Struggling to aerate effectively

[payneinthe]

I lowered my pH to 7.0 in order to lower TA in preparation for adding borates, but it is refusing to come back up into range. It's been stuck at 7.2 for several days. I suspect this cheesy fountain I bought on Amazon is just not cutting it. How best to get this aeration going?

 

[ajw22]

Yeah, that fountain is not churning the enough water.

Some ideas in Aeration - Further Reading

What is your TA?

 

[Mdragger88]

The more “air” it gets the better it will work. Try pointing it up more so its more broadcast over the pool. The more it moves the water the better.
It can take days or even a week to raise ph several points in a pool.
If you have other jets also point them upwards so they disturb the water.

 

[payneinthe]

The TA is currently at 80, although I'm new to these tests so I am not sure if I'm measuring it correctly.

It's probably worth mentioning that the main drain was capped off years ago due to leaks so even at max RPM and a clean filter, we don't get a lot of water movement.

 

[ajw22]

There is no reason to force TA down from 80.

Relax and let the pH rise naturally and lower the pH when it gets to 8. Your TA will lower over time.

What is the pH and TA of your fill water?

 

[payneinthe]

I don't know the pH and TA of the fill water. Until very recently, we were still overfull from a wet winter so it didn't matter. I'll check.

Just spent a couple hours doing cannonballs and the pH is still at 7.2