What did you do to your pool today?

Jump to latest Follow Reply
Dice7074 I have not gone down the "borax" road yet as Im not sure I need it yet still considering. May I ask why you did and are you happy with the results?
 
dice7074 said:
I played chemist on my pool today. I lowered my pH with MA and then I added borax... and then I added baking soda... I like my numbers right now.

FC - 7
pH - 7.2 (I'm aerating to get it a little higher)
TA - 70
Click to expand...

Are you using pool math to not overshoot 7.2 when lowering PH with MA?

Curious about the nullifying?
MA lowered PH and TA by association, Borates raised PH, Baking Soda raised TA and PH by association, aeration will raise PH and lower TA by association
 
Pool’s been up for a week, tweeking and re-tweeking every aspect that a stir-crazy person would in preparation for “that day”. Kids have been relentless. Them: “Dad!, when can we swim? Dad, It’s hot...and It’s not fair. Dad, Can we play in the sprinkler dad? Can we have candy for lunch dad”.
Me: “Did You know, in some countries they go to school all year long, no summer break. “
 
G.K.W.H.inthatorder said:
Pool’s been up for a week, tweeking and re-tweeking every aspect that a stir-crazy person would in preparation for “that day”. Kids have been relentless. Them: “Dad!, when can we swim? Dad, It’s hot...and It’s not fair. Dad, Can we play in the sprinkler dad? Can we have candy for lunch dad”.
Me: “Did You know, in some countries they go to school all year long, no summer break. “
Click to expand...
I am sure it is safe for them to swim.. I let my kids swim when it was filling. It is even safe to swim while slamming.. Just eats up swims suits..
 
Ctrav & Splashpad,

My pH would constantly drift passed 8... We have hard water here in AZ and my CH is at 600 and I had thick calcium deposits on my tile. I decided to bring down my pH with MA, and this ultimately lowered my TA ... which was actually at 90 at start. I lowered my pH to 7.0 (I got a little overzealous when I poured), but I needed to add borax to raise it and control the drift, anyway. I added the baking soda to raise the alkalinity because the MA brought it down to 50. After all the alkalis were added, my pH was at 7.2 and I aerated enough to raise it to 7.4... I think want to keep it there to prevent deposits from forming. I love how my pool looks right now!!

Should I have gone about balancing my chemistry a different way? Please let me know... I'm still learning and I'll take any sound advice... Oh, and I must have overlooked that aerating lowers TA. Thanks for the info!
 
Last edited:
Just a quick point. Aerating doesn’t lower TA. It raises PH so that you can use MA to lower both PH and TA.
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
Tvarnell said:
I am sure it is safe for them to swim.. I let my kids swim when it was filling. It is even safe to swim while slamming.. Just eats up swims suits..
Click to expand...

“That Day” refers to the arrival of the tanker truck. With no water we could do nothing aside from, well, playing in the sprinkler...which we did. I made
a slipNslide out of last year’s pool. They loved that. We call it the “Hillbilly Slough”

Actually, I was wondering if they could swim while I did my pool thing. So thank you for that.—- Tanker truck arrived last night and the kids and I were in it before the FD even rolled up their hoses. Happy days are here again!
 

Attachments

  • EB04F5B3-964E-4A8C-842A-0A57B955B287.jpg
    EB04F5B3-964E-4A8C-842A-0A57B955B287.jpg
    59.8 KB · Views: 117
Last edited:
Thanks for the info Dice7074. My pH does creep up to 8 or slightly over but it takes awhile to get there when I lower to 7.4
Im going to give it another year to serif it settles in before going the borax route...
 
Tried to drown my sorrows re the mystery problems I've been struggling against with ineffective testing for a friend's pool.
(That and my tiny skinny 3lb chihuahua that relentlessly picks fights with a 15-20lb chiweenie - and loses - and was supposed to get dealt with ('fixed')today but couldn't...grr)

Came home and jumped in my lovely sparkly pool, netted out dirt from the floor and stuff off the surface that hangs around the edges of the solar cover. Skipped vacuuming the regular smattering of gritty dirt for today (sand filter - 'slime bag' for return, to come).
Double-checked yesterday's adjustments to pH and added today's quart of chlorine to maintain 7-8.

Then grabbed the wonderful floaty my wife got me, lay back, and dozed
:cool::sleep:
(*this* time without a beer - next time no doubt *with* :D :sun::cheers:)
 
Last edited:
Listened to someone tell me that they ONLY relay on pool stores for all their chemicals and results because their pool is 55,000 gallons and need "true" maintenance. She also said that if something goes wrong with her pool "chemically", it would be very expensive to fix. I sat and listened to her. I said..not true...but she wasn't trying to hear a word I was saying. Oh well. I then came back home to my oasis after a long day of chores. vacuumed, brushed my pool, and covered it for the day.
 
Changed my hairnet in skimmer, cleaned out auto cleaner, and dove into pool after 1.5 hours of laying edging!
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply