Managing high CH level; pH, CSI and everything else

Apr 24, 2014
54
Phoenix, AZ
Noob pool owner here. I think I have things generally under control and the water looks and feels fine (aside from being bathwater temp).

My CH levels are high and have been steadily climbing since I filled the pool in March. I didn't have a good test kit until a couple of months ago, in that time my CH levels have climbed from 300 to 425. I tested the fill water today and the CH level out of the hose was 275. Based on the rate it has climbed, it was probably similar when I filled it.

I've pumped all of the numbers into PoolMath and I'm having a bit of trouble understanding how to manage CSI. It's a delicate calculation and given all of the variables, I'm not sure what the right decisions to be making are. I have a SWG and I have to watch my pH every day to keep it under control. I have to add muriatic acid every other day, sometimes every day.

Here are my numbers as of this morning:
pH - 7.5
FC - 6.5
CC - 0
TA - 50
CH - 425
CYA - 60
Salt - 3300

My CSI with these numbers is and a temp of 98 is -0.33 (I'm not sure what temp to use...high, low, average). Lowering the pH to 7.2 and changing nothing else will bring the number down to -0.59. It seems like it is going to be a delicate dance to keep my CSI near zero while maintaining pH in an acceptable range.

My plan - while keeping everything else the same, increasing TA to 100 and increasing my CYA to 80 would result in a CSI of 0.05 at a pH of 7.5 and and CSI of -0.23 at a pH of 7.2, which is the range I typically bounce between. It would be great if my pH didn't bounce so much but I can't seem to keep it stable. At CH levels of 600, the CSI numbers still appear to be solid (-0.2 to 0.2).

I could pound numbers into the calculator all night but I don't understand the science or math behind it - it's nothing but the shotgun approach. Could someone confirm my plan or point me in the right direction?
 
My recommendation is that the only thing you need to do is maintain the pH to between 7.6 and 7.8. I would leave the rest alone.

After doing yet more reading (I've read so many threads on this site I can't keep them all straight. It does seem I was shooting too low on my pH. That may explain my bounce...I might have been fighting it when it was trying to get near where it should actually be! Time will tell.

Thanks for the recommendation. That is all I needed to spur me to read one more thing and the answer was staring me in the face. It is appreciated.
 
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