Tired of fighting pH....

[Farmerswife96]

Okay I posted about my algae problem on another post and it's now under control. Now, I want to solve another issue. I fought high pH all last year, putting MA in every other day almost. So I read on here to lower pH to 7.2 which would also lower TA. I put my strength MA in pool math calculator and it's telling me to put in 145 oz of MA. That seems like ALOT! It's going to be rainy here most of the week, so I thought it'd be a good time to do this. Would you guys put that much in or part of it?? Thoughts??

 

[mknauss]

Test data? Need that to check your results in PoolMath.

 

[proavia]

Post a full set of test results for us to review. Without seeing all the numbers, it's just a bad guess.

 

[Richard320]

Let Marty doublecheck your math before you get that carried away.

I don't think I'd get that jug-happy with the acid. Too much bleach, no big deal; sunlight will lower it. Too much acid means scrambling for chemicals to undo the damage. You've got a BIG pool, so maybe half a gallon at a time, dribbled into the return stream and rechecked after half an hour.

 

[Farmerswife96]

Okay using Taylor K-1000 pH test, pH is 7.8.
The rest was using poollife test strips which are no good I know and I have the TF 100 test kit ordered.
TH- 200
FC- 0
pH- 7.8
TA- 80 -120
S- 0-30-50
Pucks that I am using have stabilizer and planning to use 75% calcium hypochlorite shock as soon as I get pH back down.

 

[mknauss]

OK. The tough one is TA.

I would use 80 for TA in PoolMath. I also would only lower your pH to 7.5. No real reason to work down TA that aggressively. It is not hurting anything unless your water is extremely hard. Is it?

Using start pH of 7.8, target of 7.5, TA of 80, I show adding 23 oz of 31.45% MA. So 3 cups. Try that and test after 30 minutes of circulation and see what you get.

Take care.

 

[Farmerswife96]

OK. The tough one is TA.

I would use 80 for TA in PoolMath. I also would only lower your pH to 7.5. No real reason to work down TA that aggressively. It is not hurting anything unless your water is extremely hard. Is it?

Using start pH of 7.8, target of 7.5, TA of 80, I show adding 23 oz of 31.45% MA. So 3 cups. Try that and test after 30 minutes of circulation and see what you get.

Take care.

Well normally, that's exactly what I would do but after 2-3 days the pH starts to creep back up again. So I was wanting to keep it from going up so fast. No, my water isn't really hard.

 

[mknauss]

Does it go above 7.8?

I would just wait until you have the full kit, the pool is crystal clear, steady FC, etc. then focus on dropping your TA a bit if you want.

If you have a way to really aerate it, or about 12 kids to throw in for a few hours, you can work the TA down pretty quickly.

 

[Farmerswife96]

Does it go above 7.8?

I would just wait until you have the full kit, the pool is crystal clear, steady FC, etc. then focus on dropping your TA a bit if you want.

If you have a way to really aerate it, or about 12 kids to throw in for a few hours, you can work the TA down pretty quickly.

Yes, it's been 8.2 before! I just have the 4 returns to move water. Water is crystal clear at the moment and test strips show 0 FC. Put 2 pints of MA in before I posted, will check in a little while, then I am planning to put 4 lbs of 75% calcium hypochlorite shock to get chlorine back up! Will be soooo glad when my test kit comes in!!

 

[mknauss]

Be careful on the cal-hypo. Eventually it can be a problem.