I've gone through about 2 bottles or more of acid

[stslimited84]

[quote="Big Bill":2ffkqgzf]That makes sense. Sodium Hypochlorite has a pH of around 11. So adding it regularly will increase pH over time.

Just for some real world experience, I use bleach exclusively and I might have to adjust my pH once or twice a season. It holds rock steady at about 7.5 pH all the time. If I run the fountain for an extended period of time I might have to adjust it a tiny bit. I have a gallon container of muriatic acid that's over three years old and it's not empty yet.[/quote:2ffkqgzf]
How do you do this? Ive gone through about 2 bottles or more of acid per season the past two years. Monitoring and adjusting pH has been the most frustrating part of the process so far for me as in tends to increase rather quickly. The pool is closed right now so a complete water test will not be conducted for a few months yet, but I'd love to get to the point you are at!

 

[JasonLion]

Simple (more or less), adjust your TA level to something appropriate for your situation, and don't have plaster that was applied in the last year, and also don't have a negative edge or other large frequently run water feature.

Most PH increase is because your TA level is too high. If you post a complete set of water test results we can give you more specific advice.

 

[linen]

Re: My pH rises by 0.4 every week

How do you do this? Ive gone through about 2 bottles or more of acid per season the past two years. Monitoring and adjusting pH has been the most frustrating part of the process so far for me as in tends to increase rather quickly. The pool is closed right now so a complete water test will not be conducted for a few months yet, but I'd love to get to the point you are at!

JL beat me too it...here is my take:

Each pool is a little different. Usually, it can be managed by adjusting the TA level. Do you know what your TA level was? The recommended levels in pool school are a great place to start. For example, if you have a swg, then you want lower TA. If you have water features that aerate the water significantly, then you may also want a lower TA. Usually, the acid additions eventually lessen since that also lowers TA slowly. For my pool, I adjust ph and TA at the beginning of the season and I usually do not need to adjust it again for the rest of the season. However, some pools still require acid even with properly adjusted TA. Additionally, Borates can be used. Borates act as a buffer and extends the time between needing to lower ph.

 

[Bama Rambler]

My TA is at about 70 ppm and I use about a quart of bleach per day. The funny thing is that my pH doesn't rise enough to worry about even if I have the cooling fountain on. If I leave it on a long time (as in a day or more) I might have to adjust the pH a little.

 

[linen]

Ive gone through about 2 bottles or more of acid per season the past two years.

Rereading this part of your post. That really isn't too bad or very much MA. From what I can see, that would be adjusting your pool approximately four times from ph 7.8 to 7.5 per season. At what ph are you adding MA and at ph do you shoot for?

 

[tcat]

My TA is 85, pebble surface. I add 12 oz 10% bleach per day (more in summer), and at least 16 oz of MA per week, often 8 oz every other day. Have yet to see my pH scale very orange, typically about 7.8. I go through at least 4 jugs per season. Water is always clear and tests are always good, I figure that's just the way my pool is. Still pretty cheap maintenance.

 

[257WbyMag]

Not to pile on or anything but you are doing pretty good with that rate of HCl use.

 

[anonapersona]

IMO, what is key here is what is the TA of your fill water. I can adjust my pool to a TA of 70, eventually, but when I have to add tap water at TA of 220 the pool eventually registers an increasing TA, therefore pH continues to rise. If my pool is refilled with rainwater, then the TA goes lower, not higher. Not that that happens all that often. But we do typically have wet winters that will drop both CH and TA over the span of a few months.