I recently made the switch to BBB, and pool has been looking really good, water seems shiny and soft, and the amount of bleach to add has come down. Happy so far. However, I have noticed that the pH goes up to around 7.8 or so. I brought it down to 7.4, and within 4-5 days, it goes up to 7.8. Is it normal?

Test results are:

pH: 7.8
FC: 2.5
CC: Absent
TA: 90
CH: 200
CYA: 35

Is everything looking good or I need to so something about pH?

Your waterfall will cause pH to rise. So will splashing, fountains, etc. If you lower your TA just a bit, it may help, but you aren't far off at 90 already.

You need to bring your FC up and keep it at or above 3 ppm all the time.

As for your pH problem. I think it'll settle down if you'll let your TA come down to about 70 or 80 ppm. Which will happen over time as you adjust the pH down with acid.

Thanks for the replies. I will raise the FC today.

I have noticed that even without using waterfall, pH goes up, but it is probably due to splashing , so I will add acid to lower the pH and TA. Hopefully, it will get stable soon.

Thanks a bunch everyone

Yes, very normal for California. I suspect you've been adding water to replace splashout and evaporation, and it will raise TA, which will drive pH upwards. It may not show on a test, if it only raised the pool 4 or 5 ppm, but it's there nonetheless.

Just for kicks, test your tap water.

Thats a good suggestion Richard to test the tap water. I will do that too.

Our pool has that auto-fill up (I am sorry if I am using the wrong term), so I tend to agree with you.

If you had previously been using trichlor pucks, they are acidic and help to lower ph. So, by not using them you will need to manually lower ph with MA or dry acid.

My pool is still new (4 months) and we have a continuously overflowing spa. Rising ph is my greatest expense at the moment. I was adding about 36oz of MA every other day. It seems to have slowed down a bit lately and now I add about 36oz every three or four days. Recently while on and 8 day vacation I was forced to use pucs and upon returning the the ph was as low as I had ever seen, around 7.2.

So yes, I think it's normal.

I also have a spa that is continious, I adjusted my valves on my spa so the water just trickles over into the pool, and has reduced my MA use. Also a lower TA will reduce the amount of MA you use.

After I added borates, my ph is much more stable. Maybe that can work for you if you haven't already added.

I added some borates 10-15 PPM and my pH has not moved since, I was needing to add MA every few days but not since adding the borates via the Borax/MA treatment.

I have already added borates. I just received my test strips yesterday, so now I will test the borate level.

Hiya neighbor! I just bought a house in Sacramento in March!

Hey neighbor..good to see another Sacramento person here. I have learned a lot from this site, and am already taking care of the pool on my own. Really glad to have found this forum (planning to be a supporter soon).

quote="Christian"]Hiya neighbor! I just bought a house in Sacramento in March![/quote]

Well, there's three of us in this thread. I have not noticed Blake hiding anywhere.

Sacramento Represent!

Hey roseville neighbor