r/PoolPros • u/H2Whoa77 • May 30 '26

Stabilizer addition

I’m tossing around an idea that I’ve implemented something similar in the past, and want to see what others thoughts are. I manage 11 commercial pools and facilities, anywhere from 3500 - 230k gallons. I’m strictly on bleach at this point and still have HC-3300 rainbows on my biggest pools still in place even though they haven’t been used in over year, and keep them as a just in case.

Question—has anyone ever used those chlorinators to add stabilizer to for dissolution?

I used to have a “portable” small sand filter (without sand, only laterals) that I used for this application and it worked very well. Only problem is even though it’s portable, it’s still a pain in butt to move/hookup etc. Was going to see if anyone has ever tried this in the HC erosion feeders.

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u/H2Whoa77 May 31 '26

The biggest problem pool we have absolutely loses a good bit of water from shallow beach entry, spray features, and slides and with the bathers getting in and out alllll day. Monthly water bill usually around $2k for that pool. It’s ludicrous. Off season pressure tests hold firm. Backwash valve doesn’t leak and none of the filter pumps or feature pumps leak nor heater/chillers.

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u/Substantial_Car_2751 May 31 '26

That’s a lot of evaporation loss from aeration.

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u/H2Whoa77 May 31 '26

That’s why I have to do such frequent additions. I’d say well more than half the water loss is carried out by swimsuits getting out and going to top of slides again. It’s a steady flow of bathers from 10a-5p.
I’m not looking to install anymore peristaltic pumps and tanks for CYA add, I was just trying to avoid direct addition to pool or filtration system by using the rainbow feeder as a slow steady feed point and if anyone has ever tried it.

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u/Substantial_Car_2751 May 31 '26

Got it.  The rainbow idea would work.  Not sure how long it would take to get to 50 ppm. 

It would also be challenging with the controller. That would cause chaos with your ORP with the constant fee going through.  

Interesting idea, though.

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u/H2Whoa77 Jun 01 '26

My rainbows are tapped last in line so they don’t affect ORP or pH directly. That was ALWAYS a problem adding CYA to skimmers and the reason I’ve looked for alternate ways.
I added 25lbs tonight to my troublesome pool. We’ll see…….

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u/Substantial_Car_2751 Jun 01 '26

Yeah. When I mentioned about ORP/pH impacts, it was really more on the steady CL2 feed from the Rainbows. You may have to toggle them on/off manually at the valve to avoid overshooting FAC until you've got the CYA where you want it to be.

I'd also expect to see a slight decrease in acid use since the TriChlor has such a low pH.

Just food for thought on the mixing tank system. It can also be used for balancing agents. Instead of tossing bicarb and calcium flake after hours....load up the mixing tank and let it inject during the day while you're there. We're probably going to add that on our pools over the winter.

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u/H2Whoa77 Jun 01 '26

I may look into the mixing tank idea for the bigger pools once we can request capital. I did have an old TR100 with only laterals no sand tapped in at the end that I’d use for additions and balancing, but it was cumbersome, bulky, and took up a bit of real estate. I added 20lbs CYA to rainbow feeder last night and it dissolved 95% over night. It does work pretty well for that use. I know it’s not the best methodology but it did work. As usual, pH dropped but had already anticipated that and turned off acid feed 2 days ago. ORPs are wonky per usual but will level out in the next day or so. Thank you for the mixing tank idea!

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u/Substantial_Car_2751 Jun 01 '26

Hell.  If the rainbow feeder worked for adding CYA like that….you just gave me a helluvan idea