Clarification please on Baking Soda vs Soda Ash/Washing Soda

[langerking]

I need to raise my pH and TA a little bit:

pH is 7.4
TA is 50ppm

I am not clear on what I have in this bag labeled Sodium Hydrogen Carbonate

I think I answered my own question: on the other side of the brown bag which I hadn't looked at it also says: Alkalinity Increaser. There is a chart for how much to add to increase the alkalinity by 10ppm, 20ppm etc. I am pretty sure this is baking soda.

Just to be safe I am going to add half the recommended amount and measure later in the day

 

[JasonLion]

Yes, that is baking soda. It will increase TA significantly, and increase PH by only a tiny bit.

 

[langerking]

I put in 40 oz (by volume) Baking Soda and already (after only 3 hours with the pump running) the TA climbed to 60ppm. Will check the TA and pH again in the morning to see if I need to add more. I just checked through my measurements for the past 16 months and I think if the TA stays at 60 and I can get my pH to 7.5 that could be the happy place where it could stabilize. Once the TA gets higher my pH has a tendency to keep climbing. My CYA is right at around 30, probably more like 25, if I add some stabilizer to get to about 35, what effect will this have on my pH and TA?

 

[zethacat]

I don't think it will have any effect on your PH or TA. CYA (aka stabilizer) slows down the loss of chlorine to the sun, but it also commits some of your chlorine to the stabilizer thus making it unavailable which is why you will need to maintain a higher level of chlorine as a result.

 

[tim5055]

My CYA is right at around 30, probably more like 25, if I add some stabilizer to get to about 35, what effect will this have on my pH and TA?

No effect really.

I would suggest getting your CYA up to about 40, even 50 would not be bad. You are in sunny Florida and the sun is hard on your chlorine. Keeping the CYA low does not make the chlorine more effective, it just allows the sun to burn it off quicker.

 

[ping]

Using PoolMath, go to the bottom of the page and insert the chemical you are adding to the section, "effects of adding chemicals", and PoolMath will calculate all the changes.