I want to add the borax too

[Laker4ever]

I want to add the borax too so my question is this:
I had a new plaster done 3 months ago, and as a result I'm adding MA (31%) at a rate of 1.5-2 Gal/week.
I also have SWG so i know my need to add acid is a combination of the SWG and new plaster.
But from my understanding, after adding the 50ppm borax (with proper PH balancing) or adding boric acid, will it be more difficult for me to lower my PH? will the 50ppm borax actually cause me to add more acid in order to reduce the 7.8 levels i get down to 7.4-7.5 ?
There is probably some trade-off between the benefit of reduced acid demand of less algae, etc vs. the need to put more acid to "fight" the new buffering effect....
OR is it that the "buffering" as i read it here works "stronger" as helper in fighting against PH increases and much less vs. PH drops.
To rephrase it, i mean, will it be "easier" to reduce PH than to increase PH with same amount of MA after addition of borax.

btw: isn't boric acid the powder that people are putting in house attics to repel termites?

Bless you all here for the great help!

 

[JasonLion]

Yes, boric acid is often used against termites.

Boric acid causes there to be less of a PH shift for a given amount of acid or base added to the pool. So it takes more acid to get from a PH of 7.8 down to 7.2, but it also took more base to get up to 7.8 in the first place. In the end, you end up using the same total amount of acid you would have added without borates. You add more at one time, but less often, so it cancels out.

Fresh plaster can require a lot of acid.

 

[Laker4ever]

Thanks JasonLion.
So would you recommend that since the plaster is 3 months old, to better wait for next season as there would be less acid demand?
Or should i add the borax right now?

 

[JasonLion]

Adding borates is just fine as long as the plaster is more than 30 days old. It won't reduce the amount of acid you need to use, but it will help you add acid less often.