ph vs TA My Battle

[gwegan]

My TA was hovering around 60 all summer long. After woring all fall to bring it up I have it and the pool stable at TA of 90 and ph of 7.8. Its held this for a month without any additions of baking soda or MA.

Should I just leave it here or try and get the TA up to 100 and the ph down to 7.5?

This morning

FC 5
CC 0.5
TA 90
PH 7.8

CYA less than 25

Ch 660

Right now I get a CSI of .35. If I reduce to 7.5 it makes a clear difference but I can't get it to hold there and my TA jumps around

 

[LI poolguy]

Curious, if you had no problems with a TA at 60 for the duration of the summer, why do you want it higher than 90 now? Ph rise a lot less with a lower Alk.

 

[gwegan]

Because the TFP guidelines call for a higher TA.

 

[bdavis466]

Disregard what is called for as that is not necessarily correct. Raising your TA and lowering your pH is a recipe for an endless roller coaster of acid and baking soda additions.

Raising your TA is only going to cause your pH to rise higher and faster and high TA with low pH only further increases pH rise. A TA around 60 is ideal in my opinion since the pH will rise very slowly and that coupled with a pH of 7.8 is fairly close to being at equilibrium for the carbon dioxide content of the water and air (outgassing being the major contributor to pH rise) .

Are you finding your TA dropping? How are you chlorinating? Why is your CYA so low?

How is your TA jumping around? That isn't really possible unless you are influencing it somehow.

 

[kimkats]

Your pool has shown you it's "happy place". Listen to your pool and let it ride.

Kim

 

[pooldv]

Agreed, TA at 60-70 is fine if PH is stable. TA only needs to be raised if PH is erratic.

 

[duraleigh]

The attempt to precisely define TA levels for all situations doesn't seem to work well. As Kim says, your pool is stable and happy.....leave it alone.

CSI and the numbers we suggest are pretty solid indicators but the stability of your pool water is the best indicator of all.

Hi-jacking just a bit......Why is your CYA so low?

 

[gwegan]

Rain and overflow drops it some. Also my CYA tends to drop during the winter.

 

[tim5055]

As others have said, listen to your pool. My pool really like my TA in the 40 - 50 range. If I go above 60 I'm adding acid every day to keep the pH in check.

 

[Patrick_B]

As others have said, listen to your pool. My pool really like my TA in the 40 - 50 range. If I go above 60 I'm adding acid every day to keep the pH in check.

Ditto, and my high calcium not only makes me need it here, it allows it to work for me. Situations are not the same for all users.

 

[bdavis466]

As others have said, listen to your pool. My pool really like my TA in the 40 - 50 range. If I go above 60 I'm adding acid every day to keep the pH in check.

How are you able to maintain a TA in the 40's? I imagine you'd have to use borates for stability, but a TA of 40 with just about any other numbers makes the CSI VERY negative.

 

[Divin Dave]

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

 

[tim5055]

How are you able to maintain a TA in the 40's? I imagine you'd have to use borates for stability, but a TA of 40 with just about any other numbers makes the CSI VERY negative.

No borates. With a dog and five cats that think it's a big water bowl I won;t take the chance.

I keep the pH at the upper end of the scale and my CSI is around -.3 As the water warms up the CSI moves closer to "0"