pools - slightly off topic

[rachael simpson]

hey y'all,

dummy needs help again...........lol

my 2 yr old son has a small swimming pool that i let him play in while i work in the garden. it is 8x5 and only about 4 inches deep. was wondering this:

is there anything i can add to the water (besides chlorox) to keep the mildew and algae from building up in it? i need something that will be gentle to his skin. currently, i am draining the pool and cleaning it, then filling it back up again the next time i need to work in the garden. with the drought, i need to cut it back on water use. does anyone have any suggestions on what i can use to let the water last a few days before i need to drain and clean again?

thanks, rae

[Charlie]

You have a problem. Algae grows as a result of heat, sunlight and nutrients. Good luck keeping it out. It is tough and persistent.

You can use algaecides, but I know you wouldn't and I wouldn't either. Shocking the pool with high levels of chlorine, eg Shock&Swim is effective, but you need to remove the dead algae thru filtration. And filtration is not available on your wading pool. Shock and Swim is not what you want on his skin, if you don't want to use chlorox either.

Covering your pool when not in use to prevent sunlight can help.

Can you run the water to the horse tank after he swims, recycle it that way? Horses shouldnn't mind a little boy pee!;-)

Are you watering your garden? Use the pool water to water your plants and refill for him each time, then after use, water the garden. You're not talking about major amounts of water in this size pool and depth.

If you are using well water, how high is your nitrate level? Nitrates encourage and feed algae.

Or, let him enjoy with algae. I remember swimming in farm ponds and horse tanks when a kid and a little algae was ok. Good hose off after! ;-)

[Charlie]

Citric Acid? Hmmmm. Cyanuric acid is what is used to maintain and slow chlorine degradation in the baggie pool things we have.

Once it is at proper levels, it remains all season. I asssume, being no chemist, that citric acid would be similiar, and safer?

Charlie

[rachael simpson]

no deeper than the pool is, i would hate to have to use stuff like that

the dog thinks the current blue tarp is his blanket - keeps running off with it.........

hadn't thought about that. romeo (the horse here at the house) has a barrel that he drinks out of - normally i run the water hose to it, but might try something different - skip to next comment

no higher than the pool is, that would be a bit of running back and forth with a cup and bucket! lol, might could make a new game out of that with wyatt.

yep, on well water - don't know anything else about it........don't even know that it's ever been tested.

rae

[rachael simpson]

any chemists here?? chemistry wasn't my strong point.......

[Janet Baraclough]

The message from rachael simpson contains these words:

Those are pretty harmless. Water attracts rats which are more likely disease vectors. I'd be more wary about Weils Disease/leptospirosis, which is spread to humans via rat pee in water .

Our toddlers enjoyed a baby-bath of water to play in/with in the garden, that's a small enough water volume to just fill with fresh every time he's going to play, and empty after.

Incidentally after an exceptionally mild winter I'm seeing more rats than usual here, even in the garden in broad daylight. So far we've caught just one in the trap.

Janet

[jangchub]

Muriatic acid

[rachael simpson]

no sign of rats around here, got plenty of possum though! lol what i forgot to mention in the original post is that the pool is inflatable. in order to remove every trace of the water, i have to deflate and then re-inflate after it's dry. while i know that some algae won't really hurt him, it looks really ugly in the pool like that. besides, if algae is present, i can't help but wonder what other bacteria might be present...............

while wyatt's pool doesn't hold a lot of water, it does hold more than i like to replenish every day. we used the old water from today's play to water the garden with. made a little game out of it with wyatt. (who could get the most water to the garden the quickest.) might keep doing that.

some folks around here had told me to add a bit of bleach to his pool. I'm sure you of all people, janet, can understand why i don't want to add chlorox bleach to his play water..........

rae

ps: excuse typing skills again.......holding baby

[cactusgirl]

Try using a chlorine alternative called Baquacil. It's sold at most pool and spa stores. No irritation or odor. Worked great in our swimming pool and spa.

Bioguard makes a similar product called "SoftSwim," which is also a chlorine alternative. Here's a link for the Bioguard products:

this helps. CactusGirl

[Charlie]

Some of us filter it out after it has done it's duty.

Even below sensory threshold, which is not always true in the case of drinking water, I don't drink it. There are some theories and articles floating about that claim dermal absorption of chlorine is a not good thing, even at low levels.

Thus having said this, hypochlorites are good disinfectants and degrade rapidly and are good to keep on hand, both in liquid (sodium) and granular (calcium) form in case of emergencies.

Charlie

[rachael simpson]

thanks, i'll check it out. rae

[dr-solo]

[jangchub]

I can pretty much guarantee you have rats and mice in your yard. There isn't a part of land which has no rats or mice on it. I can't believe there is this much uproar about an inflatable pool! Drain it, wash it out with soapy water and fill it again. I wouldn't suggest you put any chemicals in the inflatable pool or the pool may disintegrate. I wouldn't let my pets go into an algae pool, so a child? I don't think so. I assure you stagnant water is loaded with anerobic bacteria and it 's a matter of time before they can be ingested. Please, an inflatable pool...drain it and refill it.

[rachael simpson]

well excuse me..........................................

[jangchub]

Sorry, there is no excuse for this. I don't tip toe around and I also don't apologize for it. It is a BLOW UP POOL. I have a fifty foot long pool and don't have this much trouble.

[rachael simpson]

and it takes how long to drain and clean and re-fill?? oh, yeah, you must use chemicals then huh?

just because it is inflatable doesn't mean that it is something easy to do everyday. personally, i didn't know that my post was causing so much up-roar as you put it. i simply asked if anyone knew of anything i could use to keep from having to re-fill it everyday. we are in a drought and trying to preserve water. we are now 13+ inches below. i make my own household cleaners, so i thought maybe someone on here knew of something that was non-chemical that i could use. my son has severe eczema, and i am careful what i use around him. he cannot play in "bigger" pools that require chemicals because of the severity of his skin condition. besides the drought, i have a very busy home-based lifestyle, which sometimes prevents me from being able to clean the pool right away. while it may be inflatable, it is not a very small pool. it takes time to deflate and re-inflate. add to that the non-existence of an air pump or air compressor to our household. so, in short, i was looking a way to simplify the task, also. i have had several replies (is that what you were calling up-roar??), and to be nice, i like to reply back. my reply to Janet was simple enough - she knows what it is like with kids with eczema, she has given me a few tips in the past on this. i also took Charlie's advice to recycle the water by using it on the garden, which in short helps conserve the water we have.

however, i will apologize that my posts (and it's subsequent posts) have offended you. for that i am truly sorry.............

[Sheldon]

Dummy is right.

Your son is much too young to be left with that pool unsupervised... a child can drown in less than 2 inches of water. Get rid of that pool now... before you wish you did. Your child will have more fun cooling off with a small lawn sprinkler, the water will be clean and at the same time it'll water your lawn... and no one has been known to drown from a lawn sprinkler.

[raeannsimpson]

area. i am never more than 10 feet away from it. as a trained nurse and former lifeguard, i know what i am doing............and he plays in the sprinkler too, when i have it running in the garden!

[Sheldon]

If you're gardening you're not watching.

[William Wagner]

........................

Good idea!

I just bought one of these. $49 Set the pressure and done. Does 80 Lbs on my bike or 35 Lb on a car tire.

Bill who gave one of his sons his old hand pump.

or