Ph through the roof!

[suraiyasaw]

Hello everyone.
So I am just over this. I have kept my pool water blue even through winter because I don't close it. Pollen is horrible in GA and I have lots of treeI was too busy to care for my pool in June and it turned green. I have kept my pool water blue even through winter because I don't close it. Pollen is horrible in GA and I have lots of trees around my pool. I have tried everything others have shown on you tube. I have used my local pool store to advice me after they test my pool water threel times. Nothing has worked! This morning I dumped 4 gals of bleach with 8.75 sodium hypochlorite and the pH is STILL through the roof. Before this I dumped 4 lbs of dry acid before floc. Ph level dropped. I floc and ph went back up! The pool is not as green as it was but it's still murky. I have vacuum to waste twice.
My system seems to be working properly.
Yesterday, I made this into a science experiment for my home schooled grand daughter. The conclusion is 1/4 teaspoon of boric acid to 8 oz of pool water led to ideal ph. I know boric acid is not what's used for poold but it is sodium bisulfate. That translates to over 1400 gals of boric acid to my 16000 gals of water! So something is wrong with this. Any suggestions.

 

[tim5055]

Welcome to TFP!!

Do you have a test kit, or does the pool store do all your testing?

You say your pH is "through the roof". Are you getting a reading or is it off the scale?

Stop the science experiment, your solution to the pH will be muratic acid. Lowes has it in the paint department.n They have two bottles, green & blue label. You want he blue. The green "low fume" is half the strength at the same price.

Once I see the answers to my questions we can move forward to the green water issue.

 

[Texas Splash]

Hello and welcome! Several things going on here, so please try to bear with me:
- You must test your own water - period. The proper test kit (i.e. TF-100 or Taylor K-2006) is the foundation of your pool care. Why these kits? We've learned through personal experience that you cannot reply on pool store testing, test strips, or simple over-the-counter kits. They simply do not read Free Chlorine (FC) or Cyanuric Acid (CYA) levels accurately or to the high levels we need. If you do not have a TF-100 or Taylor K2006 test kit, it should be your #1 priority.
- You seem to have a slight misunderstanding about the effects of some chemicals. Please familiarize yourself with Pool School - Recommended Pool Chemicals.
- Simply put, pH is lowered by acid. Bleach is used fro sanitation (Free Chlorine/FC).
- Floc or most other pool store products is a waste of money. Stick to the recommended chemicals listing.
- Green water means you need to SLAM via Pool School - SLAM - Shock Level And Maintain. To do this you must have one of the test kits noted above.
- Also, please add your pool info to your signature by going to the top of the TFP web page (just under the Pool School button) and select "SETTINGS". On the next page look to the left for a menu bar that says, “MY SETTINGS” and go to "EDIT SIGNATURE" to enter your pool and equipment info there. It will help us later.
We'd love to help you more once you get your own test kit and can post a full set of results. If you have any more questions, please let us know.

- - - Updated - - -

Sorry Tim. You beat me to the post.

 

[YippeeSkippy]

You ask for suggestions?? Mine is to stop blindly following pool store advice and putting far too many unnecessary chemicals in your pool just hoping something will work.
First off- pool store testing sucks on a good day. They're in the business of selling chemicals so what do you think their motive might be in testing....? Get your own test kit as we recommend here (either the TF-100 or the Taylors K-2006, both avail from TFTestkits.net) No one will care for your pool as well as you can with the proper test kit. And its excellent chemistry lesson for your granddaughter! Teach her to do the testing and we'll show you how to determine what to do next.

You added 4 gallons of bleach this morning but do you understand that bleach does not work to drop your pH. And once added in that quantity your pH level will not test correctly if your FC is over 10.

Get the test kit, and in the meantime ONLY add one gallon of bleach per day until your test kit arrives and we can work from there.

Also , please provide information about your pool and its equipment as well as how you've been chlorinating up to this point. We'll need the following test results: FC, CC, pH, CH, TA and CYA. Information on those tests and more can be found under the pool store link above on the right. Please start with the ABCs of Pool Chemistry.

ooops, I see once again I type too slow and Tim and Pat *both* beat me to the punch