Low TA bit high PH

[Pat_the_gates]

I started the dichlor/bleach method yesterday. I lowered my TA to 50ppm with dry acid. However when I check my ph it’s around 8. I use a Taylor k2006. Now I haven’t added borates yet as I’m waiting on my bottle of gentle spa to arrive. Will the ph eventually stabilize or do I have some more work to do? I didn’t think it was best to lower TA any further but I’m not sure. Any advice?
Also for reference:
CH - 140
CYA - 30
FC - 5
CC - .4

 

[Texas Splash]

You're very close to that yo-yo game aren't you? Lower the pH and then concerned with the TA. Raise the TA then concerned about the pH. This is where some smaller doses of acid might be beneficial in hopes it helps bring the pH down slightly without impacting the TA too much. Perhaps @Mdragger88 might have a suggestion or two?

 

[Pat_the_gates]

I went out and bought some muriatic acid. Checked the ph before adding any and to my surprise it was 7.6. Guess I’ll just keep an eye on it and add acid where needed. Thanks for the reply.

 

[Selenap]

If you are using boric acid, add it. It will lower your ph a little and certainly won’t raise it. Borax is different, though and you’ll have to use quite a bit of muriatic acid to counteract the ph rise. There’s like a formula to it. My ph has been somewhat low for a couple months because my solar cover has been on. I rolled it up last week and got a little rise. Pool math said to add like 3 boxes of borax. I finally added one. That fixed the issue so when adding chemicals unless slamming, small doses and check after a reasonable amount of time has passed.

 

[CuckooChris]

PH will rise slowly with the addition of liquid chlorine. I sometimes add MA, but have started to just use a Tbs of dichlor if my CYA will allow it. You can kill more than one bird with that stone. Raises your FC, CYA and lowers your PH all in one shot.

 

[Mdragger88]

Dichlor is acidic & will lower ph - this may drop your ta too low if you aren’t careful. Check out the effects before you dose w/ effects of adding tool in PoolMath so u can account for this.
For this reason I don’t lower ta all the way to 50 the 1st day of a fresh fill - I get it down to the 70’s so then when i use the dichlor it lowers things for me - then when I’m done with the dichlor (after about 3 or 4 times of raising to 10 ppm or so) i use Muriatic acid again & dial in that ta then go for the boric acid. I then use dichlor maybe every two weeks or so instead of bleach to replenish a little cya (small tub so lots of splashout) & subsequently lower ph. My ph stays between 7.6-7.8. I rarely need to use acid. I just opened gallon #2 from the 2 pack I bought like 3 yrs ago. I also have a 26kgal pool - she doesn’t drink much acid either. My fill ta is about 110. They both have swg’s.

 

[Mdragger88]

PH will rise slowly with the addition of liquid chlorine. I sometimes add MA, but have started to just use a Tbs of dichlor if my CYA will allow it. You can kill more than one bird with that stone. Raises your FC, CYA and lowers your PH all in one shot.

Note* The liquid chlorine doesn’t cause the ph to rise its just not acidic so it doesn’t prevent it.

 

[phonedave]

You can check my Pool Math logs to see what I go through with my hot tub (Make sure you are looking at hot tub, and not my pool)

My sweet spot seems to be 30 TA and 7.6 pH. That seems to stay stable for me. Moving either one of those values starts the yo-yo again.