I have been trying to lower my TA and finally got it down to around 100-110, so I have turned my jets down as to not raise the pH now. My water does not seem to be circulating as well now. Is there anything I can do to make my water circulate better? When I had the returns pointing towards the surface it was working great.

Thanks.

You can compromise and point the returns mostly straight out so that the water flows at the surface without actually rippling or breaking the surface. That's how I have it set up in my pool and I get decent surface action toward the skimmer, but without too much surface disturbance that might affect pH. On the other hand, I have a pool cover so my pH is fairly stable to begin with.

Thanks I will give this a try.

I tried to point them straight out and did not really get any flow. I have them tilted slightly towards the surface and great flow. The only thing I am worried about is if pH drifts up to much to often and my TA is at 110, the addition of Acid with lower TA too much. Last night they seem to be breaking the surface a little, but no bubbles, only slight waves. So we shall see.

Its flowing - its just not as noticable when it isn't breaking the surface.

Well what I notice is that when I got home my pool was full of leaves and did not seem to be moving. Every other day this had not been an issue, until I decided to point them straight. When I point them slightly towards the surface, the leaves are moving and getting pulled in at the skimmer basket.

I may try to give it another chance depending on what my pH does now.

I guess if my TA gets too low, I can add baking soda to bring it back up. Does baking soda affect anything besides TA? Also do I add the baking soda to the skimmer or into the pool?

Edit: Based off of the the pool calculator, it will affect pH, but in small amounts.

EX: Adding 100 oz of basking soada, it will raise TA 20, and will increase pH by .04, which does not really seem to be much.

I had the same concern, but my TA seems to have found a happy place at around 60 despite the continued MA additions.

And BTW, I had the same problem as you with surface circulation, and like you decided in favor of increased skimmer action over a more stable pH. I think it's a compromise and you just have to decide for yourself which is worse: Slow pH rise, or junk in the pool.

Yea it was horrible yesterday when I got home. Usually vaccum once a week, but had to do it yesterday. I do have a polaris cleaner, but I do not feel the work it takes to get it out of the pool without getting water all over the place is not worth the work. I may change my mind though. Also since the booster pump puts out a lot of pressure, I like to use it when I am adding chemicals as it seems to really move the chemials around a lot. The returns do a fine job as well just not as much pressure as the booster pump provides.

I would just let the TA drop lower and see if the pH becomes more stable. If it does, then live with the lower TA but compensate for it by having a higher Calcium Hardness (CH) and a pH target (> 7.5). Only if the lower TA doesn't seem to help would I add baking soda to have the TA be higher, but I don't really see a need for it to be any higher than 80 ppm anyway.