Cloudiness and pH

[ktdave]

Can a pH of 7.9 cause the pool water to all of a sudden become cloudy (slightly)? I accidently forgot to put acid in the pool last night and today the water is dull and a bit cloudy for the first time ever. This is the highest pH I have recorded.

My numbers from TF100:
FC 3.5
CC 0
pH 7.9 (between 7.8-8.0)
TA 110
CH 240
CYA 80
SALT 3500
TEMP 84

I added 34 oz of 31.45% muratic.
After a couple of hours the pH is about 7.4.
I intend to try and lower my PH to 7.0-7.2 to lower TA a bit.

 

[divnkd101]

Ahhhhh, the things you are never told in pool school. These are some of the characteristics you will learn as you become more familiar with your pool. You will know when attention is needed. You too, will be suprised at how much it sparkles once you get the acid back in there. 8)

 

[waste]

Just to 'clarify' things With your water #s the pH is too high to keep the calcium in suspension. The calcium in your water will try to collect (~) in the water if the alk and pH aren't kept in check. The real chem genusescould tell you exactly what's going on.

It's not a big problem, as it is, but you want to watch the ballance.

Good luck Dave!!

 

[chem geek]

With the numbers that you posted, the calcite saturation index is +0.07 (the traditional Langelier saturation index is +0.22) which is only very slightly over-saturated. However, with my own non-SWG pool, I did notice a small clarity difference between being slightly over-saturated and somewhat under-saturated. With an SWG pool, it is best to run a little under-saturated anyway to prevent calcium buildup on the plates (even though they auto-reverse polarity to help remove such scale). I would suggest a target of around -0.2 for the calcite saturation index which with your numbers would be a pH of around 7.6 though anything in that area should be fine.

There are so many cumulative errors in measurements that you really just need to find the sweet spot of good clarity for your pool and not have the saturation index way out of whack -- in other words, you don't need to focus on having the index be exact.

Richard

 

[ktdave]

Thanks guys!

It appears that this has been a "getting to know your pool" moment. As Divnkd suggested, when I got the ph to around 7.3 and then eventually to 7.1, the water magically was sparkling clear again.

Thanks for all the usefull info!