I've been through pool school and used the pool calculator and cannot seem to make any progress raising either pH or TA to acceptable levels. I have had no issues keeping Chlorine in check this season using the trichlor pucks in the skimmer baskets and shocking with liquid bleach on a weekly basis.
Having read the forum a few times, I'm thinking I need to stop using the pucks and switch entirely to liquid, as the pucks will keep pH down.
Last night I added 15 lbs of sodium bi-carbonate and still tonight (24 hours later) my pH is not registering on the test kit low value of 6.8 nor is TA testing showing any "blue" tinge to the water to actually validate TA accurately.
I have two test kits (both OTO for the chlorine) and the results are identical for the pH test which makes me believe that's correct. I only have one test kit to validate TA and it's one year old. When testing TA, even though I didn't start with a blue tinge water, I added 10-20 drops to "see" if I could get it to go a bit yellow and it still, at least to my eye was clear...
I would say the pH reading is getting 'closer' to 6.8 on the scale, but cannot be certain since I don't have any values lower to compare.
My question is, do I keep adding baking soda to this pool or am I doing something entirely wrong here?
Yes, it appears as if I have to invest in a better test kit, but I figure 2 different kits giving me the identical signals is saying I have something wrong.
TA - cannot validate accurately, extremely low.
FC - 1.0
CC - 1.5
TC - (adding FC and CC) 2.5? (OTO test)
CH - not tested.
CYA - not tested.
Appreciate the help here while I get a better test kit and some more confidence in what I'm doing.
Nobody is complaining of red eyes, burning eyes, and the water has been relatively clear until just recently now appearing a tad cloudy, but didn't want to shock again until I know what to finish doing with pH.
Thanks!
dfmcapecod
Having read the forum a few times, I'm thinking I need to stop using the pucks and switch entirely to liquid, as the pucks will keep pH down.
Last night I added 15 lbs of sodium bi-carbonate and still tonight (24 hours later) my pH is not registering on the test kit low value of 6.8 nor is TA testing showing any "blue" tinge to the water to actually validate TA accurately.
I have two test kits (both OTO for the chlorine) and the results are identical for the pH test which makes me believe that's correct. I only have one test kit to validate TA and it's one year old. When testing TA, even though I didn't start with a blue tinge water, I added 10-20 drops to "see" if I could get it to go a bit yellow and it still, at least to my eye was clear...
I would say the pH reading is getting 'closer' to 6.8 on the scale, but cannot be certain since I don't have any values lower to compare.
My question is, do I keep adding baking soda to this pool or am I doing something entirely wrong here?
Yes, it appears as if I have to invest in a better test kit, but I figure 2 different kits giving me the identical signals is saying I have something wrong.
TA - cannot validate accurately, extremely low.
FC - 1.0
CC - 1.5
TC - (adding FC and CC) 2.5? (OTO test)
CH - not tested.
CYA - not tested.
Appreciate the help here while I get a better test kit and some more confidence in what I'm doing.
Nobody is complaining of red eyes, burning eyes, and the water has been relatively clear until just recently now appearing a tad cloudy, but didn't want to shock again until I know what to finish doing with pH.
Thanks!
dfmcapecod