High PH after adding Borax and Swimming.

[gdog2004]

Well I thought I had this pool chemical thing licked but I'm a little confused.
My current measurements.

FC 1.5
CYA 25
TA 110
PH 8.2+

Yesterday AM my measurements were
FC .5
CYA 25
TA 70
PH 6.8

I added about 8 ounces of Trichlor yesterday to bring up the chlorine (which was at .5 in the am yesterday) and the CYA.
Chlorine dropped(very sunny all day), so it would appear I need to bring my CYA higher)
I also added enough baking soda(in combination with the borax) to bring up the TA to 110-120 (which worked)
I also added borax to bring up the PH which was around 6.8--I used the pool calculator and added enough to bring it up to 7.6 (or so I thought).
We swam all day and now it seems its at 8.2+. Im guessing maybe the kids (and myself) swimming in the pool "aerated" the pool and brought up the PH ?
Is it still safe to swim with this high of a PH ?

 

[gdog2004]

anyone ?

 

[steinholder]

BORAX and baking soda both raise the pH. Maybe you just miscalulated their combined effect + aeration?

 

[Bama Rambler]

I gotta agree with Steinholder, adding both and raising the TA added with swimming and splashing led to the pH raising.

I'd lower the pH to the mid 7's now. You can swim almost immediately after adding the acid.

Why did you want the TA higher than 70?

 

[gdog2004]

I gotta agree with Steinholder, adding both and raising the TA added with swimming and splashing led to the pH raising.

I'd lower the pH to the mid 7's now. You can swim almost immediately after adding the acid.

Why did you want the TA higher than 70?

From the pool calculator page..
"The ideal TA level depends on several factors. If you are using acidic chlorine sources, such as trichlor or dichlor, keep TA on the high side, perhaps between 100 and 120."
so I thought 110-120 would be fine being I add in trichlor here and there.

As far as Borax and baking soda raising PH together--the amount that the PH gets raised by baking soda is so minimal its almost not worth mentioning.
For example--80 oz of baking soda only raises PH by .07 .

Do you have to buy muriatic acid form a pool store ?

 

[linen]

From the pool calculator page..
"The ideal TA level depends on several factors. If you are using acidic chlorine sources, such as trichlor or dichlor, keep TA on the high side, perhaps between 100 and 120."
so I thought 110-120 would be fine being I add in trichlor here and there.

As far as Borax and baking soda raising PH together--the amount that the PH gets raised by baking soda is so minimal its almost not worth mentioning.
For example--80 oz of baking soda only raises PH by .07 .

Do you have to buy muriatic acid form a pool store ?

Yes, for trichlor only users that range typically works. If you just use trichlor occasionally then the 70-90 ppm recommendation would be better for you. It could be that your pool would benefit from lower TA, especially if you have a lot of swimmers/splashing regularly that raise ph.

Do you have to buy muriatic acid form a pool store ?

I buy it from home centers and hardware stores. Look for the 20 baume which should be 31.45%.

 

[Bama Rambler]

Your problem was the combination of things.

If you just add Trichlor once in awhile you probably don't need to have your TA higher. You should let it settle where it tends to keep the pH stable as long as it's not too high or too low.

You can buy muriatic acid where ever you can find it. Just make sure of the strength and that it's not the safe version.

 

[gdog2004]

Your problem was the combination of things.

If you just add Trichlor once in awhile you probably don't need to have your TA higher. You should let it settle where it tends to keep the pH stable as long as it's not too high or too low.

You can buy muriatic acid where ever you can find it. Just make sure of the strength and that it's not the safe version.

UGH. I bought the stronger version. Yikes--I semi inhaled this stuff a bit--strong. Held breath after that.
I accidentally added 80 oz of muriatic acid(read calculator wrong). Which of course would bring PH down 1.9 !! So now I am probably at 6.3 or so. Going to buy more borax to bring back up. Sigh.

 

[steinholder]

Yep, now is a great time to enjoy the benefits of Borates...

 

[linen]

I accidentally added 80 oz of muriatic acid(read calculator wrong). Which of course would bring PH down 1.9 !! So now I am probably at 6.3 or so. Going to buy more borax to bring back up. Sigh.

It probably did not go that low. Good chance your 8.2+ starting ph was actually higher (since the test indicates 8.2 for anything higher than that). Let it go an hour with the pump running then test ph again and see where your at.

Yep, now is a great time to enjoy the benefits of Borates...

@steinholder. It is my understanding that it is not until a pool gets over 30 ppm borate concentration where the algaestatic and buffering properties of borates start to be effective/significant.

 

[Bama Rambler]

UGH. I bought the stronger version. Yikes--I semi inhaled this stuff a bit--strong. Held breath after that.

Yeah, that'll singe the ole nose hairs!

Don't worry too much, just retest and add a little borax to get it back to the low 7's.

 

[gdog2004]

UGH. I bought the stronger version. Yikes--I semi inhaled this stuff a bit--strong. Held breath after that.

Yeah, that'll singe the ole nose hairs!

Don't worry too much, just retest and add a little borax to get it back to the low 7's.

I added in 24 oz of borax, waited an hour. Lo and behold the PH seems to be around 7.5. Ill see if it holds. Does anything else have an eddect on FC besides sunlight ? I put in enough to bring my FC from 1 to 4 this am--I checked it this afternoon and it was back down to 1. My CYA is about 25.
So I added in 32 oz of chlorine to get to a FC of 3 and 16 oz of CYA to get the CYA to about 35-37.

 

[linen]

I added in 24 oz of borax, waited an hour. Lo and behold the PH seems to be around 7.5. Ill see if it holds.

Playing with poolcalculator, that suggests that you ph was at ~7.3 before the addition of this round of Borax? 7.3 would have been fine with your slightly higher TA.

Does anything else have an eddect on FC besides sunlight ? I put in enough to bring my FC from 1 to 4 this am--I checked it this afternoon and it was back down to 1. My CYA is about 25.
So I added in 32 oz of chlorine to get to a FC of 3 and 16 oz of CYA to get the CYA to about 35-37.

Sun, organics (due to stuff falling in pool, swimmers, etc.), temperature, all effect the rate of FC usage. It is typical for ~ 50% drop in FC during the day, yours is a little high, so more cya is good. I wouldn't add more than you just did at this point, but many people find 50 ppm cya to work well protecting chlorine from the sun. Just remember, easy to add cya, but drain/refill to remove.