Ideal Levels & pH Always High

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wjthomas42

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Mar 23, 2016
27
Houston, TX
Ideal Levels & pH Always High

I have been maintaining my pool myself for 2 months. I test the FC, CC and pH 2-3 times per week and other tests once every 2-3 weeks.

Sept 12th test Results
FC 1
CC 0
pH 8
TA 60
CYA 65
CH 240

I added bleach and muriatic acid based on pool math

1) The pH regularly returns a 8 then I add the muriatic acid (31.45%) based on the pool math and then a 3-4 days later it is back to 8. In the 2 months I have been maintaining the pool it has been at 8 almost all the time and was 7 once.
2) The pool math shows a range of target for TA, CYA and CH. What should I target?
3) My 2.5 year old daughter said her eyes were stinging in the pool today and has never said that before. Any insights as to why?

Gallons per minute flow 55-60

- - - Updated - - -

The TA level used to be 110 and then drifted down to 60. I'm trying to figure out where to keep/target it based on the drifting up pH.
 
Have you put your readings into the PoolMath calculator to see where your CSI is at? You didn't mention what you lower your PH to. It is usually recommended to lower it to 7.2 if it rises quickly. If you have a water feature or your spa has a spillover, it can cause PH to rise if you run it a lot.

Also, if your FC is routinely dropping to 1, you might have algae. You would need to bump up your FC and do an OCLT, it might not be sand or grout on the steps.
 
A few things in your description that caught my eye as well:
- Please include your pool (gallons) size in your signature. I was going to check Poolmath for you but have no idea to the size.
- Definitely increase the FC right away. With a CYA of almost 70, your FC should never be below 5 and ideally more around 8 to prevent algae.
- Your TA is continuously dropping because of the constant use of acid to maintain your pH. At some point you may need to add some baking soda. Is your pool new? New plaster will cause pH to rise quickly. So will constant aeration. Does your spa spill-over into the pool? If you have any such sources of aeration, you'll want to reduce them to help.
- A non-SWG plaster pool CH range starts at 250, so you're right there. With some more info about your pool we might be able to give you some more thoughts on the appearance of sand on the floor.
 
1) CSI is 0.12
2) Pool volume is 15,500 gallons and hot tub 500gallons with overflow to the pool (I also added to my signature)
3) I usually target lowering the pH to 7.5 if it is 8.
4) The FC doesn't usually get to 1. There was no signs of algae. Last night I added 1 gallon of 10% bleach to increase to about 7 ppm of FC
5) Pool is about 20 years old

Good tip on reducing aeration. Thanks
 
I was messing around with my TA earlier this season and got it down to 40ish. At that level I had a hard time getting the pH up beyond 7.5 with all my aeration going 24/7. My fill water is high TA so I had no problem getting it back up. With TA between 50 and 60 my pH slowly rises from 7.5 to 7.8 over many days.

If the reduction in aeration doesn't slow your pH rise, maybe taking the TA down another 10 will help.
 
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