adding borax

[ric]

my numbers are
ta-50
fc-4
cc-0
ph7.2
cya-0
temp 85

1. I have a low ta and 0 cya and have bin adding some pucks to bring cya up but i will probably stop soon because it goes very slow. I wonted to tell this because i am trying to get the boron levels up also.
with the low ta i have bin adding about 400 grams of borax a day. question is am I going about this all wrong or should I get the ta up to 70 and use acid to bring th ph down?

2. I also having trouble finding boron test strips. Does anybody have a suggestion?

Thanks very much
have a great swim
Ric W

 

[chem geek]

Using Trichlor pucks is highly acidic so you'll have to add some sort of base no matter what -- either Borax or pH Up. If you use Borax, then your TA will remain relatively low. If you use pH Up (which is sodium carbonate), then this will raise (or maintain) your pH AND will raise your TA more. It's up to you. Depends on what you want to do, but unless you have a serious pH rise problem (when not using pucks) you probably want to get your TA higher so I suggest using sodium carbonate aka pH Up aka Washing Soda (NOT Baking Soda).

If you KNOW that you want a higher TA and want to get there faster so that you don't have to add base as frequently while using the Trichlor, then you can add Baking Soda (Alkalinity Up) to raise the TA quickly.

 

[Guest]

I order my borate test strips here.

 

[ric]

Thanks chem geek I think I will continue with the low ta untill I get another 10 pounds of borax in the pool. Then I will stop adding the pucks ( I have 3 left) and then add some washing soda to bring up both. I will also have to add cond. to raise the cya. Thanks so much

Thanks for the link waterbear just ordered them.

Have a great day