My first test results.

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rxman

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May 30, 2008
63
Great forum. Tons of info.
My pool is way out of whack right now. No more guessing for me. I have the FAS-DPD test kit. Here are the results.
I haven't shocked the pool lately. I have trichlor tabs in the skimmer right now.

FC - .4ppm 2 drops
CC - .2ppm 1drop
PH - above 8
TA - 250
CH - Unable to produce results
CYA - less than 30

Where do I start? I know my ph is way high and I can basically pour a gallon a muriatic acid in every other day.
Help. :)
 
rx,

I always prefer to take it one step at a time starting with pH. Bring it down to 7.4 or so. Why do you think you can only use a gallon every other day? (not that you will use more (but you might)....I'm just curious)

You'll notice your TA will drop as you lower the pH.

It will only take a couple of doses (an hour or so) to get pH in line. Use the calculator and put in enough to get to 7.4. Assume your pH is 8.0 altho it's probably higher. You may have to dose it more than once.

EDIT: bama and I are saying the same thing. pH and TA will move lower together when you use acid.
 
Not that I'm an expert, nor do I think my case is/was typical.

But in this thread I detail my latest adventure. My pool is only 21000 gallons & it took me 6 gallons of muriatic acid to drop my TA from 250 to 80.

Before I added the last gallon, my TA was 110. PH was still greater than 8. Even though I was testing as much as 3 times a day, I never saw the PH below 8.

I'm just saying.
 
I meant once my PH is in range it is taking a gallon every other day to keep it there. I don't know. I didn't think I should expect to put 15 gallons a month of acid in my pool.
 
Your PH is increasing rapidly because of your high TA. It can take quite a bit of acid to lower TA. One important question is how TA got that high. If you have high TA fill water, TA will tend to go up any time you top off the pool, so you may continue to need lots of acid. In the more common case, where fill water TA is low, then once you get the TA down it will stay down and you won't need to use so much acid anymore.

One other thing to keep in mind, is that fresh plaster tends to raise the PH, TA, and CH levels very rapidly for the first month or so, and more slowly for up to a year.
 
My pool is 3 years old. I thought putting tons of acid in at once was a bad idea. I have put 2 gallons in at once in the morning and 1 in the evening before. Is it ok to put 6 gallons in at once? Of course only if it is needed.
 
rxman said:
My pool is 3 years old. I thought putting tons of acid in at once was a bad idea. I have put 2 gallons in at once in the morning and 1 in the evening before. Is it ok to put 6 gallons in at once? Of course only if it is needed.
Click to expand...
No, 6 gallons is too much all at one time. Use the pool calculator to calculate how much acid will be needed to lower your pH to no lower than 7.2.

How is your TA so high after adding so much acid?
What is the TA of your tap water?
Do you get a lot of aeration?
Are you adding baking soda?
Do you have an automatic fill line?
Why can't you get a calcium result?
What is the calcium level of your tap water?

Your 2 HP pump is way too big for your filter and your pool. You could easily go to a 3/4 hp pump.

You should double check your calcium result by doing this:

1) Add 5 drops of reagent R-0012 and swirl to mix
2) Add 20 drops of reagent R-0010 and swirl to mix
3) Add 5 drops of R-0011 and swirl to mix
4) Add reagent R-0012 drop-by-drop, swirling and mixing between each drop until the color changes from red to blue.
5) Add the initial 5 drops of R-0012 to the number of drops of R-0012 needed in step 4 to get the total number of drops of R-0012 needed to change the color from red to blue.
6) Multiply the total number of drops of R-0012 by 10 to get your calcium result.
 
JamesW said:
rxman said:
My pool is 3 years old. I thought putting tons of acid in at once was a bad idea. I have put 2 gallons in at once in the morning and 1 in the evening before. Is it ok to put 6 gallons in at once? Of course only if it is needed.
Click to expand...
No, 6 gallons is too much all at one time. Use the pool calculator to calculate how much acid will be needed to lower your pH to no lower than 7.2.

How is your TA so high after adding so much acid?
What is the TA of your tap water?
Do you get a lot of aeration?
Are you adding baking soda?
Do you have an automatic fill line?
Why can't you get a calcium result?
What is the calcium level of your tap water?

Your 2 HP pump is way too big for your filter and your pool. You could easily go to a 3/4 hp pump.

You should double check your calcium result by doing this:

1) Add 5 drops of reagent R-0012 and swirl to mix
2) Add 20 drops of reagent R-0010 and swirl to mix
3) Add 5 drops of R-0011 and swirl to mix
4) Add reagent R-0012 drop-by-drop, swirling and mixing between each drop until the color changes from red to blue.
5) Add the initial 5 drops of R-0012 to the number of drops of R-0012 needed in step 4 to get the total number of drops of R-0012 needed to change the color from red to blue.
6) Multiply the total number of drops of R-0012 by 10 to get your calcium result.
Click to expand...

I have not been consistent with adding the acid so they PH and TA swing up and down.
The TA of my tap water is 350
I do not get lots of aeration. I have a waterfall and bubbler but they have not been in use
I have not added any baking soda.
I do have an autofill
I retested CH again (twice) and got a result of 250 for the pool water.
Tap water CH is 275.

My pump runs an in-floor cleaning system.
 
I'll just add that acid, as much as needed to reduce PH to 7.2 will reduce TA over time. Given you have an autofill, try shutting it off to ensure you do not have a leak. I also have 300+ TA fill water and it took me about 7-8 gals in a 13k gal pool to reduce TA from 300+ to 80 over a 3 day period.

Once my TA is at 80 or below, PH rise slows down to where I only add acid maybe once a month...I also run 50ppm Borates.
 

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How often should I test and add the acid? I put 2 gallons in this morning. 9:00am EST.
I have a Pentair Challenger 2 HP pump, but I've been unable to locate the flow rate.
I'm assuming I need to let the pool turn over once before I retest and add, but I want to be as aggressive as possible in lowering the pH and TA.
 
rxman said:
OK. I added more acid and retested. I am now at a pH of 7.2. The TA is still at 250 though.
What do I do now? Watch the pH rise and lower it again?
Click to expand...
Yes, that is the process. Aerate to raise the pH and then add acid to lower it back to 7.2. Every time that you do this, the TA will go down some.
 
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