I just got a new vinyl liner installed and wanted to add borates

[Jabski]

Thank you everyone in advance for this great website.

I just got a new vinyl liner installed and wanted to add borates. My question is how important is it to get the TA to 70 to 80. I just got my TFT test kit yesterday and got a result of 120 for TA. It seems the lowering of the TA then raising the pH back up with aeration is a slow & tricky thing to do. If I could add them with the TA at 120 I wouldn't mind saving on the extra work.

Cl = 0, I have been adding bleach 12.5% using the pool calculator's #'s at dusk to get it up to about 3 ppm.
pH = 7.5
TA = 120
CH = 120
CYA = I haven't tested them yet because I just put them in on Sunday in a couple of sock by the returns.
Temp = 84 F

 

[JasonLion]

Re: I just got a new vinyl liner installed and wanted to add

Lowering TA is often slow, but nothing about it is tricky

If you are going to be lowering TA anyway, it is much better to do so before adding borates. If you are happy with TA where it is, then you don't need to lower TA just because you are adding borates. In general, a vinyl liner pool with no water features and no SWG is fairly tolerant of somewhat higher TA levels, and may not need TA lowered.

By the by, I recommend you get FC and CYA sorted out and settled down before you start adding borates.

 

[RobbieH]

Re: I just got a new vinyl liner installed and wanted to add

How much CYA did you put in? What is your target CYA? Assume it's there, and make sure your FC is up enough given your estimate.

 

[Jabski]

Re: I just got a new vinyl liner installed and wanted to add

Lowering TA is often slow, but nothing about it is tricky Thank you JasonLion. That's good to hear. The air compressor is the way I would raise the pH back up.

If you are going to be lowering TA anyway, it is much better to do so before adding borates. If you are happy with TA where it is, then you don't need to lower TA just because you are adding borates.I am not having any unhappyness with this TA value So I'm ok to go once I get that CYA level set. In general, a vinyl liner pool with no water features and no SWG is fairly tolerant of somewhat higher TA levels, and may not need TA lowered.That's good to hear.

By the by, I recommend you get FC and CYA sorted out and settled down before you start adding borates.

Will do. I read it takes about a week to dissolve the CYA and have experienced that in the past.

This is why I was concerned. On the 1st page of the "So you want to add borates" it reads in step one to get the TA to 70 or 80 so I thought that might be key to this process.

1. First, adjust your TA to your target value. (This is actually the hardest part of this whole procedure.) This should be around 70-80 ppm for SWGs and liquid chlorine (or bleach), around 100 ppm if you are using trichlor. The borates will cause a very slight increase in the TA when you are done.

Thank you once again.

 

[Jabski]

Re: I just got a new vinyl liner installed and wanted to add

How much CYA did you put in? What is your target CYA? Assume it's there, and make sure your FC is up enough given your estimate.

Thank you RobbieH. I am putting 7 lbs in to get 40 ppm.