TA and Continued Ph Rise

[fkrobertson]

I recently switched over to a SWG and am loving the results and ease of maintenance. But I am noticing a steady rise in pH. I've also been battling to get my TA down through acid addition and aeration, but its slow going. It is at 90 now, down from 130 six weeks ago. Some weeks, my TA actually rises a bit, despite contantly dropping my pH to 7.2. I thought my fill water might be the issue, so I tested it last night. Sure enough it reads 8.0 pH and 130 TA. I'm adding about three quarts of 31.45% Muriatic Acid on a weekly basis. I should also mention that I foolishly added borates to the pool (about 40 ppm) before getting TA down, so that's not helping any.

My question is: Should I be doing anything differently? Am I resigned to a perpetual pH battle given the makeup of my fill water? About once or twice a week I measure pH and drop to 7.2 and like I said I go through roughly 3 quarts a week. I use the pool's aerator every night for the full 8 hours the motors runs. (Phoenix hits 110 almost everyday and I prefer my pool water at about 85.) Other than that my pool is very little maintenance. Thanks for your help and here are my test results from last night:

FC: 6.0
CC: 0.0
pH: 8.0/7.8? Hard to tell
TA: 90
CH: 770
CYA: 90
Borates: 40
Salt: 3300
CSI: .51

 

[cj3737]

What is the second CC you listed?

Im having the TA battle as well.. pain in the butt, aint it... especially when your fill water is well above what your target is..huh?

What kind of test kit are you using?

The 8 hour aeration may be whats pushing up your ph.. maybe reduce that a bit.. your temp may rise a tad but your ph should level out too.

TA isn't off the charts, even with your fill water

 

[Mr Bruce]

The SWG causes constant pH rise as well.

 

[fkrobertson]

Oops, I edited the post. That CC should have been CH. A pool with 770 CC doesn't sound inviting. I agree that the TA battle is a pain! It's not the end of the world, but anything I can do to eliminate maintenance and cost is great. Plus I don't like anyone but me handling the 31.45% MA. From my perspective it's the only part of maintaining my pool that presents a risk of injury or damage to the pool. So reducing the need for MA would be nice for those times that I am away.

 

[cj3737]

Absolutely agree....

My fill water is around 180 and im sitting at 150 at the moment but Im not getting any PH spikes so Ive kinda put that on the back burner. Honestly I haven't seen it above 7.5 even sitting for 3 days untouched...