I've been thinking about adding borates to my pool, now that my ammonia problems are behind me, but my TA is in the 180 ppm range right now (I did a partial drain and refill to help with the aforementioned ammonia problem and local water supply TA is >300 ppm). In the So-you-want-to-add-borates sticky, it says: 1. First, adjust your TA to your target value. (This is actually the hardest part of this whole procedure.) This should be around 70-80 ppm for SWGs.
Questions:
* Do I truly need to get the TA down to the 70-80 ppm level before adding borates? If so, why? What will be hurt?
* Or, can I use the borates to raise the pH and then add corresponding levels of acid and thereby have a net reduction in my TA?
As always, I appreciate the help.