After Borating My Pool Chlorine Use Goes Through the Roof

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Bananimal

Bananimal

0
Aug 5, 2016
54
Madisonville, LA
I could use some help here folks. I managed to get my water perfectly balanced a few days ago. Once everything was balanced, I proceeded to borate my pool to 50ppm using PoolProof. Prior to adding borates, I was adding approximately 32 ounces of bleach per day. After borating, I have had to add 128 oz. of 10% chlorine per day and still can't keep minimum FC for my CYA level.

Today at 7:30am. I added one gallon as I was at a reading of 2.8ppm. This was after adding an entire gallon the day before. And then this evening, my FC was only 2.5ppm after adding that gallon this morning so I decided to added another this evening desperately trying to get it above minimums.

All of this after adding borates? I thought adding borate lowered your chlorine consumption? I have consistent CC readings of 0ppm so I know nothing is consuming the chlorine.

Readings this morning at 7:30am.

FC = 2.8 (Added one gallon of 10% bleach to bring me up to 8.5ppm)
CC = 0.0
pH = 7.0 (This was after I added two boxes of borax the day before and achieved a 7.6 reading with the taylor kit later that day. My ColorQ reads 8.1. I'm more inclined to believe that since borates were added to bring up the pH.)
TA = 90
CYA = 40
CH = 260

Readings as of 6:00pm.

FC = 2.5 (This was after adding one gallon this morning because I was at 2.8ppm this morning)
CC = 0.0
pH = 7.6 (ColorQ)
TA = 90
CYA = 40
CH = 260

Adding that one gallon this morning should have taken me from 2.8ppm to 8.5ppm. Estimated average daily loss should be 2.5ppm so I should have been at 6ppm by end of day right? How can I possibly be losing this much chlorine this fast? No one swam in the pool today. Is this normal? Temps have been high lately and my pool is in direct sunlight with zero shade from dawn until 6:00pm.

Something else that might help is my pH was steadily declining all the way to 7.0 after borating so I dumped in two boxes of borate. The test then read 7.6 yesterday at 2:00pm. Then this morning the Taylor kit showed it as 7.0 again. That couldn't be so I broke out the new ColorQ to see what it read. That was even more scary. Testing it with my ColorQ Pro 7 indicated pH was at 8.1. I don't know what to believe anymore at this point. I don't understand and am now in the precarious position of not believing my either of the test kits. Not exactly where a new pool owner likes to be. It is expensive.

I can't keep adding borates to increase pH as needed as i am at 50ppm now. What I found is that aeration is no longer raising the pH quickly like it did before borating. I left my pump running three days straight with bubblers and sprinklers on to try and get the pH up and it wouldn't move any direction but down. That's when I decided to add borates once my pH hit 7.0 yesterday morning.

Thoughts of draining the pool and starting over are entering my head now. Maybe borating wasn't such a good idea as things are out of whack and making zero sense now.
 
Trust your Taylor test for pH. It's at 7.6 provided your reagents are from the last year and have been stored properly.

Adding borates should not increase chlorine demand, in fact some members report very minor decreases in chlorine demand after adding borates. How many days has it been since you added the Pool Proof?

Did you use borax (20 Mule Team or equivalent) to increase pH after the 7.0 reading?
 
Here's my readings as of this morning. This seems more normal.

ColorQ

FC = 7.2
CC = 0.0
pH = 8.1
TA = 115
CYA = 37
CH = 365
Borates = 50


Taylor K-2006C

FC = 6.5
CC = 0.0
pH = 8.0
TA = 100
CYA = 40
CH = 260
Borates = 50

Will be adding MA to bring down my pH ASAP.

According to my charts, borates were added on the 17th. I've had to add 1 gallon of bleach every day since with the exception of this morning as the FC is above minimums after adding 2 gallons of chlorine yesterday. It makes zero sense. And yes, I did use 20 mule team to increase pH, but I only added half the required amount and the pH went through the roof. That is why it is so high and needs to be lowered again with MA. That too, made no sense.
 
That's more normal chlorine loss per day. The pH bouncing around a bit could be attributed to complete mixing and perhaps jumping the gun on trying to adjust right away.

Keep checking to see if things have stabilized and you're continuing to see normal FC usage.
 
Today's results. It appears that whatever happened is not longer happening. I'm now adding just over 1/2 gallon per day to keep FC levels in the green. Must be temperature related. My pH is still mysteriously dropping though. Lost .2 in a day, which is kind of odd since the plaster is less that 60 days old.

FC = 4.0
CC = 0.0
pH = 7.4
TA = 90
CYA = 40
CH = 260
Borates = 50
 
pH decrease if fairly rare, unless trichlor tablets are being used in the chlorinator or dichlor shock is used in the pool. Both are acidic and will lower pH, and consequently TA if they do not contain any buffering agents. It is odd to see pH drop in new plaster.

As far as your brief period of increased FC demand, it is possible that the Pool Proof contained some "inactive" ingredients or other organic contamination that led to a short period of increased FC loss.
 
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