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We are in the process of building a pool. Right now our pool builder will be providing the Nature 2 System along with a DEL Ozone generator. I know the Nature 2 system will still require the chlorine but I want to try to be as chlorine free as possible. I have a family member with the HealthCare system and they love it. They have had it for many years without any problems. I know you can't be 100% chlorine free but I want the best for my family. Any advice. Any other options available? I am so torn. they start digging next week.
Re: Help..Nature 2 System vs. HealthCare System by Superior
You will find few if any positive reviews here for either of those systems but plenty of very negative reviews, including from myself. Chlorine is the safest way to sanitize a pool. It quickly neutralizes any problems and when used properly there is less active chlorine in a pool than in city drinking water. It is great that you want the best for your family, but "mineral" systems are not the best.
Re: Help..Nature 2 System vs. HealthCare System by Superior
There's some reading for you.
Re: Help..Nature 2 System vs. HealthCare System by Superior
Welcome to tfp, amy13c
We would recommend against both of those systems.
The Nature2 adds copper to the pool that can stain it and cause blond hair to turn green.
Ozone systems are just not needed in typical bather load residential outdoor pools.
Either way, you still would need a sanitizer. The three epa approved sanitizers are chlorine, bromine and biguanide. Bromine is more difficult to maintain in pools and some people are sensitive to it and its smell. Do some searching on here for biguanide and you will find only problems with cloudy water and lots of money spent. That leaves you with chlorine, but that is not a bad thing since when used properly it is a very safe, and unnoticeable via smell or feel. Chlorine does get a bad rap from incorrectly maintained pools and public pools where the "active" chlorine level is much higher than what we teach here at tfp.
Maybe we can answers your questions/concerns about using appropriate levels of chlorine to keep your water safe and algae free?
Re: Help..Nature 2 System vs. HealthCare System by Superior
The Nature2 for pools uses a combination of copper ions (for algae prevention) and silver ions (for disinfection of fecal bacteria) so for an ozonator that would need to be purchased separately while the HealthCare System by Superior Aqua uses a combination of what appears to be copper only plus ozone.
Copper ions do not kill fecal bacteria and both copper and silver ions combined kill bacteria slowly and do not inactivate viruses or do so very slowly. See this post for technical details from numerous scientific peer-reviewed papers in respected scientific journals.
Metal ions can also stain pool surfaces and while we have dozens upon dozens of such reports, there are specific ones related to the HealthCare system in this thread and this thread. Copper ions also cause blond hair to turn greenish as described technically in this paper.
Ozone is effective at disinfection for water passing through the ozonator, but does nothing for pathogens that are not circulated including those attached to pool surfaces and turnover rates for residential pools are measured in hours while bacterial reproduction rates are on the order of 15-60 minutes. Also, most residential ozonators are woefully undersized. If you were to have a very powerful ozonator that left some residual of ozone in the bulk pool water then that would be different, but then you would need to consider the risks from ozone outgassing and the additional chlorine loss since ozone reacts with chlorine increasing chlorine demand (which is the opposite of what you are looking for since you'd need to maintain a higher chlorine level to compensate).
Also, as for using a minimum of chlorine, you should be aware that with the proper use of chlorine with Cyanuric Acid (CYA) in a pool as described in the Pool School, the active chlorine (hypochlorous acid) level is equivalent to a pool with only 0.07 ppm FC and no CYA so is a very low level. You can't compare this chlorine approach with what you find in some commercial/public pools, especially indoor or other pools that use no CYA in the water. CYA not only protects chlorine from breakdown from the UV in sunlight, but it significantly moderates chlorine's strength.
If you still want to reduce the level of chlorine in the pool and are willing to spend more money to do so, then you can use a supplemental algaecide, but one that does not cause staining such as adding Polyquat 60 weekly, but this really isn't necessary since chlorine alone can prevent algae growth at the levels described in the Chlorine / CYA Chart.