Prepping for Borates, Chapter 3

[firstbase]

Add MA last night to lower TA. Tested this morning and am at:

83 degrees temp
FAC - 14.4 (up from 12 yesterday prior to MA add and significantly more chlorine smell this morning )
TAC 0-.04
Salt - 3200
CH - 370
CYA - 85
TA - 70 (down from 85 last night before MA add)
pH - 7.4 (down from 7.8 last night before...)

1) I just added 1/3 gallon MA to try to bring TA down to 60. Assuming TA goes to 60 and pH is 7.0-7.2 am I ok to add boric acid tomorrow?

2) MY FC is way high according to the suggested level of 4. Should I shut down or adjust my SWG until it reaches 4? Does this level affect adding boric acid at all?

3) CH and CYA are high but dumping water from the pool and beginning again is not very inviting. Should I bite the bullet and do it or will I be ok?

Sorry for all the newb questions and thanks in advance for any comments/suggestions.

 

[pooldv]

1- yes, borates in
2- yes, as water temps drop FC consumption drops and you need to lower the output of your SWG
3- CYA is manageable, just be sure to set FC level according to the [FC/CYA][/FC/CYA]. CYA will drop a few ppm per month on its own. You can manage high CH by managing your CSI. PoolMath will give you the CSI number after you enter all your test results. Keep it between -0.3 and 0 to prevent scale. Tweak PH and TA to move the number. More here, Pool School - Calcium Scaling

 

[firstbase]

OK, turned off my SWG this morning due to TAC being at 14.4. Levels tonight were:

FAC 15.6 (keeps going up even with SWG turned off for the day?)
TAC - .4
CH - 350
CA - 80
TA - 50
pH - 7.0

With TA at 50 I went ahead and added the Boric Acid and will test again in the morning. If I understand it correctly my Borates should be about 50 with some rise in pH from both the boric acid and the aeration overnight...?

 

[pooldv]

Yes, the pH should go up a bit.

 

[firstbase]

Thanks for the assistance on all of this, really appreciated. About 16 hours after adding the boric acid and here is where I am:

FAC - 14.5, down a from 15.6 last night, still high
TAC - .2
CH - 340
CYA - 70
TA - 60
pH - 7.2
Borates - over 50 but under 80, hard to read the test strip that closely. Hey, I'm a newb. Gimme a break

Seems like I should let everything continue to run and settle in a bit? Pool Calc is telling me to add this and that to raise pH, CYA and CH but seems like a little more adjustment time would be wise before throwing more stuff in the pool. My CSI is a little low at -0.77.

Once again, any comments/suggestion really appreciated.

 

[pooldv]

Yeah, those test strips are a bit hard to read. If your pH doesn't rise to 7.5ish in a day or two then raise it with some Borax or aeration. That will increase your CSI also.

 

[firstbase]

Yeah, those test strips are a bit hard to read. If your pH doesn't rise to 7.5ish in a day or two then raise it with some Borax or aeration. That will increase your CSI also.

With the spa overflow into the pool I am always aerating. Will see where it is tomorrow and go from there. Normally my pH is rising. I believe this is due to the South Florida rains. Now there is a hurricane coming up the coast next week which will most likely bring big rains. So I will probably have it all settled down by Monday and then get blown out of the water by mid-week and have to begin again. Sorry for the pun.