Total Alkalinity 107 and Adjusted Alkalinity 66 - Do I need to raise?

[JoeMX82]

I am new to pool ownership and this forum but I have spent a tremendous amount of time educating myself and testing the water, etc. so although this is my first post I have read a great deal on these forums, thanks for that! When I got the house the current owners had been gone for 6 weeks and the PH and alkalinity levels were pretty low but I digress. Over the past month I have got everything in balance, thanks largely to this forum! I have recently switched to liquid chlorine as my CYA figures are at 135 and I do not wish to drain the pool at this time. Pool water looks great and test results are below. My question now is do I need to raise alkalinity since my adjusted figure is a bit low due to the high CYA figure? I know Alkalinity helps stabilize the PH level but my question is does total alkalinity stabilize PH or just the adjusted figure, i.e. 107 or 66? The pool store is telling me to raise my alkalinity but I am a bit concerned this could get me into PH lock if I go too high on the total alkalinity. I have not had any wild swings in PH or any signs of something a miss? I am having to lower my PH .1 -.2 a week right now but I understand that is fairly common. I am in the Houston TX area where temps are over a 100 right now. Any help is greatly appreciated!

Temp = 85
SI = 0.3
TDS = 900
Total Chlorine = 4.1
Free Chlorine = 4.1
PH = 7.8
Total Alkalinity = 107
Adjusted = 66
CH = 287

Pool is ~25K Gallons pebble tech built in 2014 w/o SWG.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Hi Joe, Welcome to TFP...

What are you using to make your measurements? Does not look like one of the recommended test kits, so that makes it harder to give you advise. But...

With a TA of 107 and a pH of 7.8 (Assuming those are accurate values) you really should not be raising your TA. High TA tends to drive pH up and you are already at the upper limit.

I suggest that you decide if you want to keep your pool using the Pool Store methods, or the TFP methods. Mixing them does not work well at all.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[Vickery]

Welcome to the TFP Forum!
A bit of advice: Pool $tore advice = BIG BUCK$. TFP methods take a little longer to stabilize your pool correctly, but result in sparkling clear water and embarrassingly easy maintenance. My 2 cents.....just saying....

 

[JoeMX82]

I am using the LaMotte ColorQ 2056 test kit. I have just been going to the pool store once a week to verify test results. Honestly I have only been following the advice I have found on this forum and not the pool store. The only chemicals I am adding to my pool are bleach and the PH minus as I am not wanting to mess with MA. My main question is what should I be focusing on for Alkalinity, total or adjusted? Happy to focus on total but just need to know what is important....

 

[duraleigh]

Adjusted Total Alkalinity is not pertinent to your testing.

I seem to remember it is only useful if you are calculating LSI and we NEVER use LSI as a parameter that we need.

Who gave you the advice to use Adjusted TA? It is incorrect.

You didn't ask but the LaMotte ColorQ is marginal for accurate testing. It particularly seems troublesome when testing CYA (which you don't post) and CH.

Stay out of the pool store.