Help! Husband added WAY to much Muratic Acid - what do I do?

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D

DBex

0
May 23, 2012
5
Today I needed to add 16# of balance pack 100, then after 2 hours add 1 gallon of Muratic acid.
I had 2 additional gallons of Muratic Acid to add tomorrow, in between Optimizer Plus and I was to split this into 3 separate doses each 8 hours apart....well he just went out there & dumped in the 2 gallons of Muratic Acid. Meaning the 22,500 gallon pool just got 3 Gallons of Muratic Acid all within a few hours. I know that the Maximum dose of Muratic Acid is 1pt per 10,000 gallons every hour, What do I do now? Should I just start by adding some of the Optimizer Plus even though that was supposed to go in BEFORE the Muratic Acid???
I am freaking out a bit here, and obviously the store is no longer open.
HELP!! :(
 
Re: Help! Husband added WAY to much Muratic Acid - what do I

Welcome to tfp, DBex :wave:

It sounds like you are in the process of following some advice from the pool store? What are they having you "fix" with the balance pak and the Muriatic Acid?

For us to be most helpful, post a full set of test numbers for FC, CC, TA, CH, ph, and CYA...or whatever you have and we will try and help!
 
Re: Help! Husband added WAY to much Muratic Acid - what do I

My pH was too high - 7.9 and the water was cloudy milky looking.
I brought in a pool sample and that was the conclusion from the ALEX system (BioGuard)
I also need to add more Optimizer Plus so those were the steps for tomorrow.....add Optimizer then after an hour add muriatic acid and do this 3 times, once every 8 hours.

This was from the pool sample from yesterday before I added anything:
TC - 6.5
FC - 6.5
pH - 7.9
CYA - 60
TA - 109
 
Re: Help! Husband added WAY to much Muratic Acid - what do I

Do you at least have your own pH test? It is likely WAY low ... not that waiting a few hours and adding another gallon would have ever been a good idea anyway.

You should probably add something to raise the pH back up (see Recommended Pool Chemicals) but without testing it is hard to know how much.

3 gallons should lower pH by 2 or 4 depending on the strength (15% or 30%)

400 oz of borax would raise pH by 2 (and raise TA by 35ppm) ... but not sure if I would recommend this if you have no way to test.

EDIT: BTW, return the other bottles of Optimizer Plus you have for a refund as they are not needed.
 
Re: Help! Husband added WAY to much Muratic Acid - what do I

It's 20# of Optimzer Plus. Why don't I need it?
It has made a huge difference in the algae problem we had with our pool & the water has stayed beautiful all summer long.
We have a terrible problem with birds' deification all over our pool deck and pool cover etc, the only time they are not doing it is while we are out on the pool deck.
 
Re: Help! Husband added WAY to much Muratic Acid - what do I

Well it sounds off hand like you have been pool stored, they sold you a lot of stuff you did not really need, and likely a lot of it will counter act each other. One thing that is important to remember pool stores are not your friends, it is there interest to sell you as many chemicals as they can, not to clear up your pool problem as cheaply and easilly as possible. If you want our help getting control of your pool we will gladly help you, most of us have been where you are, all it takes is a little time, a little education on understanding what is going on in your pool, and a few basic chemicals, most are fairly cheap and can be bought at the local grocery store. First off I suggest you read over pool school (the link in the upper right corner of every page), you will then need to get a good test kit like the TF-100 or Taylor K-2006, these will likely have to be ordered mailorder (if you get the TF-100 from TFTestkits it will help sponsor this site, and it is a better value than the Taylor K-2006). Until that test kit comes in, I would suggest getting a basic $10-$15 drop based basic test kit from Wal-Mart, etc. with this you can test your pH, and we can start working out what your problem really is (you do not want any test strip type kit, they may look easier, but are notoriously unreliable).

Ike
 
Re: Help! Husband added WAY to much Muratic Acid - what do I

Jbliz and Isaac-1 have beaten me to it, but here are my recommendations:

So assuming your you have added three gallons of Muriatic Acid, you will have lowered you ph down very far...probably below 6. So for now you can add one of the following to bring the ph up to a safe level.

Again only one of these:

863 ounces (by weight) of Borax (yes the 20 mule team stuff). Borax will also raise TA a little.

or

434 ounces (by weight) of washing soda or soda ash (ARM & HAMMER® Super Washing Soda Detergent Booster can be bought at walmart, etc). Other names for soda ash are ph increaser, ph up, and Balance Pak 200. Any of these will also raise TA a good amount.

That will get your ph back into a normal range tonight so that you can retest your numbers tomorrow and go from there.

Any more advice than that we can not give you since our recommendations and the ALEX system recommendations are not in agreement.

Let us know if you have more questions or want to discuss our method of pool care in more detail :)
 
Re: Help! Husband added WAY to much Muratic Acid - what do I

What do you use to sanitize? Chlorine/Bromine/Baq?

All you need to keep your pool clear is the correct amount of FC (free chlorine) for your CYA (stabilizer). No algaecide (which is what Optimizer Plus is I think), No floc, No clarifier ... nothing.

And using the correct amount of chlorine (preferably liquid) is way cheaper than always adding algaecide.
 
Re: Help! Husband added WAY to much Muratic Acid - what do I

linen said:
Again only one of these:

863 ounces (by weight) of Borax (yes the 20 mule team stuff). Borax will also raise TA a little.

or

434 ounces (by weight) of washing soda or soda ash (ARM & HAMMER® Super Washing Soda Detergent Booster can be bought at walmart, etc). Other names for soda ash are ph increaser, ph up, and Balance Pak 200. Any of these will also raise TA a good amount.
Click to expand...

Please confirm the strength of the acid you used BEFORE adding one of these ... these #s assume it was 31% strength.
 

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Re: Help! Husband added WAY to much Muratic Acid - what do I

jblizzle said:
linen said:
Again only one of these:

863 ounces (by weight) of Borax (yes the 20 mule team stuff). Borax will also raise TA a little.

or

434 ounces (by weight) of washing soda or soda ash (ARM & HAMMER® Super Washing Soda Detergent Booster can be bought at walmart, etc). Other names for soda ash are ph increaser, ph up, and Balance Pak 200. Any of these will also raise TA a good amount.
Click to expand...

Please confirm the strength of the acid you used BEFORE adding one of these ... these #s assume it was 31% strength.
Click to expand...
Thanks jbliz for mentioning that! Yes please post what strength Muriatic Acid was used! I was assuming 31%.
 
Re: Help! Husband added WAY to much Muratic Acid - what do I

Isaac-1 said:
If you read the ingreditent list on "Optimizer Plus" you will find it is 95% borax, just at an inflated price
Click to expand...

I did not find the ingredients. Unbelievable ... so they just wanted you to add acid to lower pH and borax to raise pH. Granted the borax has other benefits, like pH buffering and sort of an algaecide. But it also makes adjusting your TA more difficult.

And borax is 100% optional. If you keep the correct FC level, you do not need it (many here do not use it). Here is everything you want to know about borax:
so-you-want-to-add-borates-to-your-pool-why-and-how-t4921.html
 
Re: Help! Husband added WAY to much Muratic Acid - what do I

well apparently I lost my last post.
Anyway, my head is spinning this is all so confusing to me. I'm a nurse....not a chemist! I know that the pool stores are not really my friends but I usually use them to test my water and typically add shock & swim type products or liquid chlorine bleach and also use swim sticks in the strainer. It usually keeps the pool in pretty good shape but for some reason I do have trouble keeping the chlorine levels up. We are in full sun, and ALWAYS have a LOT of wind, not sure if that matters.
We have terrible problems with birds - do you know of any ways to deter those pests from defecating in/on our pool?

Thank you so much for all your advice, I appreciate it. I plan to return the Optimizer Plus and buy some Borax or Arm & Hammer tomorrow. I think I may have an old drop type test kit around, but I'm not sure if it's still good. I would just like this to be simple....for me it's not (at least not the Chemistry of it).
I will keep you posted with my progress and how the water is looking & testing.
Thank you! :)
 
Re: Help! Husband added WAY to much Muratic Acid - what do I

DBex, I thought it was terribly confusing at first but pool school helped me a lot and I use the pool calculator almost daily. Give yourself a couple of weeks to let it sink in and you'll be a "pro" before long. :)
 
Re: Help! Husband added WAY to much Muratic Acid - what do I

I was just concerned that the muriatic Acid would be tough on the pool liner and we'd have some major problems.. but I have found no evidence of bad effects, I hope that's true. It's 1am here and I won't be doing anything more to the pool til tomorrow.
The 1 gallon of Muriatic Acid (that I added) was 31% I don't know where the other 2 empty bottles went after he added the contents & it's too dark our there to see anything.
Thank you all! :)
 
Re: Help! Husband added WAY to much Muratic Acid - what do I

Ph that low is hard on a liner (can cause wrinkles and reduce it's overall life I think), but you can probably wait till tomorrow morning without much more damage.
 
Re: Help! Husband added WAY to much Muratic Acid - what do I

Welcome DBex! Wow, you are going through what I went through with all the Balance Paks & such. Cloudy water, bunches of chems, back & forth with water samples, etc. All that did was take lots of dollars out of my pocket for NO positive water results. Never got it clear until I came here to TFP. Grab a recommended test kit (I have the TF100) and jump in! You will be enjoying your pool instead of fighting with it. It's easier & cheaper. What's not to love?
 
Re: Help! Husband added WAY to much Muratic Acid - what do I

Welcome to TFP.

You're getting good advice above, I'll just add that I know that it seems like a ton of stuff flying at you right now and it's very overwhelming.

Step back, take a deep breath and realize that whatever has been done can be fixed, and if you'll follow our recommendations it'll be easy and inexpensive.
 
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