I opened my pool for the first time in 2years

Jump to latest Follow Reply
So happy to hear that you are doing well :) You've really come a long way!

You can adjust you TA if you notice that your PH moves up or down too quickly, otherwise you can leave it alone. After a few months of testing and adjusting, you will find you TA sweet spot so that you PH stays stable.

Just make sure that don't add too much acid at one time so that you PH gets below 7.2. Pool Math can tell you the effects of adding acid will have to your TA and PH. You may have to add a small amount of acid to get your PH to 7.2, aerate to bring up your PH (or you could add borax), and then add more acid... repeat these steps as necessary to get your TA where you want it.
 
Just FYI, the TA section of Poolmath only gives amounts for raising TA using baking soda. This is because baking soda has a minimal effect on other chemistry levels, it only raises PH slightly. Lowering TA can be tricky because muriatic acid will lower both TA and PH. You have to be careful not to lower PH out of range. If you scroll further down below the table in Poolmath, you will see an area where you can estimate what effect adding various chemicals will have.

I punched in your numbers, and basically for your specific pool (just in case anyone else reads this), to lower TA from 110 to ~75 you would add 200 oz. of acid. HOWEVER...doing this all at once would also lower your PH by about two points. If it starts at 7.5, it would be 5.5 when all that acid is added. You do not want to do this. Instead, you add a small amount of acid, in your case about 50 oz, to lower TA by 10 points or so. This will also lower PH by about .5, so you may drop slightly out of range. You would then aerate the water to raise the PH back up in range. Repeat this process until TA is where you want it.

This is explained in greater detail here: http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/129-how-to-lower-lowering-total-alkalinity

As was said in the previous post, if PH isn't drifting around too much then I wouldn't worry about it.

Tad
 
Last edited:
Hey Tad! Thanks for the answer. My PH has stayed great-right around 7.5. This is a first for me and my pool. My PH was typically always low and needed to be raised. So are you saying it would also be alright to just leave it alone so as to not jeopardize the PH reading?


tado921 said:
Just FYI, the TA section of Poolmath only gives amounts for raising TA using baking soda. This is because baking soda has a minimal effect on other chemistry levels, it only raises PH slightly. Lowering TA can be tricky because muriatic acid will lower both TA and PH. You have to be careful not to lower PH out of range. If you scroll further down below the table in Poolmath, you will see an area where you can estimate what effect adding various chemicals will have.

I punched in your numbers, and basically for your specific pool (just in case anyone else reads this), to lower TA from 110 to ~75 you would add 200 oz. of acid. HOWEVER...doing this all at once would also lower your PH by about two points. If it starts at 7.5, it would be 5.5 when all that acid is added. You do not want to do this. Instead, you add a small amount of acid, in your case about 50 oz, to lower TA by 10 points or so. This will also lower TA by about .5, so you may drop slightly out of range. You would then aerate the water to raise the PH back up in range. Repeat this process until TA is where you want it.

This is explained in greater detail here: http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/129-how-to-lower-lowering-total-alkalinity

As was said in the previous post, if PH isn't drifting around too much then I wouldn't worry about it.

Tad
Click to expand...
 
So are you saying it would also be alright to just leave it alone so as to not jeopardize the PH reading?
Click to expand...

Yep, if PH is holding steady then don't worry about it. Just monitor TA as normal, and if it starts to go too high then you can adjust. Personally, I wouldn't get concerned until it hits 130-140. Even then it isn't an emergency, just time to start planning the correction.

This will also lower TA by about .5,
Click to expand...

This is a typo, should read "This will also lower PH by about .5"
 
Last edited:
Alright then I am not going to worry about it. Tad how much bleach are you adding to your pool? Is 1/2 gallon to 1 gallon every other day about right?

tado921 said:
Yep, if PH is holding steady then don't worry about it. Just monitor TA as normal, and if it starts to go too high then you can adjust. Personally, I wouldn't get concerned until it hits 130-140. Even then it isn't an emergency, just time to start planning the correction.



This is a typo, should read "This will also lower PH by about .5"
Click to expand...
 
If your FC is staying where you want (relative to CYA, etc) then that's your pool's appetite. My pool is about twice the size of yours, and eats about a half gallon of bleach a day, so your number sounds good to me.
 
chanelvaps said:
Nevermind, found it. I panicked for a minute because test yesterday showed 0 CC. It showed 3 FC but 0 CC. I had not tested for 2 days. CC is supposed to be at .5 or below right?
Click to expand...
0 is better than .5

Anything under .5 is good.

CC measures how much of you chlorine has sanitized things in the pool. A measurement of 0 just means that the chlorine had nothing to sanitize.

I just read this whole thread and you did an awesome job on cleaning up your swamp. Congrats.
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
You have done a wonderful job and the pool looks as it should...with people enjoying it! This is an awesome success story! :goodjob:

Caution: don't relax your testing/dosing standards too much tho...you don't want to have to go through this again.
 
Hmm...might need a little help here ...TAaaaD..where are you..lol
Decided to leave pool open until the end of Sept. Lately I have only needed to add about half a large bottle of bleach every other day. We have had some hard rains. Tested this morning and got the following
FC-0
CC-0
CH-50
CYA-30
TA-100
P.H-over 8.2
So I am thinking I need to add some Muriatic Acid and of course some bleach.
Love to have some input
 
Remember, Pool Math is your friend. Put your information in place and see what it recommends. When dealing with MA, it's best to dose in 2 steps. Find out how much you need, add half. Wait 30 min and retest. Then use Pool Math again to see how much to add. :)
 
Given the numbers you have provided here today with the gallons you've listed in your signature, when I use Pool Math, I get that you need 1 quart 1 cup 7 oz of 31% MA. With the pump running, I would start with half that amount. Wait 30-60 minutes and retest and post your results here.
 
Northrn are you getting that from PoolMath? I get 35 oz of 31%. I added 16oz. Not sure what you mean above-are you saying 1 quart plus 1 cup plus 7oz's?


northrn said:
Given the numbers you have provided here today with the gallons you've listed in your signature, when I use Pool Math, I get that you need 1 quart 1 cup 7 oz of 31% MA. With the pump running, I would start with half that amount. Wait 30-60 minutes and retest and post your results here.
Click to expand...

- - - Updated - - -

Hi pwrstrk
I did enter my TA but it is only telling me to lower PH first. My TA is high at 100

pwrstrk said:
Make sure to enter your TA level also in pool math ��
Click to expand...
o
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply