Was wondering what people on here reckon the best way to keep a pool is. Chemistry "variables" are similar to aquaria but with different goals in mind...
The main solutions seem to be chlorine and salt.
Chlorine pretty much everyone has swam in a chlorine pool before. Bit of a hassle to test and add chlorine etc but month mates seem to work pretty well. After reading the propoganda from the salt water proponents the chlorine system really doesn't sounds that good. Strong chlorine also doesn't sound very desirable for swimming in etc.
The salt systems require no chlorine to be added because it is generated by a chlorine generator ($$$). The chlorine generator sounds pretty much like some electrolysis to split the NaCl so it becomes coated. Also the amount of chlorine generated is low so it's required to be run pretty much 24/7 so you lose out on electricity costs and you need a pump running to circulate water through it. The benefits are lower stable levels of chlorine in the pool so the water isn't as irritatin to eyes/skin.
Another option seems to be running all water through UV sterilisers. I know these work terribly on tanks because they are usually very underpowered. I imagine if you ran some pretty powerful ones on a pool it would work for the water but you will probably still get algae on surfaces because it will never pass through.
What will probably work a bit better than this would be ozone. You need quite a big ozone generator ($$$) but I don't see why it wouldn't work. It's more of a "natural" way to kill the algae etc.
Another option I found online is called "eco smarte" and works on basically putting copper into the water (also electolysis by the sounds of it). I think we all know copper is pretty good at killing stuff... I think this *should* be cheaper than O3 or CL2 generators and having to replace UV lights all the time but it's probably not marketed like that.
What do you guys think?
The main solutions seem to be chlorine and salt.
Chlorine pretty much everyone has swam in a chlorine pool before. Bit of a hassle to test and add chlorine etc but month mates seem to work pretty well. After reading the propoganda from the salt water proponents the chlorine system really doesn't sounds that good. Strong chlorine also doesn't sound very desirable for swimming in etc.
The salt systems require no chlorine to be added because it is generated by a chlorine generator ($$$). The chlorine generator sounds pretty much like some electrolysis to split the NaCl so it becomes coated. Also the amount of chlorine generated is low so it's required to be run pretty much 24/7 so you lose out on electricity costs and you need a pump running to circulate water through it. The benefits are lower stable levels of chlorine in the pool so the water isn't as irritatin to eyes/skin.
Another option seems to be running all water through UV sterilisers. I know these work terribly on tanks because they are usually very underpowered. I imagine if you ran some pretty powerful ones on a pool it would work for the water but you will probably still get algae on surfaces because it will never pass through.
What will probably work a bit better than this would be ozone. You need quite a big ozone generator ($$$) but I don't see why it wouldn't work. It's more of a "natural" way to kill the algae etc.
Another option I found online is called "eco smarte" and works on basically putting copper into the water (also electolysis by the sounds of it). I think we all know copper is pretty good at killing stuff... I think this *should* be cheaper than O3 or CL2 generators and having to replace UV lights all the time but it's probably not marketed like that.
What do you guys think?
