Baking soda for both TA and PH?

[avidone1]

The pool section at my local wal mart sells large bags of arm and hammer baking soda that have been packaged for pool use, not baking.
The package gives general guidelines for adjusting both ph and TA.
Is there any downside to using baking soda instead of borax for ph?

 

[Butterfly]

Baking soda will raise TA a LOT, and pH only a little.

You can see the 'effects of adding chemicals' near the bottom of the PoolCalculator.

 

[duraleigh]

I really hope we can get back to the original way it was intended to adjust pH and TA......

Raise pH - Borax
Lower pH - muriatic acid

Raise TA - baking soda
lower TA - aeration and acid (see Pool School)

While this is certainly not the ONLY way these 2 parameters can be controlled, it is the easiest to remember and allows you to adjust them independently.