New pool owner in Thailand

[Tuffy]

I am learning a lot from this forum and have gotten my pool in just about perfect shape. I a just about ready to do the borax treatment but I have been battling my Alk. I have finally gotten it down to about 80... It seems like it stabilizes a round 120 or so. When I do the acid and aerate it just seems to come back up. I finally checked the local water supply and it is way high..about 245 with Ph of 7.5.
So do I quit fighting the ALK?

Next problem I have is my calcium hardness is a bit low but after adding calcium chloride ( about 6 kg) the is no change. Do I keep adding or even worry about it?
Here Are my stats
60000L L shaped infinity pool
1.5 hp super pump
28" sand filter
zodiac SWG
Color Q 7 test kit
3.5 FC
7.5 PH
80 ALK
220 CH
Salt 4400
Temp 82
cYA 65

 

[zea3]

Hi, welcome to TFP! If your pool has a tile or plaster finish then you will want to get the CH up to around 300 ppm. Use the poolmath button near the top of this page to help you figure out how much calcium you need to add.

As long as your pH is stable it is ok if your TA likes to hover around 120 ppm. If you find the pH rises too quickly then you will need to keep the TA lower. The main concern is keeping the pH as stable as possible in the 7.2-7.8 range. If you can do that with a TA of 120 that is fine.

 

[jblizzle]

Welcome to TFP!!!

Given the high TA in your fill water, adding borates may not be a good idea. Every time you add water, your TA is going to increase, this higher TA and if you add the additional buffering effect of borates may make it very difficult to keep your pH down at a reasonable level.

Also note that we have repeatedly seen that the Color Q can be pretty unreliable as a testing mechanism, reporting fluctuating values that are just not possible ... use with caution.

 

[Tuffy]

Zea3,
I used the pool calculator to determine the amount of calcium chloride to add, according to the numbers I have added about 3 kgs over recommended to get up to 300 with only a slight increase on the reading. I will wait a few days before adding more I don't want to over do it. I got my ALK down to 70 and now aerating to get ph back to 7.5 before starting the borax treatment

Jbizzle,
I hate to hear that after all the trouble I went through to get borax over here. Like I said earlier though my ALK stabilizes a little over 100 and here in another month or so we should be getting enough rain I won't need to add water from the main. Think I will go ahead with the borax and hopefully I won't regret not taking your advise !

So far my color Q seems to be accurate once in a while it will spit out a goofy number but if I redo the test I get a more believable value

 

[Casey]

Why do you want to add borates?

 

[Tuffy]

To help control the ph and I've heard many people praise how their pool looks and feels better with them. Do you disagree Casey?

 

[Patrick_B]

While that is true Tuffy, not everyone is a good candidate for using Borates. I am one of them too with fill water TA at 180. Many people
here on the forum do not use them at all. Some people say they love the feel, some say it isn't that noticeable.

Concentrate on the pH and take Zea's advice on the pH rise. Work it from that angle and don't worry about the Borates.