Will battling high pH naturally lower TA over time or do you HAVE to drop pH/aerate?

[avc8130]

So realistically speaking, will repeatedly battling high pH lower TA over time or does one have to set out deliberately to lower TA?

TA of my fill water appears to be ridiculously high and my pH climbs ~.6 daily. For my 20k gallon pool that is amounting to ~1 gallon of MA daily with my TA ~400!

If I just keep at bringing the pH down, will the TA come down and stabilize the pool on its own?

OR

Do I have to set aside a day and babysit the pool doing the drop pH and aerate technique?

Will either way use more/less MA total?

ac

 

[Divin Dave]

Hi avc,
Normally we would say let the TA drop as you battle the pH. However in your case, with it being 400, I would probably recommend to battle it out over a weeknd and get it down to a more manageable range.

If your fill is really that high and topping off the pool say, weekly, it will be a long battle bringing down along with pH.

I wouldn't know if one way or other would use more or less TA.

 

[avc8130]

Hi avc,
Normally we would say let the TA drop as you battle the pH. However in your case, with it being 400, I would probably recommend to battle it out over a weeknd and get it down to a more manageable range.

If your fill is really that high and topping off the pool say, weekly, it will be a long battle bringing down along with pH.

I wouldn't know if one way or other would use more or less TA.

My fill water was a different source than my "top-off" water will be. My fill water came from a pool filling company as we are on a well and there is no way it could keep up with the demand as they back-filled around the shell.

I have an empty jug from distilled water, I think I should fill it with water from my well and run the tests and see how bad this is going to be going forward.

ac

 

[Donldson]

It will take the same amount of MA to bring down the TA whether you do it in a day or a month, so I say you don't have to go out of your way to increase aeration. If you point the return so it breaks the surface then you will probably be able to add MA 2-3 times a day and it will drop relatively quickly. I feel ya, my fill TA is insanely high too and I rarely start a season with TA below 200.

 

[avc8130]

It will take the same amount of MA to bring down the TA whether you do it in a day or a month, so I say you don't have to go out of your way to increase aeration. If you point the return so it breaks the surface then you will probably be able to add MA 2-3 times a day and it will drop relatively quickly. I feel ya, my fill TA is insanely high too and I rarely start a season with TA below 200.

I basically gave up on the TA test when I had exceeded 40 (!!!) drops. I figured getting a reading of 400 was insane as I'd never seen one reported that high before so I did the test again. Again I gave up at 40 drops and just declared it "stupid high".

My pH was 8.2 (or higher) the first day so I figured I'd throw a gallon of MA at it and see what happened. pH was 7.5 next test. That got us swimming the first day. Tested pH again the second day: 8.0. Again too high to swim so I threw another gallon of MA at it...7.2 and we were swimming again.

I figure I'll keep checking the pH daily and adding MA until next weekend. I'll test TA on Friday evening and if it's still crazy high maybe I'll declare war on Saturday or Sunday. Can I swim while I wage war?

ac

 

[Donldson]

I forget what the official TFP recommendation is, but I say give it about 15 minutes after adding acid before swimming. Getting in the pool and splashing around aerates the water so swimming is a big help to fighting the battle. During the week if you can check more than once a day it will help speed it along a bit. pH rises faster the lower it is so the more you can bring it down to 7.2 the more it will rise and the faster you will add acid.

If you want a more accurate reading try a 10 ml sample and each drop will be 25 ppm. Also, if this is a new kit make sure you wipe the tip of the r-0009 between drops to prevent static from altering the drop size and messing with the result.