Another Vacation Question

[Marlahoutex]

We are going on vacation for 5 days and I am wondering how low I should drop my pH. I have a steadying rise of about .3 per day for my new plaster pool. And by dropping my pH, of course my TA will fall. Here are my numbers:

FC 5.5
CC 0
CH 375
TA 70
CYA 70
pH. 7.8 (I will add acid to drop it down to at least 7.5)

I have a SWCG (it's on 30% and seems to keep the FC at 5.5-6) so I'm not worried about FC. My pool only gets a few hours of full sun and has a light bather load. IF I can drop the pH down without any problems, then that would be great, but otherwise I'll have my son come over and do the pH test and add MA.

(I think I already know the answer, but just want to get the experts opinions!).

 

[Mr Bruce]

If your son can test and add, that would be the best bet. You could also put some pucks in a floater, they are very acidic and your CYA could bump to 80 anyway.

 

[JayBauman]

Last year, I went out of town for a 9 days shortly after my new pool was commissioned. Before I left, I dumped in 3 gallons of bleach to raise my chlorine level, so I was able to turn my SWG down (i.e. reduce 1 source of pH rise) for the duration of my trip. I dropped pH down to 7.0 right before departure. (I realize that this is rather low, but I was seeing a 0.2 to 0.3 pH increase per day, so it wasn't going to stay low for long. Lastly, I filled up a tablet floater with trichlor pucks. This served to give me some residual chlorine as well as help counteract the pH rise due to my new plaster.

Upon return, my pH was just slightly lower than 8.0, so it seems like my plan worked....although I'm not sure how much longer it would have served!

Good luck.

 

[Marlahoutex]

Thanks y'all! I think I will lower my pH to 7.0, but have my son come over and test and add MA when needed. My CYA seems to have "settled" at 70 and has been that way for about a month now. I know my FC is a bit high for the CYA according to the chart, but we have a LOT of Crepe Myrtle debris finding its way into the pool. Should I raise the CYA or lower the FC (after vacation, of course)?

 

[Flbeachluvr]

We are going on vacation for 5 days and I am wondering how low I should drop my pH. I have a steadying rise of about .3 per day for my new plaster pool.

I am in the same boat, will be leaving for a week's vacation and have a four month old pool that I have to add MA to every other day or so. My plan is to raise my SWG % a bit just in case and drop the pH to about 7 on Saturday morning. On Wednesday our dog walker will add a pre-measured amount of MA to the pool to get it back down to around 7. Hopefully everything will be okay when we get back!