How high is too high for TA?

[EGGARTFAM]

I've got my pool under control from what was thought to be algae. THANK YOU TO TFP FOR HELPING WITH THAT!!!!

I haven't tested anything other than FC during that time period. It's been a good solid week since things have been under control, so I tested a few other things. Here are the results:

FC: 5.5 (a little on the high side, SWG is running for 5 hours).
pH: 7.5
TA: 130
CYA: 40 (added the stuff in the sock, and will test again a few days)
CH: haven't tested that since beginning of green stuff problems, but it was consistently very low, like in the 30-40 range (from pool store calculations).

In pool school, it mentions that it's not necessarily a bad thing for TA to be high, but this is much higher than the normal ranges for SWG pools. It's an above ground, intek, out of the box style pool. Should I be concerned with this? (and/or CH for that matter?)

 

[JasonLion]

Because you have a SWG, you do want to lower your TA, but you don't need to be in a hurry about it. The simplest thing is to lower PH to 7.2 each time it gets up to 7.8 until the TA comes down to something more reasonable. If PH increases too quickly, you can be more aggressive about lowering TA.

 

[Aquatica]

I've got my pool under control from what was thought to be algae. THANK YOU TO TFP FOR HELPING WITH THAT!!!!

I haven't tested anything other than FC during that time period. It's been a good solid week since things have been under control, so I tested a few other things. Here are the results:

FC: 5.5 (a little on the high side, SWG is running for 5 hours).
pH: 7.5
TA: 130
CYA: 40 (added the stuff in the sock, and will test again a few days)
CH: haven't tested that since beginning of green stuff problems, but it was consistently very low, like in the 30-40 range (from pool store calculations).

In pool school, it mentions that it's not necessarily a bad thing for TA to be high, but this is much higher than the normal ranges for SWG pools. It's an above ground, intek, out of the box style pool. Should I be concerned with this? (and/or CH for that matter?)

do you have a lot of borates in your pool? we find it impossible to keep pH under control at that high TA. more like 60-80 works for us but we dont borate load our pools.

 

[EGGARTFAM]

no borates, except that I use the BBB method, so I guess I do have borates, and the pH has remained stable at 7.5. I've tested that periodically since we ended the shock treatment.

Maybe I'm confused on the Pool School stuff. I can add acid to lower the pH which will also lower TA, and then aerate, which can be done just by having a SWG (and/or pointing the return nozzle upward).

Is this correct?

Also, now I'm wondering, should (and how) I be testing borates?

 

[Aquatica]

no borates, except that I use the BBB method, so I guess I do have borates, and the pH has remained stable at 7.5. I've tested that periodically since we ended the shock treatment.

Maybe I'm confused on the Pool School stuff. I can add acid to lower the pH which will also lower TA, and then aerate, which can be done just by having a SWG (and/or pointing the return nozzle upward).

Is this correct?

Also, now I'm wondering, should (and how) I be testing borates?

if your pH is holding steady and you don't need to add any acid then you must have enough borates in your pool to hold it there. with a swg pH rises normally. don't need any aeration. but then I'm not an expert on adding borates or how much to hold pH.

 

[JasonLion]

You can just ignore borates for now. They aren't required, and while many people like to use them, they make things a little bit more complex.