Total alkalinity out of normal need help

[sjoefl01]

Ive been adjusting my chemicals.
CYA is 20
I had to add a lot of Muratic to get my pH to 7.8
Now my TA is 200
Water is clear. I've never had TA problems before. The PH tends to climb in this pool and I have to add acid occasionally. Nothing abnormal though.

 

[Richard320]

How did you get that TA reading? If it's strips, it's wrong. If it's a drop test, be aware of the static electricity phenomenon. Check the notes in Post 6 in this thread.

Otherwise, just keep adding acid. Target 7.2 each time, and the TA will go down slowly over time. When you plug your numbers into poolmath, it will tell you how much acid to add. Go down further to Effects of Adding Chemicals, and plug that in, and it will tell you pretty closely how much your TA will drop with that addition.

 

[sjoefl01]

It was a drop test. I added a little acid. Ill check it again tomorrow and wipe the tip between drops.

 

[sjoefl01]

I have been here 10 years. I have never had this problem. I just can't seem to get enough acid in my pool. My PH was coming down and the TA was coming down and I let it go for a little bit and it is climbing again. I am adding acid by the gallons. I think I've put 5 gallon in so far and I have TA 190 and PH off the scale, I've been adding acid for 3 weeks no slowly. everything else is great and the water is clear. It's a big pool 27K gallons. I have always added a gallon of acid over an entire summer. I have never had to work on TA. This has all happened since this winter. I really don't test much in the winter except for keeping the chlorine up. I even bought some new bottles of the PH and chlorine test chemicals and I am getting the same results. It seems like the pool is consuming acid. I haven't added any water at all and we havent had any abnormal rain.
I cecked the theory that my bottles had static electricity by wiping the face with a damp cloth after each drop. The results didn't change.

 

[JamesW]

What is the percentage of acid on the label?

 

[sjoefl01]

2 of the gallons had 31.45%. To be honest I'm not sure about the rest. I got them from different places. I've always just need to add a quart or a half gallon and that was bringing the PH down. I have never had to work on TA. It always stayed in range.

 

[JamesW]

One gallon of acid in your 37,000 gallon pool would only lower the TA by 14 ppm. Follow the lowering TA process as described in Pool School. If it doesn't work as per instructions, then something else is happening.

What is the fill water TA?
Can you list all chemicals you have added?

 

[pooldv]

Here is a link to a how to:
http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/129-how-to-lower-lowering-total-alkalinity

 

[Patrick_B]

If your TA changed, your water source had to change it, unless you added something to alter it. The TA cannot suddenly change in the pool for no reason. Have you always used a good drop kit in the previous ten years?