Adding Borates...TA problems

[leopardjunkie]

Opened pool and shocked it and ready to add borates this year first time. I had a TA of 210 and PH of about 7.3 before adjusting

Typed it into the poolcalc and adjusted accordingly to try and drop TA to about 90

Tested this morning PH dropped like I expected however the TA only dropped to 180? any other suggestions for lowering the TA or how to proceeed

Temp 62
PH 6.9 (down from 7.3)
TC 11.5
FC 0
Alk 180 (down from 210)
Borates 0
CYA 45
Water is pretty clear and sparkly with some light debris that I will vaccume today
Filter is new

First things that come to mind are that maybe my TA test is too old it is about 1-2 years old and its a drop test from wallyworld?
Or
the Muratic Acid is bad ( I poured some on the concrete and it fizzled so it appers to be good)
Or
I am not doing somthing right?

My husband is so darn excited he has an excuse to buy a air compressor extention so I can aerate the pool...but he will have to wait. Can I proceede with a TA of 180 or must it be in the 70-80 range for adding borates. I have a inotex easy set pool. BTW




I am going to try and make it to the pool store today and have them comfirm my PH, TA, TC and TH.

 

[leopardjunkie]

few questions

What is considererd significant rainfall.. in terms of a pool

I have a small pool 1,500 gallons aprox. how long should I be running the filter...right now I have it running all the time.

 

[duraleigh]

I merged your posts. Please keep even seemingly unrelated ideas in the same thread....it helps everyone.

 

[JasonLion]

Lowering TA is a fairly involved multi-step process that requires several cycles of adding chemicals and waiting for the PH to come back up. See the article in Pool School on how to lower TA for complete details.

It takes quite a bit of rainfall to affect a pool. Less than 3" isn't significant. 5" or more inches in a week starts to be something requiring minor adjustments.

Filter run time is different for every pool. I would start out at 12 hours a day and try adjusting down from there as long as the water remains crystal clear and sparkly. For details, see the article in Pool School on ideal pump run time.

 

[RobbieH]

Don't add the borates yet. Get the TA down around 60-70 first, because adjusting TA once the borates are in is far more difficult.

 

[leopardjunkie]

thanks...I read the article on adding borates and the lowering of TA on there but somehow missed the article on Ta adjustment and the fact that you have to repeat the process...it is all clear to me!

ended up getting a new test kit cause the pool store was way off from my results (even though they use dip sticks) and so far the results have been similar

husband made me a great aerator for the pool that is moving the process along quite nicely

 

[duraleigh]

Yeah, man, that's an aerator! I'll bet Tim the Toolman would have tiny tears of joy in his eyes.

 

[leopardjunkie]

he might have tears!! he was pretty happy with it and so am i.

ok so the areation is going well my biggest problem is a tie breaker on which test to belive

my test that I started out with is showing a nice progression in decreasing the TA by adjust and the PH from 240 to 170 however after the frist adjustment to the PH i had taken a sample to the pool place to have them test and see what they got.. they used strips and said my TA was more like 280 so I got a new test since mine was 2 or 3 years old and stored out in the garage and it said after ph adjust ment my TA is 260...

I want to belive the new test cause it is after all new....but I am not sure hate to buy a tie breaker test and don"t really want to trust a dip stick test...


according to pool calculator adding in 9.6 oz of MA should lower ta by 25 so I guess (thinking outloud) that if I add in MA today and then re test the test that lowers it by close to 25 points is the more accurate one...right?!?!

 

[leopardjunkie]

oh and after adding MA how long before I can test my P.H and begin aerating the pool again...are we talking hours or 24 hours...how long after adding MA can i test accuratly for TA?

 

[duraleigh]

Trust your own testing..ALWAYS. It's the foundation for taking care of your pool.

You can test pH an hour after you adjust it. You can test TA then, too.