefully, and compare the dosage rates to see which ones are the most effective.
These chemicals are not cheap, but when administered properly the result is a pool that is much easier to maintain throughout the year.
Get your pool off to a good start this season and check to see if you could use phosphate treatment.