pH advice please

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tigerbait

tigerbait

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Sep 1, 2011
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I have lurked on this site for a while, but never posted. My wife and i recently bought a new home with a pool, and I have a question regarding pH

Backstory: I followed directions from this site regarding adding borates to my pool. I didn't quite get the specs down to the recommended levels before proceeding, but they were close.

I cannot get the pH below and 8 for an extended period of time, and over the last couple of months I have added a ton of MA. Not literally, but probably 10 - 20 gals. easily. My TA level is consistently around 130 with a pH of 8.0 - 8.2. I followed recommendations on this site to get pH down to 7.0 - 7.1 with MA and then aerate to get pH up. My TA dropped to around 100 - 110, but never 80.

Anyone have any ideas on how to stabilize my pH around 7.6. Thanks in advanvce!

PS. Just in case my pool stats don't show. My pool is 23,700 SWG in ground-gunite, DE Filter, Jandy controls and valves
 
Welcome to TFP!

Because you have a SWCG, your pH will always be rising and you will always have to add acid to lower it. This is just the nature of having a SWCG. There are some things that can be done to keep it from rising so quickly such as TA control or through the addition of borates. By keeping a TA around 70, it may rise more slowly. Borates act a a secondary buffer system too and may help.
 
Have you measured the TA level of your fill water? High TA fill water makes it tricky to maintain TA at appropriate levels. With high TA fill water it is often worth setting up an automatic acid feed system.

On the other hand, if your fill water has low TA, you just need to work at it a little more and you will get there eventually.
 
You said "new home with a pool" but is the pool new? If the pool is new then the new plaster will also cause pH to rise. My pool is 10 months old and I have a SWG and I am still adding MA every 2-3 days. It's down to about 20 oz or so every 2-3 days but it seems to be getting better.

I also have the problem of high TA fill water. With the recent rains I have been able to keep my TA around 70 and it helps.
 
When adding borates from Borax, some people miss that they also need to add muriatic acid at the same time. The pool calculator indicates that you need 87 pounds of Borax to increase your borates 50 ppm and about 5 gallons of 31.45 % muriatic acid to compensate for the pH and TA rise from the Borax.

Some places sell muriatic acid at a lower strength than 31.45 %. If you're using a lower strength acid, then you have to use more to compensate.

If you have an automatic fill, then you might have a leak and the fresh water could be causing your chemical balances to be off.

If you have scale, then some acid will be used up dissolving scale.

As HouTex noted, new plaster, especially less than 6 months will contribute the rising pH.

If you can post a full set of chemistry results, that would help.
 
Thanks guy. The pool was built in 2008 so it's not a new one. I will definitely check the fill water and go from there.

I was having a slight green algae problem when we first moved in so that was my reason for adding Borax and MA and I haven't seen a speck of algae since doing so over a month ago.

Question: Should I add enough MA to get my TA down down to 70 - 80 range and then aerate because so far I've added enough to get it down in the 100 - 110 range.
 
I have the Taylor K-2006 kit, but I'm working right now and don't have all results.

Jason,

Thanks for the info. After reading pool school I understand now there's a process involved. So tomorrow I'll go and buy some MA and begin.
Thanks!
 
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