High TA, low PH ?

[shockman]

So what to do, TA 160, PH 7.2. If I get this right, I cannot change TA without affecting PH. Is 160 TA too high for vinyl pool ?? Would like to bring up PH

 

[sbcpool]

If your pH is stable at 7.2, why do you want to bring it up?

 

[shockman]

I miss quoted PH, it is what I would call a low 7.0, not yellow enough to be 6.8 but not pink enough to be 7 Is this too low ??

 

[sbcpool]

That's probably a little too low. With a TA that high, it would be pretty difficult to maintain a pH below neutral 7.0. I can't keep my pH from going over 8.0 when my TA is near 100. How old is your pH test kit?

 

[shockman]

reagents for alkalinity are new except the blue drop is a couple years old? if I'm confident in TA reading should I be trying to lower?

 

[bkfamily1]

I would not leave your pH low like that - beyond the discomfort it may cause swimmers, pH below 7 will eat the metal components in your pool system (copper heater cores, pumps, etc) - you may want to raise it with borax to get it up to 7.2 more quickly then use aeration from there

if you want to lower your TA, aerate the pool to raise the pH (fountain, kids splashing, point your return eyeballs up at the surface, etc) - that is the only way to raise pH without also raising TA - then once the pH is up to 7.5 or so, add accid which will drop the pH and take the TA down with it - repeat that cycle over and over until the TA is where you want it - see how-to-lower-lowering-total-alkalinity

note that you only need to worry about dropping your TA if it is causing trouble keeping your pH where you want it (high TA tends to make pH continuously rise) or if it is contributing to a high CSI that will result in scaling - plug your numbers into PoolMath to see your CSI

 

[sbcpool]

reagents for alkalinity are new except the blue drop is a couple years old? if I'm confident in TA reading should I be trying to lower?

I'm more interested in how old the pH test dye is. Phenol red in solution generally has a shelf life of about two years - less if left out in sunlight or high temperatures.

 

[shockman]

sounds to me like I should invite all the neighborhood kids over and tell them they need to splash in the pool for 8hrs. My pool does not get used enough now as the kids are gone from home :>((