HELP PLEASE! WITH SALTWATER, NEW POOL, NEW EVERYTHING
- Thread starter lilgalfromin
- Start date
Borax is used to raise pH or add borates to the pool. Don't add it unless you know you need it.
Okay, im back. Bama, I hope your on to save me. last night i turned on my Intex saltwater chlorinator. Worked great! had great chlorine, everything was fine, so to make sure, i took my water sample to the pool store i bought my pool from. He said I had very high PH and Alkaline. He told me to put one gallon of miaratic acid in the skimmer and that would help that problem. It was the liquid form. he suggested not to let it splash anything. So I did this.. About an hour later went to check on my chlorinator and the service light was on. I looked in my handbook and it said service means maintenance. So I called a friend of mine who knows about these Intex Saltwater systems and she walked me through cleaning and inspecting. Still nothing, still showing service. Could it be the acid damaged this? My friend was told to never put miariatic acid in the skimmer, but why would this pool person tell me too. I dont know how to fix this. Please help..
Never ever put muriatic acid in the skimmer, and in almost all cases an entire gallon is way way too much no matter how you add it and could easily cause damage.
The first thing, as soon as possible, find out what your PH and TA are and get them back up to minimum values (if they are too low). You don't ever want TA below 60, nor should PH ever be below 7.0. If they are below that raise as soon as you possibly can. You didn't say what your starting levels were, so there is a remote chance you are alright, but I rather doubt it.
There is some chance the SWG will recover when levels are back in range, but no promises.
The first thing, as soon as possible, find out what your PH and TA are and get them back up to minimum values (if they are too low). You don't ever want TA below 60, nor should PH ever be below 7.0. If they are below that raise as soon as you possibly can. You didn't say what your starting levels were, so there is a remote chance you are alright, but I rather doubt it.
There is some chance the SWG will recover when levels are back in range, but no promises.
OMG. im freaking out. My PH is so low its not even reading at 6.8.. what damage could the acid of done? i just got this pool tuesday and this dumbass that works there told me to do this. Im sorry, pardon my french but i am not happy
Do you have any borax or soda ash/washing soda/PH Up that you can add?
Low PH can shorten the lifetime of the liner. The damage takes time and depends on how low the PH gets. The sooner you bring it back up the less damage there will be. I don't know you starting levels, so I have no way of guessing at just how severe it is. If your TA really was very very high it won't be all that bad.
Low PH can shorten the lifetime of the liner. The damage takes time and depends on how low the PH gets. The sooner you bring it back up the less damage there will be. I don't know you starting levels, so I have no way of guessing at just how severe it is. If your TA really was very very high it won't be all that bad.
i have put two ph plus 1 lb powders back in the pool. how soon will i know if its working?
Do u have a phone number i can call you? Does the acid evaporate? how long should we wait to swim. I dont want our skin peeling off. i am so lost at words..so far i have put in two pounds of ph plus...what happens if i cant get it back up? what is PH anyways? what does it hurt if its high and what does it hurt if its low.
Sorry, no phone number, just the forum. 
You don't want to swim when PH is below 7.2. Now that you can go to the store and get supplies, or at least very soon, it will be easy to get everything fixed up.
PH is an indication of how acidic/basic the water is. PH has a very wide range, but for swimming pools we try to keep it between 7.2 and 7.8, a very narrow sub-set of the range near the PH of human tears. Extremely low PH is acidic and causes your eyes to burn and if it is too low can damage equipment. Extremely high PH tends to cause calcium scaling and if high enough can cause skin irritation. PH out of range also tends to make chlorine much less effective, so it becomes difficult to keep the pool sanitary.
TA is raised with common household baking soda. If the TA is below 60 you want to raise it to at least 60.
The first step is to get some test results. Post whatever you have.
You don't want to swim when PH is below 7.2. Now that you can go to the store and get supplies, or at least very soon, it will be easy to get everything fixed up.
PH is an indication of how acidic/basic the water is. PH has a very wide range, but for swimming pools we try to keep it between 7.2 and 7.8, a very narrow sub-set of the range near the PH of human tears. Extremely low PH is acidic and causes your eyes to burn and if it is too low can damage equipment. Extremely high PH tends to cause calcium scaling and if high enough can cause skin irritation. PH out of range also tends to make chlorine much less effective, so it becomes difficult to keep the pool sanitary.
TA is raised with common household baking soda. If the TA is below 60 you want to raise it to at least 60.
The first step is to get some test results. Post whatever you have.
my ph has moved up to 6.8 which is way better than last night. i just put in another pound of ph. Now, the TA..what do I need to buy to get that fixed? and how much?does walmart carry this?
Alright, PH at 7.2 is fine. TA at 180+ is high, as the pool store suggested, but not an immediate problem. For the time being you can leave PH and TA alone. When PH gets up to 7.8, lower it back down to 7.2. Over time that will bring down the TA level. If the PH goes up annoyingly quickly, there are other things we can do.
A complete set of test results is the next step. The PH will tend to drift up, but otherwise PH and TA are stable. Last I remember we didn't know the other numbers, other than suspecting that CYA was too low, so I can't comment on them or how safe swimming is.
the only other numbers i have is the chlorine is perfect and stabilixer and hardness are all perfect.
Sadly, "perfect" is an opinion, not a number. My opinion is likely to be very different from their opinion, so "perfect" really doesn't tell us much of anything. This is a good example of why it is so nice to have a top quality test kit. Then you know what your numbers actually are, and are not subject to the whims of the pool store employee.
Roughly speaking, swimming is alright as long as the water is clear, you can maintain an FC level, and PH is between 7.2 and 7.8. Your long term ability to maintain an FC level depends a great deal on your CYA level, but in the short term you can simply ad more chlorine until you get a reasonable FC level.
Roughly speaking, swimming is alright as long as the water is clear, you can maintain an FC level, and PH is between 7.2 and 7.8. Your long term ability to maintain an FC level depends a great deal on your CYA level, but in the short term you can simply ad more chlorine until you get a reasonable FC level.
just wanted to say, thank you very much for saving my pool a few weeks ago. Things have been going great since you helped me out of a acid mess. Also, trying to help a friend. They are installing a new liner for AG pool. Its running about a foot short. Do you know any tricks to get the height up of the liner?
Is it a round pool? If so, you should start with it over the top rail if it's an overlap or in the bead if it's a beaded liner, and it'll stretch into place.