Help! TA won't reduce after new liner installed

[cathandbrian]

Hi, we are new members to the forum and hope you can help us out please.

We've read the Pool School, but unfortunately it's not answering our problem, at present.

We have a 12m x 6m inground pool which my husband has maintained for the last 6 years relatively trouble free. About a month ago we had the pool relined with a new vinyl liner and filled with new water. However, the problem he is having is the pH is remaining constantly high and the TA is off the scale! Our test kit measures TA upto 240ppm and is green colour, however test strip is showing a blue colour which is above and beyond 240ppm (we assume). At least 25kg of Sodium Bisulphate (diluted with water) has gone into the pool over a period of 10 days but the readings are remaining the same each time:

FC: 0
CC: 0
pH: 8.4
TA: 240 +
CH: don't know
CYA: 30-50

The TA will just not move. The water is looking crystal clear though.

Any suggestions would be most appreciated. Thanks.

 

[JohnT]

Welcome to the forum!

First, you should concentrate on getting chlorine in the pool and not worry about the TA nearly as much. Lowering TA takes time, but fortunately it isn't urgent to get it down.

Chemical additions alone won't lower your TA. Here's a link to the process that will get it done: Lowering Total Alkalinity

Again, the chlorine is a much more pressing issue than the TA. My TA was in the 200+ area for a year after I first filled my pool.

 

[cathandbrian]

Thank you for your quick response.

We'll get the chlorine sorted.

We've had a look at the Lowering Total Alkalinity page, this is basically what we have been doing. As I said we've put at least 25kg of dry acid in the pool. Do we need to worry about such a high pH? Again, previous advice has told us not to add chlorine until your pH level is correct. :?

I assume that we should continue to keep adding dry acid? What in your opinion would be a recommended schedule of adding this and what dosage (in layman terms)? The instructions on the tub are a waste of time and would prefer to get advice from experienced users.

Thanks.

 

[JasonLion]

Yes, worry about PH getting above 8.0. You want to add acid before the PH gets that high.