I added the bag of ph increased and it’s all white and foamy on top of the water. Is this normal? I’ve never had to add this stuff before.
0 CYA and 0 FC. Need advise
- Thread starter LovinPoolLife
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- Mar 5, 2020
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- Mar 5, 2020
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- Plaster
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- Astral Viron V35
- Mar 5, 2020
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- Chlorine
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- Astral Viron V35
- Mar 5, 2020
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What's the ingredient, baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) or washing soda (sodium carbonate, also called soda ash)?
- Mar 5, 2020
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- Mar 5, 2020
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Perfect, then your pH should be at 7 now, and TA at 90. No need to add the Borax.
- Mar 5, 2020
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Lake Placid
In The Industry
- May 27, 2021
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@mgtfp what effect will the addition of borax have on borates? Is the amount of borax added negligible to the point that she shouldn’t be concerned about testing/factoring them going forward? (asking for my own edification as well as I typically don’t use them).
- Jun 1, 2018
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- Mar 5, 2020
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It's not a big effect. As Mdragger showed, this adds less than 3ppm borates.
If you calculate for example the required acid addition to reduce pH from 8 to 7.6 for TA 80 without borates, but you actually have 3ppm borates in the water, then this acid addition will take you only to maybe 7.64 instead of 7.6. Most will probably not notice a thing, it's kind of in the tolerance you have for measuring acid amounts. And it's the safe way round, you'll always get less effect on pH by an acid addition.
The further down you go in pH, the less noticeable the borates become, for a pH-change from 7.5 to 7.2, you would hardly see any influence.
We also make some errors in calculating acid additions when ignoring that half of the TA may originate from CYA, which is actually quite a good buffer. This all creates a bit of noise, but luckily we are just talking about pools here, not lab experiments.
But I wouldn't add Borax to often, at some stage you should start considering borates in your acid dosage calculation.
Ok now you’ve got me curious and wondering….. what do borates do in or to the water? I just added about 3 lbs of borax to my pool just to raise the PH a little more.
Also, how can I keep Ducks out of my pool??!!! For the past few mornings they’ve been using it as their own personal pond and I have to run out there to chase them away. Putting my solar cover isn’t an option yet, until pool gets balanced. We don’t have an auto cover.
- Jun 7, 2017
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Oh this can be the stuff nightmares are made of. A couple posters over the years have had duck problems. My advice: get a dog.
Lake Placid
In The Industry
- May 27, 2021
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Borates in pool - Further Reading
www.troublefreepool.com
In a basic sense Borates will buffer ph rise and increase ph a little. As @mgtfp and @Mdragger88 noted amount of borax you’ve added will have neglible effect on your borate level. Read up on the wiki I linked to above, it provides great detail. As for the ducks, as you get your pool cleared they’ll go away on their own. I wouldn’t worry too much about them at the this time.
- Mar 5, 2020
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Borates act as an additional buffer against pH fluctuations. But at much higher concentrations than from a small Borax additions, you need like 50ppm rather than just 2ppm. It's an option that some choose that are struggling with pH-rise, a bit more advanced.
- Mar 5, 2020
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I have two duck couples that picked my pool for nesting at different times. The overlap period was quite dramatic... One of them came back for a second clutch.
I made my peace with them and enjoy them while they're there. Usually gone by the time the swim season really kicks in. But they can make a bit of a mess that needs staying on top on.
If you don't want them to nest next to your pool then you need to be vigilant in shooing them away as soon as they land. They can be very stubborn once they've chosen a nesting spot.
But seeing the ducklings was very rewarding. Needed some planning to make sure they were able to get out of the pool. Once hatched, they hung around for a couple of hours (one time over night), then left not to be seen again. Until the next clutch...
I made my peace with them and enjoy them while they're there. Usually gone by the time the swim season really kicks in. But they can make a bit of a mess that needs staying on top on.
If you don't want them to nest next to your pool then you need to be vigilant in shooing them away as soon as they land. They can be very stubborn once they've chosen a nesting spot.
But seeing the ducklings was very rewarding. Needed some planning to make sure they were able to get out of the pool. Once hatched, they hung around for a couple of hours (one time over night), then left not to be seen again. Until the next clutch...
We had a German shepherd and the ducks weren’t remotely afraid of her. They’d just swim to the other end of the pool. They’ll be lingering around til the end of June. This pool clean up better go quick so I can get my solar cover on
