Our pool was just completed two weeks ago. We have dark gray, nearly black plaster in hopes it will draw the sun and warm the water slightly. We test the water daily and following the test kit guidelines we've added a pint of acid plus 8-10 pounds of Total Alkalinity every day. This is confusing and it seems like the chemicals would be working against each other. Does this sound normal? The gentleman who built our pool said because of our water we only need to be concerned with chlorine, acid and total alkalinity. Does that make sense? We both had pools as children but seem to have forgotten some things. We are reading pool school but hoped to get an answer yo this specific question right away.
Can't get total alkalinity right
- Thread starter Kikakini
- Start date
svenpup
LifeTime Supporter
What actual product are you adding for TA? Sounds insane to me. Assuming it's Sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) every 10 lbs would add 35 to 20000 gallon pool (you didn't specify pool size or anything else for that matter). How many days have you done this? Edit: I see 12000 gallons in your sig...that's 60 TA your adding with every 10 lbs.
We promote knowledge based pool care. This means adding only what is necessary based on testing with a reliable test kit (TF-100) and always understanding the effects of what we add.
TA is one of those parameters that is easy to raise and difficult to lower. You may be getting yourself into a situation where you are constantly fighting rising pH caused by sky high TA.
What are you currently using for testing? Can you post a full set of results (FC, CC, TA, pH, CYA, CH)?
I recommend reading through pool school and getting the recommended test kit to start down the path of taking control of your new pool.
We promote knowledge based pool care. This means adding only what is necessary based on testing with a reliable test kit (TF-100) and always understanding the effects of what we add.
TA is one of those parameters that is easy to raise and difficult to lower. You may be getting yourself into a situation where you are constantly fighting rising pH caused by sky high TA.
What are you currently using for testing? Can you post a full set of results (FC, CC, TA, pH, CYA, CH)?
I recommend reading through pool school and getting the recommended test kit to start down the path of taking control of your new pool.
Okay, so hubby finally got our builders call back. Turns out his math was wrong and alkalinity is right on. Thanks for all the helpful info though. We have learned so much during the first day reading info on this site! Thank you so much! We will keep studying and check in when we need more info. I really appreciate how y'all treat everyone so respectfully when we feel like we didn't know what we were getting when we decided a pool would be so much fun and great exercise.
We had a new pebble sheen finished put on this spring. I can tell you from my experience it eats a lot of muriatic acid the first month.The first week I was adding a half gallon every few days to keep the ph down at 7.2, with a TA at around 110. After two months now my TA is at 90 and I'm adding only an 1/8 of a gallon every few days. I've gone through 4.5 gallons of muriatic acid so far this year.