Love this forum, long time reader, first post. Do all my own chemicals, test all the time. My question:
I am constantly adding acid because the fill water is very basic (about 8.2). Of course, living in Texas means high evaporation, so much so that I have an automatic fill on a timer (during the summer) and every day it runs for 10 minutes. This does not quite keep up, BTW, I have to add more here and there. The bottom line is that I am constantly having to add acid to bring the pH back down, really annoying.
Anyway, does anybody have ideas on less maintenance of this ? Would it hurt to keep it around 7.8 ? Seems like it will naturally stabilize between 7.8/7.9 but I have to battle just to have it around 7.5/7.6. I drop it to 7.2 and bam, back up to 7.8 in no time. I'm thinking about just letting it stay higher, it's more natural for the pool - just not worry about it until it hits 8.0 and be happy with it at 7.8. Thoughts?
It's not a HUGE deal since I'm out there with the liquid chlorine so much but it is annoying. Also, I do not use borates at this time. I have young kids and getting a dog so did not really want those in the water just yet, maybe when they're older. And one more detail, my spa does trickle into the pool so the aeration does not help, either. Maybe I'm just consigned to the constant pH management. Just looking for ideas.
FC 5
pH 7.8
TA 70
CH 185
CYA 65
BTW, I know I should raise the CH, just haven't gotten around to it but don't think that's going to help my pH issues.
I am constantly adding acid because the fill water is very basic (about 8.2). Of course, living in Texas means high evaporation, so much so that I have an automatic fill on a timer (during the summer) and every day it runs for 10 minutes. This does not quite keep up, BTW, I have to add more here and there. The bottom line is that I am constantly having to add acid to bring the pH back down, really annoying.
Anyway, does anybody have ideas on less maintenance of this ? Would it hurt to keep it around 7.8 ? Seems like it will naturally stabilize between 7.8/7.9 but I have to battle just to have it around 7.5/7.6. I drop it to 7.2 and bam, back up to 7.8 in no time. I'm thinking about just letting it stay higher, it's more natural for the pool - just not worry about it until it hits 8.0 and be happy with it at 7.8. Thoughts?
It's not a HUGE deal since I'm out there with the liquid chlorine so much but it is annoying. Also, I do not use borates at this time. I have young kids and getting a dog so did not really want those in the water just yet, maybe when they're older. And one more detail, my spa does trickle into the pool so the aeration does not help, either. Maybe I'm just consigned to the constant pH management. Just looking for ideas.
FC 5
pH 7.8
TA 70
CH 185
CYA 65
BTW, I know I should raise the CH, just haven't gotten around to it but don't think that's going to help my pH issues.