Fred Schweer Explains PoolRx Compatibility

Algae that keeps coming back can make even great pool techs feel like they are chasing ghosts, especially when a customer says, “But we already added the mineral unit.” I’m joined by Fred Square from PoolRx to get brutally practical about what actually changes outcomes: correct sizing by gallons, clean filtration, smart placement, and pump run time that lets minerals dissolve the right way instead of dumping into the pool all at once. If you want clearer water with lower chlorine demand, the details in your install and maintenance routine matter more than another round of shock. 

We also tackle the question I hear nonstop: where do the minerals go, and do they “build up” as metal in the water? Fred explains how chelated minerals are protected through their useful life, then get used up and filtered out during normal operation and filter cleaning. From there we dig into a big misunderstanding around pool stains. PoolRx often gets blamed for stains that are really caused by existing metals like iron or copper already in the fill water, old plumbing, or a tired heater exchanger, and aggressive oxidation from shocking can make those stains appear suddenly. We lay out a clean workflow: test for metals first, remove them, retest, then install with confidence. 

Finally, we cover PoolRx compatibility with common pool systems and chemicals, including borates, enzymes, phosphate removers, salt pools, UV, ozone, and AOP. We also share the simple cal hypo bucket method that helps prevent those ugly black surface spots when granular shock sits on the floor. If you’re a pool service pro looking for fewer algae callbacks and a simple chlorine enhancer story you can explain to customers, this one will help. Subscribe, share this with a pool friend, and leave a review with the question you want answered next.

We talk with Fred Shweer from PoolRx about why mineral systems succeed or fail based on sizing, filtration, and install habits, and how to troubleshoot algae without guessing. We also dig into metals, staining myths, and the real-world compatibility rules that keep pool water clear and predictable.  
• sizing PoolRx correctly by gallons and keeping chemistry in range  
• cleaning and recharging filters properly, especially DE grids  
• placing the unit in the right spot for flow and safety  
• running the pump after install to prevent mineral dumping  
• understanding where minerals go as they get used up and filtered out  
• preventing stains by testing for iron and copper before adding minerals  
• removing trace metals with a skimmer or pump basket metal trap bag  
• ignoring inconsistent copper readings after installation due to chelation  
• knowing when to add a booster based on chlorine demand and water clarity 
• handling cal hypo safely by dissolving and diluting first  
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Transcript

Welcome And What PoolRx Does

SPEAKER_01 1:03

Hey, welcome to the Best of the Full Right Podcast Show. In this episode, I'll be joined by Fred Square of Forex, who's going to answer some questions about the compatibility of the Full Rex Plus in your pool, and some other questions you may have about the Full Rex Plus and the usage of this. And by the way, this is a great Chlorine enhancer that you can use to extend the life of the Chorine to prevent allergen growth in your pool. Are you a full service pro looking to take your business to the next level? Join the Pool Guy Coaching Program. Get expert advice, business tips, exclusive content, and get direct support from me. I'm a 35-year veteran in the industry. Whether you're

Coaching Program Quick Invite

SPEAKER_01 1:40

starting out or scaling up, I've got the tools to help you succeed. Learn more at swimming poollearning.com. Yeah, and there's this next one. There's probably a lot of factors that go into it, but sometimes I get a question where they put a pool X unit in the pool and they still see algae in the pool. And you know there's other aspects of this, but Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:59

Yeah, that's easy. That's easy. I mean, really, you know, it comes down to sizing, right? So you you want to size it properly. And I also go back to your filter cleaning. If I didn't mention this, but I want to bring it up. Uh, if you have DE filters, I would, you know, you want to break down those grids, you want to recharge it with with your right amount of DE. And I would recommend putting a pool X unit there in a in the skimmer furthest from the pump. Um, even better if you have a bypass valve, bypass the filter if you can to allow those minerals to

Why Algae Shows Up Anyway

SPEAKER_00 2:28

get into the water and not have to go through the DE filter. But uh worse, worst case on DE, yeah, put it in the skimmer furthest from the pump. Let that let that pool run as long as you can, you know, the longer the better on the initial install. And then realize that you may notice your filter pressure goes up. It's but it's gonna come back down in the next couple days as that mineral dissolves through the DE, and you'll be good to go there. But when it comes to, hey, I put a pool or exit and I still have algae. Well, we gotta we gotta start, let's start back with normal pool chemistry. So you make sure your water's in normal ranges, make sure that you you have a clean filter and you use the right size unit based on the gallons, make sure that you're you know you have a free chlorine residual, and all those, you know, those are the factors we have to start with. Where people are where people don't get the results we advertise is typically from those either sizing, you know, filter cleanings, installation, possibly you know, backwashing, you know, backwashing the minerals out too soon, right after they put them in. So those are the typical factors where people go wrong because they've you know they've missed a step on sizing, installation, and maintenance. One more note that you know, if if say you undersized it, say you had a 25,000 gallon pool, you put a blue unit in there, and you're you're not getting the results. Well, you know, if if it's been a f you know a few weeks and you're still seeing algae, you know, you definitely you can go ahead and add a booster. So if algae is still there, you add the booster and that'll get your mineral concentration up enough where algae can't grow and you'll be off to the races.

SPEAKER_01 3:55

And so the best place to put the unit, a a friend of mine that had a new employee, he just put the pool X units in, hired somebody. Three weeks later, the new employee threw all of them out of the skimmer baskets because he didn't know what they were. And I I find that I prefer them in the pump basket because they're safer. I've only had a couple customers clean their pump basket and throw it out. They they're like, hey, there was something something in my pump basket. I don't know what it was, and I I took it out. But rarely does that happen.

SPEAKER_00 4:23

But I think Yeah, yeah, I get that question too. The the concept you have to understand is we want the minerals to dissolve you know out of the unit through the filter and into solution in the water. It's gonna, you know, my my recommendation is the pump

Sizing And Filter Prep That Matter

SPEAKER_00 4:38

baskets, you know, if you have a sand or cartridge filter and it's clean, pump baskets the easiest way to do it. If you have a DE filter, I recommend putting it in the skimmer for the first, you know, if you're only there once a week, you know, put it in there, come back the following week, it'll be empty, and then go ahead and transfer it to the pump basket. And the other thing is tell your customers, hey, there's gonna be a Pullar X unit in your skimmer or your pump basket, please leave it there. You know, that's that's that's on purpose. Don't throw it away. So just remind your customers that I I've also heard of some folks, you know, tying it, tying it to the skimmer. You know, it's up to you. But yeah, again, skimmer or pump basket is what it's designed for. The more flow over the unit, the better. So ultimately, the pump basket has all the water from the pool that goes through there. So you're it's gonna be better in the pump basket. But for initial install, the skimmer is a great place for it too. One note on that, guys make sure that you're running your pump long enough after you put this in. You know, it's also gonna depend on flow and and though those are that's an important factor. You want all the minerals to dissolve. You don't want to put it you know in the skimmer pump basket at eight o'clock in the morning, and then you know, the pump doesn't turn on until eight o'clock at night because your customer is trying to save money on their energy bill. All that mineral dissolves in the bottom of the basket in this blue concentration of mineral, and then the pump turns on at full speed and it blows 20,000 gallons worth of mineral through the filter into the water, you know, and then you see a you know this blue mineral that's undissolved, and and you're gonna have to probably lower the pH a bit to try and allow that to dissolve and get into circulation and solution. Running the pump after install is is important. So keep that in mind.

SPEAKER_01 6:13

I get this question all the time. So you're putting the minerals in the water. Where do they go? I mean, how where do they go? How do they get out of the water? You mentioned the lifespan. So people are always asking me, hey, is there still metal in my pool water after this is done?

SPEAKER_00 6:26

Yeah, good question. So with us, pool RX is adding the right amount of mineral based on the gallons of the pool, and our mineral is chelated, it's protected through the life of our mineral. So we are in control of what we're putting in into the water, and the chelation protects it through the lifespan of the mineral. So the mineral does get used up and it does get filtered out. And so when you're cleaning your filter, the mineral is out of the water. The copper is out of the water, it doesn't stay in the water. We have folks

Skimmer Vs Pump Basket Placement

SPEAKER_00 6:53

that have been using this since you know 1994, every year as directed, and we never get to a saturation point because the minerals get used up and filtered out, and when you're cleaning your filter, they're out of the pool. Now, let's since we're talking about metals in the water, let's talk about what we get blamed for is existing metal in your water prior to installing pool RX. You know, what I hear is hey, I you know, I put a pool RX in and it stained my pool. Well, that's not the case. What the case is is you had existing metals in your water. Someone will say, Hey, I you know, I put a pool RX in and I shocked my pool and I started seeing some brown spots in the you know on the surface. Well, you know, you have iron in the water. Or I I see you know some black, some black spots are staining or some some purple. Well, you have copper in your water. So if you're in a scenario or in a part of the country where you're unsure what's what your fill water is, I mean, if obviously well water is notorious for metals. If you have old copper plumbing that's you know going to be leaching copper in, if you have an old copper heat exchanger that's that's been leaching copper in, you should be testing for that with or without using pool RX. You should at least be testing that water once a year and dealing with that first, which meaning if there's existing metals in your water and then you're adding Pluorex on top, well, now the water's much more crowded. And our minerals, Pull RX, is making the chlorine superactive. And so people shock the pool and then all of a sudden they start seeing metal stains. Well, again, not Plurex is that's not from Pull R X, it's from your existing metals in the water. So to reiterate, test for metals first if you're in a market that you're concerned about that. We recommend publicly a product called See You Later by Periodic Products. It's a fabulous product. It's a little polymer baggie that drops in the skimmer basket. Uh, unlike a sequestering agent, a liquid sequestering agent that holds metals in solution. This actually physically pulls all the trace metals out of the water. So if you have a 20,000 gallon pool, uh, it's got you know 0.4 parts per million of iron, it's got 0.6 parts per million of copper, and you're like, hey, how do I get this out of the water? Well, see you later is is the product, and it's relatively inexpensive. You drop it in the skimmer, as the water flows over the bag, it it physically traps the all trace metals, it pulls out copper, iron, manganese, cobalt,

Pump Run Time After Install

SPEAKER_00 9:13

you know, all sorts of metals. So it gets you from whatever you're at to zero. So your entire 20,000 gallon pool is now zeroed out. There's no trace metals in there. And even if you're on well water, even if you're you know, you have other metals leaching into the water, you're gonna you're it's gonna take you a full season to get to a point where it's an issue again. So it's something that we recommend testing your metal, test for metals first, use the Culator, retest before installing pool RX, and then go ahead and throw the Culator back out of out. You just throw it away after it's been you know been used up, and then you can install pool RX without having the worry of you know other metals in the water that can cause you problems. This is a very important note and something that's it's important to me because you know I I want to make sure people are aware of what's in their water so we don't get blamed for it. You know, you know, they've been throwing a bunch of stuff in there and they don't realize that there is you know there are limits to water chemistry. And so I'd rather get you at a good place first and then use our product as directed, and and then you're good to go.

SPEAKER_01 10:40

And a seal leader, I think they recommend 30 days to get all the metals out, which is is fine if you put it in the beginning of the season.

SPEAKER_00 10:48

Yeah, you know, you can do it in the off season, the beginning of the season. I, you know, I've seen it work and is it depends on flow, right? So they have two products, they have one that goes in the skimmer. The more flow over the bag, the the faster it will do its job. They have that's the one part per million. They have a four part per million that can go in the pump basket, and it has a little gator egg, they call it. That's gonna pull it out much faster because of increased flow. And so if you're in a hurry, yeah, I mean I I've seen it come out as quick as 10 to 14 days with the little one part per million bag. So it's really a great little product that we we highly recommend.

SPEAKER_01 11:21

And then and then the same note, when you have after you put the unit in, the pool RX

Where The Minerals Go Over Time

SPEAKER_01 11:25

unit in the pool, you can no longer get an accurate copper reading. Is that correct?

SPEAKER_00 11:29

That is correct, David. And that goes back to our chelation. And so that's why we say test first, you know, as long as you're at 0.2 parts per million or less of copper, you're you're good to install pool RX. That's the lowest level on the test kit. And then to your point, after you put pool RX in, you're not gonna get an accurate reading. The chelation is so strong that the the reagents, even the new spin lab tests, the liquid reagents, the test strips, it's it's gonna be inconsistent. You're not gonna be able to rely on the results because the chelation is so strong. One day it might be you know zero, you know, the next day it might be you know 0.6. So it's not something that you should worry about. If you if you show, hey, I just put a poolar X in and it doesn't have it doesn't show any copper, don't worry, it's in the water, you just can't see it. And if you also to that same point, if you just put it, you know, if you put a poolar X in and you didn't have any any copper beforehand, and now your copper is at 0.6 or 0.8, don't worry. It's normal. You know, you're the keep the copper is chelated, it's protective, you don't have to treat for it. So, yeah, that's that's another important point. And that kind of leads us to where, well, how do I know when to add more minerals? How do I know when to add a booster? And I've kind of hit on that a few times. You're gonna you're gonna know based on your chlorine demand is gonna be the most the the first sign, this the and then after that it'll be visible, cloudy water or or any hint of algae. And at that point, you know it's time for a booster. But the nice thing is with pool RX, it's gonna take a couple two to three weeks as as the mineral gets used up and filtered out and reduced in the water. The water, you know, the water is gonna take two to three weeks to get to a bad spot. So it gives you plenty of time to add a booster.

SPEAKER_01 13:08

This is really good, let's close with

Metal Stains And Testing First

SPEAKER_01 13:09

the compatibility of the pool rx. Because we already talked about what happens if you toss it out accidentally. You just need to get a new unit basically because the minerals are gonna last about a month, right?

SPEAKER_00 13:18

Yeah, so if you if you do tie, if you do lose the unit, don't put a brand new unit in right away because you don't want to overdose, right? You're gonna want to wait until those booster, until that mineral that you originally dissolved into the water that previous week. You want to wait, you know, give it at least a month or so before you put a new unit in so you don't overdose that pool.

SPEAKER_01 13:36

But the compatibility of porex, let's talk about okay, so it's compatible with borates, it's compatible with it's compatible with phosphate removers and enzymes, even though you don't need those. Yep. And compatible with all types of chlorine, but there is a caution with cal hypodirectly in the pool, right?

SPEAKER_00 13:52

Yeah, correct. So yes, David knows this very well. He knows me, he probably knows my product better than a lot of people that I know. Not only has he been using it, but we've been talking about it for years. But yes, to your point, it's compatible with everything except you don't want to have other metals, products, right? You don't want to know copper in the water, uh, no bromine, no bigguanides, you know, none of the Backlasil product. But yes, it is compatible with everything else, you know, borates, phosphate removers, enzymes. And as far as chlorine, it's all types of chlorine. It's also compatible with UV, ozone, AOP systems, salt systems. The one product you want to be careful of is calhypo. It's compatible with calhypo, but you got to make sure you you dissolve and dilute your calhypo before pouring it in the pool. Not all cal hypo is made the same. Uh, and under certain water chemistry conditions, if you just sprinkle the cal hypo around the edge of the pool and it settles to the bottom, it can instantly flash and oxidize little black spots where the calhypo granular is. It'll go away after a few weeks, but it's an eyesore. And so it's totally avoidable. Just get your five-gallon bucket of of water, pour your one pound of shock into the water bucket. Don't obviously don't add water to the dry. You want to add the dry to the to the wet, to the to the bucket of water. Stir that up and then pour it in the deep end, and you're off, you're off and running. So, yes, we do recommend dissolving and diluting cal hypo. As a general rule, that you know, there's some cal hypos out there that that that dissolve very quickly, and we don't run into that problem, but as a general rule, that that's what we recommend.

SPEAKER_01 15:24

And does cal hypo affect the anode at all? Like if you're on a cal hypo pool, it doesn't really affect it, right?

SPEAKER_00 15:30

Yeah, you know, the alloy is not affected really by that. So, you know, I know a lot of folks, as they should not do, but they're pouring calhypo into the skimmer. We don't recommend that. But yeah, no, it's not affected by that. So you're good to go there. It's it's just the fact that it's it's our minerals are making chlorine super active and available, and that particular type

Using A Metal Remover Bag

SPEAKER_00 15:49

of chlorine uh can have an issue if uh you know it's not dissolved and diluted before pouring it in.

SPEAKER_01 15:55

Yeah, I just think it's an easy-to-use product, easy-to-sell product for the pool pro. If you're just starting out and you're looking for a way to enhance the chlorine, to me it's the easiest. Boreats are good, but it can be a little complicated. Measuring the amount, selling that to your customer, it's more expensive than the pools unit. And I think the poolx to me is the simplest thing. It's an actual physical product. You can just show the customer, hey, I'm gonna put this in your pool. You have the packet, you have the actual item in a in a nice container. Uh, you're not gonna buy the retail packaging usually, but you'll have the unit and it's gonna look something physical for the customer. Whereas the other enhancers are not quite as optically pleasing. You know, you can't really show them, you can show them the bucket of boys, but it's it's kind of weird. So the polar X to me is an easy sell, something you can hold in your hands. I'm gonna put this in and it's gonna save on your the maintenance of your pool. Your pool is gonna be algae-free, so it'll be sparkling. And we're gonna have your chlorine level at a very low level in your pool so that you can swim in there comfortably. Not that having a high level is a problem, but for some reason people always want to have like the least amount of chlorine. For some reason, they correlate like chlorine with like doing laundry and using bleach in there, and it just stuck with everyone in their head. They're like, oh, I'm swimming in bleach, you know, I'm swimming in all this chemical. To me, it's an easy sell, and it's the product that you stand behind. And if you have any problems, your Fred is the first person that can answer these questions. And he'll personally email you, and you've called people too on the field. I know you've done that personally.

SPEAKER_00 17:26

Yeah, yeah, that's correct. You know, I I definitely we definitely stand behind our product. You know, we our our job is just to try to educate people on how to use it properly. And uh beyond using our product properly, we're trying to help folks you know realize you know some basic, you know, everyday pool maintenance education to keep people you know along the right path. So yeah, we we're all we're here

Why Copper Tests Turn Unreliable

SPEAKER_00 17:49

you know for the service pros all the time. I do answer my cell phone and then I do email your group quite, you know, they have questions, new new folks to the to the product. The cool thing, David, is you know, it's once you get it and once you understand the basics, it's pretty easy. It's not something that that requires a lot of education. It you know, once you once you get on it and and you see for yourself and then you use it as directed, you know, it's one of those products that you're gonna be loving for you know for the rest of your your post service life.

SPEAKER_01 18:18

And I guess we should emphasize that any problems you have are are solvable. It's not like something's gonna be you know not solvable.

SPEAKER_00 18:25

I I would I would rather you guys uh avoid them by by by following our directions. But let's let's avoid problems first by a little education and using it you know for our directions. And then, but yes, if if you do run into a problem, everything's fixable. You know, but yeah, it's it's it's a very easy to use if you use it as directed, and that's kind of where we got to start.

SPEAKER_01 18:45

And if you're looking for more podcasts, you can find those by going to my website, swing for learning.com. On the banner, there's a podcast icon. Click on that, and over nineteen hundred podcasts will be available for you to listen to at your leisure. And if you're interested in the coaching program that I offer, you can learn more at

Compatibility Plus Cal Hypo Caution

SPEAKER_01 19:00

PoolGuyCoaching.com. Have a great rest of your week and God bless.