Is my pH too high or too low?

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C

CombatYoga

0
Jun 7, 2010
147
Dripping Springs, TX
In an effort to bring down my TA, I lowered pH and then ran my spillover.
I believe that I ran the spillover for far too long, and drove my pH way up.

I am using the standard color block test (it's the only pH test I have or know about) and the color I get doesn't match anything.
It is coming out as a burnt orange/borderline reddish color.

Like I said, I'm fairly certain that my pH is too high, but I have added a good bit of acid and haven't seen much of a change. Not knowing what my pH is
has me groping in the dark somewhat.

Any suggestions on how long to let the water flow/mix after putting in acid before I test?

Thank you!

SF
 
Orange sounds in the middle of the range. It gets very pink/red when the pH is too high and more yellow when the pH is too low.

The acid should mix for an hour or so before you test again.

What is your TA level? I think it usually takes a day or 2 for the pH to drift up with a lot of aeration, unless the TA is very high.
 
TA of 130ppm is not really that high (relative to some members who of 300+ out of the tap).

Not sure if this additional info is helpful:
extended-test-kit-directions-t25081.html#p206394

You could try using an extra drop of reagent (I think you can also try only using 4 drops) and see if the color matches up a little better for you.
Which kit are you using? If it is the K2006, you can use the acid demand reagents to shift the colors to match and then know where you started from.
 
Thanks Jason - I will review that link and see if I can get what I'm looking for.

I just took a full set of test results - there is some strangeness going on.

FC 19.5 (yes, that's correct!)
CC 0
TC 19.5
pH ??
TA 120
CYA 70
CH 500 (ish...at 50 drops the water turned more clear than it did blue)

I have to think that my pH is way high and that is skewing my chlorine number making it inaccurate. Is that possible?

Here is a photo of my color block to get an idea of the red I'm getting when testing pH:

IMG-20120823-00013.jpg
 
Oh, well the FC is a good piece of info ... reason being, the pH test is not accurate with FC > 10ppm.

In fact in the link I provided, it states that around 20ppm the regent "converts to chlorphenol red and will read as 8.2 at any plausible pH level" (that is certainly more red than I have seen)

.... so there's your problem :)
 
I just read that in the link you sent.

But I have to tell you - I'm on an SWG, and it's set to run at 45%. I didn't even think it could push the FC to that high of a level.

I wonder what is going on that is making my FC rocket up like that?

I suppose I could turn my chlorinator off and watch to see if the FC level starts coming down - I'm assuming it will. I have run at 45% for a long while now - perhaps there is an error in my SWG?

Thanks for the pointers Jason!

SF
 
How long are you running the pump? What size is your SWG?
The % setting is the amount of time the cell is generating while the pump is on.

So, multiple ways to get the same FC addition each day:

Run pump 8 hours with 25% setting, generating for 2hours.
Run pump 4 hours with 50% setting, generating for 2hours.

If your cell is oversized as we recommend, you obviously need to lower the % or the run time ... does this reveal the fact that you are not checking your FC every couple days :whip:
 
HA! Busted! :oops:

Thinking back a bit, I believe I used to run my SWG in the 10-15% range.
Earlier this summer, I let my CYA get low, had an outbreak and shocked to clear it up.
I overshot CYA on the way back up and had to ramp up my SWG %.

Now that CYA is back in line, I think the SWG drove the FC way up, and it I didn't notice until too late due to laziness. :sleep:

Mystery solved?

I have put a bunch of acid in the pool, so my pH is actually probably very low...rats!

Thanks Jason,

SF
 
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