New guy needs help please ! Addng water and ph levels

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Wingfan13

0
May 27, 2011
9
Austin Texas
I just bought a house with a saltwater pool. It is 15,000 gallons. I live in Texas and the water in the pool has been evaporating pretty quickly. About 10 days ago I added hose water to bring the level back up and my ph got all out of wack. It was high. I added 2 1/2 cups of acid, waited an hour and added 2 1/2 more. The next day I tested the ph and it didnt seem to change anything. I did the acid deman test and then did the calculation to figure out how much to add.

I waited a couple of days and did the process all over again. ph level didnt move. Since I started doing all this I have to add more hose water again. My questions are -
1. Is there some way to figure out how much acid to add when I need to add water so my ph doesnt get out of wack ?
2. Any idea why I couldnt get my ph down adding the acid ?

I really appreciate the help. We have been in the house for 3 weeks and I am completely clueless as to what I am doing. I am about to take a water sample to the pool supply store to see what they say but I am thinking they are going to try to sell me a bunch of stuff I dont need.

Thanks again in advance
 
How are you testing the water?
Depending on the other parameters, it may take a lot of acid to move the pH. Also, the reading may be higher than you think.

Post a full set of test results and how you got them.
pH
FC
CC
TA
CH
CYA

Tell us what type pool you have.
 
Bama Rambler said:
How are you testing the water?
Depending on the other parameters, it may take a lot of acid to move the pH. Also, the reading may be higher than you think.

Post a full set of test results and how you got them.
pH
FC
CC
TA
CH
CYA

Tell us what type pool you have.
Click to expand...

I have a salt water, 15000 gallon inground, plaster pool. I am using the cheap test kit that comes in the black box. Like this one

http://www.lesliespool.com/Home/Pool-Ch ... 18547.html

I will do the tests tomorrow to let the water I am adding and the acid from before settle.

Thanks for the help !
 
Not sure exactly where in Texas you are located. I am near Houston and my tap water has a TA of 340 which means that when I add water, the TA goes up some and then pH wants to go up. As the TA changes, the effect that you get from adding acid changes. So you really need to know the correct numbers.

I strongly suggest that you invest in the TF-100 test kit that most of us use. Get to know your numbers before you start adding much stuff to the pool. You can waste a lot of money and maybe even do a lot of damage pouring chemicals into your pool based on incorrect information.

Like you, I got a house with a pool and had no experience. I used the left over test strips until they ran out, then finally got the TF-100. Wish I'd done it sooner.

Is there any chance you overfilled the pool? If there was loss to an overflow line, you may have dilluted the salt content of the pool. That could affect things, but let's get some info from someone who knows SWG better than I before you do anything but check the salt reading.
 
anonapersona said:
Not sure exactly where in Texas you are located. I am near Houston and my tap water has a TA of 340 which means that when I add water, the TA goes up some and then pH wants to go up. As the TA changes, the effect that you get from adding acid changes. So you really need to know the correct numbers.

I strongly suggest that you invest in the TF-100 test kit that most of us use. Get to know your numbers before you start adding much stuff to the pool. You can waste a lot of money and maybe even do a lot of damage pouring chemicals into your pool based on incorrect information.

Like you, I got a house with a pool and had no experience. I used the left over test strips until they ran out, then finally got the TF-100. Wish I'd done it sooner.

Is there any chance you overfilled the pool? If there was loss to an overflow line, you may have dilluted the salt content of the pool. That could affect things, but let's get some info from someone who knows SWG better than I before you do anything but check the salt reading.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply. I am in Austin. I know I didn't overfill but my testing consists of nothing more than the cheap kit I bought. I have only tested ph and acid deman with my cheap kit. The pool is very new and everything is automated. I am going to go take pictures of things because I have no idea what to call everything. There is a box with controls that I can control from in the house. It shows me the ppm of salt, water temp, runs the cleaner on a timer, runs the pump etc.

Clearly from the awful description above I have just finally started researching all the equipment I have and how to use it.

The good news is that the water looks great. Running out now to take pictures.
 
Bama Rambler said:
How are you testing the water?
Depending on the other parameters, it may take a lot of acid to move the pH. Also, the reading may be higher than you think.

Post a full set of test results and how you got them.
pH
FC
CC
TA
CH
CYA

Tell us what type pool you have.
Click to expand...


Here is what I got using my cheap 5 way test kit and I plan on buying the one suggested.

pH 7.8
Acid demand was one drop
Chlorine is a little low at 1.0
My alkalinity was 80

Not sure if any of this helps using the cheap kit.

Thanks !
 

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Butterfly said:
Wingfan13 said:
The pool is very new and.....
Click to expand...

How 'new' is this plaster pool?
Click to expand...

Well, best guess is 3 to 4 years. I don't know for sure. The house was built in 2006 and the pool wasn't built with it. It was added later.

I should mention that all this testing of the water started because I noticed mineral deposits forming on the tile of the spa. I have a spa where the water rolls over the edge into the pool. I looked online and the only thing I found as to the reason for those deposits was a high pH so I started trying to bring it down with acid.
 
High pH isn't the reason for the deposits. It can contribute to the formation but it requires that something else (most likely calcium) be high for deposits to form. I'm sorry to keep harping on it but if you had a good test kit you could post the results so we could help diagnose the real problem.
 
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