Well, so much for my perfect pH

[JeepGirl]

Yeah well, so much for perfect pH! My pool is not digging the 90+ degree temps and hot sun all day as much as we are, lol. I had to put in stabilizer a week ago Thursday, because it was at 0, and now after testing today, it appears that it is back down to about maybe 5, possibly 0 as I can still barely see the black dot after pouring all the liquid in.
And my pH is up to 7.8 when it was holding steady at 7.5, ugh.
FC 1
CC .5
TC 1.5
TA 210 - 220

Pool calc suggests putting in 27 oz of MA, 126 oz of bleach, and 2lbs 13 oz of stabilizer again. I'm going out to put in the MA now, then will wait 30 minutes to add the bleach while waiting to see what advice I get from everyone. Pool is super clear, sparkly, 80+ degrees and very nice, very clean.
TIA,

 

[JasonLion]

Re: Suggested chemical levels

You didn't post a CYA number. What was your CYA test result? Your CYA level shouldn't have gone down since last time.

Bringing the PH down and raising FC both sound like a great idea. You should try not to let FC ever get that low.

 

[JeepGirl]

Re: Suggested chemical levels

I did post the CYA, but in the text.
"I had to put in stabilizer a week ago Thursday, because it was at 0, and now after testing today, it appears that it is back down to about maybe 5, possibly 0 as I can still barely see the black dot after pouring all the liquid in."

 

[Butterfly]

The pH rise is to be expected especially w/that TA #.

Pls check the % cyanuric acid on your stabilizer bottle.
There have been some reports in the past that there is some 50% cyanuric acid out there.

 

[JeepGirl]

Thanks Butterfly. It has 96% cyanuric acid 4% other. I asked back a week ago when I was buying it if that was ok and consensus was yes. I will check my CYA level again today with the other tests to see if that was right. I put in 27 oz of MA and about 128 oz of bleach in last evening around supper time. I bought another bottle of stabilizer, just in case. Just can't believe that if it was 0 a week ago, and I put in enough to bring it up to @30, how it could all be gone now....

 

[dmanb2b]

Just can't believe that if it was 0 a week ago, and I put in enough to bring it up to @30, how it could all be gone now....

How many pounds of CYA did you add a week ago?

 

[JeepGirl]

On 6/2/11 I added 3 lbs 6 oz in a sock to the skimmer, per pool calc recommendations.

 

[Speedo]

This reminds me, I need to do a full test again soon. I think I might push it off until Saturday though since we have storms coming through the next few days.

I'll bet my CYA is still good since it was at 90-100 to begin the season! Could have been those tabs I used for a week or so and some cal hypo. (and all of last season) - Glad that's in the past!!

I checked this morning and the temp is at 85, with no cover and the heater is off! It sure is hot!!

 

[JeepGirl]

I re-checked everything today, and here are my stats:
FC 2.5 I added more bleach to get me back up to about 4.5 to 5
CC .5
TC 3.0
pH 7.6
CYA 20 If I looked real hard, I could very faintly still see the black dot... so guessing here, and today I added the rest of a bottle of stabilizer (96% cyanuric acid, 4% other HTC) in a sock, about 19 oz dry in the lid.
TA @215 can't seem to get this to go down to a more reasonable number, what would be a reasonable number for me?? Should I be concerned and try to get my TA down more while trying to keep my pH in range??

 

[Richard320]

TA will slowly come down every time you adjust pH. If you look at the effects of adding chemicals on Pool Calculator, it will show you. For a pool your size, adding 8 oz of 31.45% muriatic acid will lower pH by 0.14 and lower TA by 2.3. So you can see that it will take a lot of acid to push it down from 215 to, say, 80.

You can force it down by lowering pH to 7.0 then aerating and repeating or just be patient. I'd vote for patience unless CSI is dangerously high.

 

[JeepGirl]

Thanks Richard. I'm having a hard time understanding the impact of the high TA as to my pH. Does it mean that "because" I have a higher TA I will constantly be adding MA several times a week or once a week to maintain a good pH? Before the hot sun and high 90 - 95 degree days, I was maintaining a 7.5 pH, and just had to add chlorine to maintain my FC. But "since" the hot days came, my pH is now fluctuating, and it seemed that my CYA had all but disappeared! Prolly mucked up the test... lol

 

[Richard320]

Thanks Richard. I'm having a hard time understanding the impact of the high TA as to my pH. Does it mean that "because" I have a higher TA I will constantly be adding MA several times a week or once a week to maintain a good pH?

Yes.

Before the hot sun and high 90 - 95 degree days, I was maintaining a 7.5 pH, and just had to add chlorine to maintain my FC. But "since" the hot days came, my pH is now fluctuating, and it seemed that my CYA had all but disappeared! Prolly mucked up the test... lol

Temperature affects pH; so does aeration. If you've swimming in it, you're aerating it.