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I started to type a response that started with: "You're thinking like a pool guy...and we're not dealing with a pH above 7...and that H2CO3 will absolutely take that H+ and become H3CO3....everything in pool math is working under the assumption that the pH is greater than 7…" But it's...

The first statement is most certainly true. pH is a logarithmic scale. A solution of pH of 4 has a H+ concentration 10 times that of a solution at pH 5 and a solution of pH of 3 has an H+ solution 10 times that of the pH 4 solution. Adding acid supplies those H+ ions. The pH 5 solution has an H+...

What has your TA historically been at? At very low pH (around 6ish), carbonic acid will actually show up as alkalinity. As the name would suggest, this is an acid and gives you low pH while also showing up as high alkalinity. There was an article by chem geek from a long time ago that explained...

Like PoolStored said, I suspect the nitrogen and sulfur oxides reacted with the chlorine...but it was interesting. I'm pretty darn diligent about testing and I never dipped out of target. I'm curious to see what happens this round. Part of me wonders if what I was treating as algae was actually...

I know a bunch of pool owners in central New York had algae issues during the last round of smoke (myself included and my FC never dipped). I also saw a dip in pH.

I'm a recovering lab rat myself. I actually use a 2L nalgene bottle to measure. I try to test and add daily. I have a solar cover that I put on at night and remove most mornings. Doing the chlorine test adds about 2 minutes to that process so sometimes I even test twice and then add...

I’m sorry if I came off as aggressive, like I said above I don’t disagree that some CYA is a good idea. It’s gentler on skin and clothing as you say. I’m only pointing out that the drinking water in Australia (and the US) is allowed up to 5ppm and I assume that you’re all healthy.

A little less, clorox is funny because they mix more stuff in there and have less dichlor... @shedlock22 dichlor shock (and trichlor pucks) also lower your pH. The amount you added would have dropped your pH by as much as 1.5. It's best to switch to liquid chlorine (bleach).

You can...see here for options and tips Draining - Further Reading If you have a vinyl liner, make sure you don't take the water level too low on accident, or your liner could shift. Like Texas Splash said, best to wait until your pH is up at least a little bit before swimming. Chances are...

If you already have an acid feeder, then the only benefit might be that the CO2 wouldn’t affect your TA as much. Unless you have a preference for handling compressed gas cylinders vs acid. It would be something like this: CircuPool TOTALBalance pH Control (Acid-Free)-TBPH

How much FC is allowed in your drinking water without CYA? I bet it’s similar to a pool…

I don’t disagree. Unfortunately what tends to happen is that they allow CYA (sometimes up to 100 or 150) but still limit FC to 4 or 5, which is also dangerous. Just out of curiosity though, what do they do for indoor pools down under? Most indoor pools don’t run CYA, but you still need a couple...

Makes sense. We had it set to dose chlorine based on ORP, but New York requires (and it's a good idea anyway) to do the DPD test every two hours while the pool is open. ORP monitoring kept us in range 90% of the time.

I used to maintain a few outdoor municipal public pools in New York. We're not allowed to use any CYA, which I actually like better because we have a similar FC range allowed (1-4ppm). More than 20 CYA or so is risky with a 4ppm max, especially when that 4ppm is a hard max and you have to close...

Makes sense, right? So when you add bleach it dissociates into hydroxide (-OH), which is a strong base and would increase your pH. However, it also dissociates in to Hydrochlorous Acid (HOCl-). HOCl is the active part of chlorine that does the killing and oxidizing. It is a weak acid and would...

There are a lot of reasons that the pool store test results are unreliable, but one of them is that pH will actually change in your water sample after you collect it. Dissolved gases can influence pH, so the simple act of shaking or not shaking your sample can affect it. The way they draw the...

In addition to the test-related advice here... Keep brushing. The filter can't capture what doesn't flow through it. Brushing stirs it up and allows your filter to capture it. Adding liquid chlorine is a pH-neutral process. pH is one of the test strips that are actually pretty accurate, but if...

I was going to say this too, ammonia is most likely scenario. Distant 2nd would be the mystical CYA eating bacteria. Either way, the solution is the same, MOAR BLEACH

Agreed. Don't add acid until your pH hits 8.0 at least. Remember there's nothing inherently bad about TA, it only affects pH. The only reason to lower it is if it is negatively affecting your pH. Right now you want it to do its thing. Every time you add that 3/4 gallon of acid you're dropping...

So the idea behind these as that they're difficult to block and thus minimize the chance of entrapment? Makes sense to me. Seems like an easy fix.

Yes, 1.5" threaded

That's actually a lot of progress. How long between those two photos? Like Marty said, stick with the liquid chlorine, get an accurate test kit, and you'll get there.

Agree with PoolStored for the most part. I do still manually brush a few spots that the robot doesn't get well, but it's probably unique to my pool.

I have a 20x40ft 1970's era inground pool. I have 1 skimmer and 2 returns. Below the skimmer I have a plugged opening of some sort. I had always assumed that it was an old equalizer line that a previous owner had capped for safety reasons. I'm okay with that, although I do dislike having only...

I understand, just answering your question about vivid and shimmer.

Simple Salt is a silver/copper/oxygen based sanitizing system. There was someone else here with that system trying to clear an algae bloom recently.

When your pump was running, all of the algae was being carried around the pool by the current. Now that your pump has stopped, it has settled.

All plumbed up this morning and so far so good. Thanks everyone

It happens…if you’d done it with the MA, it would have been a lot worse. I used to work for the village I grew up in during the summer. We had 3 pools, eventually I was in charge of maintaining all of them. 2 out of the 3 were plumbed such that they’d keep their level automatically and one was...

All that baking soda might actually feel good :ROFLMAO: Of all the chemicals to overdose, at least it was baking soda. It could have been a lot worse.