Ok here's the deal. 16x32 rectangle pool goes from 3' to 6.5'. My akalinity was 160 to start so I added acid to bring Ph down to 7.1 and aerated to bring Ph back up. I have been doing this for a week now. Two days ago I had the alk. Down to 120 but that night I added more
Acid to bring down PH. When I tested alk. The next morning it was back up to 140. Then last night I was at 130 and PH was 7.5 so I added acid and Ph dropped to 7.1 and the alk. Rose again to 157. I'm getting a little frustrated but I'm also confused. How can the PH drop after adding the acid and the alk. Rise? Then in the afternoon the Ph is down and the alk. Is back up 20-30 ppm? Any help with this will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Mart

It's probably a static charge on the tip of the R-009 reagent. Wipe it with a damp paper towel between drops and see what you get.

Welcome to the forum

Keep in mind that the accuracy of the TA test is +or- 10ppm. How did you get a result of 157? That test should be only in increments of 10.

If your R-0009 reagent (are you testing using Taylor chemicals) is very new, Richard probably has it pegged as there is a static electricity interference.

Damp cloth or damp paper towel about every 2-3 drops pretty much eliminates that condition (it's temporary....it goes away around the 30 day mark)

I've had my test kit for two years it's a Color Q Pro 7. It's a digital reading that's why it's in increments of 1. I tested again this morning wipeing the rip of the bottle off and got a reading of 121. I will see what it reads this afternoon when I test it again. My pool is starting to clear up. Before it was really cloudy and I could hardly see the bottom o the shallow end. As of yesterday I can start to see the drain in the deep end. So I'm getting there slowly, just the alk. readings have been throwing me off. Again I thank you all for the help.

Have you added any fresh fill water?

I replaced half the water when the alk. was close to 200.

The + or - 10ppm I mentioned was for Taylor chemistry. I have no idea what the accuracy of the colorQ is but, from other reports, I'm not too sure of it's repeatability so that may be what's up with your TA test.

This is all just weird because I've never had this problem before. Just this year I have good readings on all my test except TA and my pool is cloudy. My testing equipment has worked fine and I've checked it with another tester. I'm stumped.
Thanks for the continued suggestions.

Ok this is what happen today. Tested my pool this moring around 6 am EST. Here are the results..
Chl- above 10
PH- 7.0
TA- 121
I added nothing to the water in the morning.
Restested at 6 pm EST and got these results..
Chl- 3.74
Ph- 7.5
TA- 154
The pool aerated all day and had no solar cover on it. My pool is in the sun all day will that have some effect? I just don't understand the low TA in the morning and then the high TA in the evening. Normally I would add enough bleach to bring it above 10. Then add enough acid to bring my Ph down to 7.0 which should bring down the TA, that's what I'm trying to accomplish here. Any advise? Should I do something different tonight to see what I come up with tomorrow? Let me know what you think. Thhanks again!!!

I'm thinking it's the test kit, unless someone is dumping baking soda in there without you looking

Anyhow, is there a specific reason you are trying to lower TA? Is you PH rise that rapid? If your PH is stable, the TA will come down on it's own over time as you manage PH to stay below 7.8. No need to get frustrated

Ok I can live with that but why has my pool been cloudy for 2 and a half weeks? I figured it was do to the high TA since everything else is fine. Since I've been treating the TA the pool has gotten clearer, slowly but it is clearing up. Thanks again!