Struggling to lower TA

mogie · Jul 13, 2012

So I had the best of intentions to add borates this summer (7 boxes of 20 mule team in my garage), but I am struggling to decrease my TA to reasonable levels. My TA has consistently been hanging around the 200ppm range. I have been constantly aerating with my return jet, letting my pH climb to the 7.8-8.0 range and then knocking it back down to 7.0-7.2 range with muriatic acid. Unfortunately, a few bottles of muriatic acid later, I don't seem to be making much headway.

It had been raining a significant amount a couple weeks ago, but I figured that would only help since rains pH is around 5.

Anyway, if anyone has any further suggestions, I would appreciate it. With a vinyl pool, what should be my goal TA before adding borax? Thanks!

Matt

Butterfly · Jul 13, 2012

What is the TA of your fill water?

frogabog · Jul 13, 2012

Can you double or triple up on the aeration?

mogie · Jul 14, 2012

I don't have any other methods of aerating, just my one return jet.

Fill water TA = 300

I just tested my pool TA and it was 175 and my pH was 8, so hopefully when I add the appropriate amount of MA, I will be under the 150 mark for my TA.

What should I shoot for?

Richard320 · Jul 14, 2012

so-you-want-to-add-borates-to-your-pool-why-and-how-t4921.html?hilit=want%20borates says 70-80 is your target.

In the article in pool school on how to reduce TA, there are links to pictures of some homemade aerators.

mogie · Jul 24, 2012

Do CYA levels have any effect TA levels? Thanks!

jblizzle · Jul 24, 2012

No. Only CYA affects CYA levels.

Posted from my Droid with Tapatalk ... sorry if my response is short

257WbyMag · Jul 25, 2012

Some people can get their TA down with relative ease while others may spends many weeks trying to get it down. I see that with your fill water TA being 300, you are really going to have to battle it down. I think that how disciplined you are at keeping that pH at 7.2 is what will determine the length of time it will take. Definitely avoid adding boartes though until you have the TA exactly where you like it to be. Once you have borates in there, you probably won't be able to budge it.

I agree with Richard...go for a TA of around 70 to 80.