Aqua Rite Start Up W/ TA of 360

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A

aeopav

0
Apr 16, 2008
35
Texas
I've just installed an Aqua Rite SWC generator on my pool. I'm on a fresh fill from well water that is high in CH & TA. 350 & 380 respectively. I filled last week and I have been adjusting over the past 5-6 days to get the balance right before I fire up the cell. Here is what I have done so far:

Fill: 4/08-4/10 Approx 36,000g from my well.
Test 1: 4/12
PH 6.8
TA 380
CH 350

Started circulating the water on Saturday 4/12 also. D.E. filter was cleaned & recharged.
Sunday 4/13 added 8lbs. of Cyanuric Acid stabilizer, 7lbs Dichlor. granular shock.

Test 2: 4/13 (About 6 hours after stabilizer add.)
Cl >10
PH 7.5
TA 360
CH 350
CA 55

Monday morning 4/14. Started aerating water and dumping acid. My pool should have good aeration with 3 waterfalls (18" sheer decents) and 2 spray heads that I've aimed at the water to entrain as much air as possible.

Test 3: 4/14 (Before acid)
CL >5
PH 7.2
TA 310
CH 350
CA 55

Test 4: 4/14 (About 2hrs after 2g of acid)
PH 6.8

Good. Went to work with the low PH water bubbling away.

Test 5: 4/14 ( Home from work 11:30p)
CL >5
PH 7.5
TA 280
CH 350
CA 50

Let it run overnight

Test 6: 4/15
CL>5
PH 7.5
TA 280
CH 350
CA 50

Dumped 2g acid.

Test 7: 4/15 (2 hours after acid.)
PH 6.8

Went to work and let it continue the aeration.

Test 8: 4/15 (Home from work 11:30p)
CL >5
PH 7.2
TA 260
CH 350
CA 50

Tested again this morning snd guess what?

Test 9: 4/16
CL>5
PH 7.2
TA 260
CH 350
CA 50

I've just dumped 2g more acid & checked.

Test 10: 4/16 (Of course I waited)
PH 6.8

Am I doing things right? I feel as though I am. This is the first time I have tried the low PH/aeration method of lowering TA. I'm finding out that the key is patience! This does not work overnight. At least not for me. I'm very interested in hearing from others who are more familiar with this. Do these readings sound right? I'm not really doubting my testing accuracy, I'm just wondering if, for a pool this size, do the ammounts of chemicals added seem right? I'd just like a little reassurance before I continue to dump gallons of acid, that I'm not doing something stupid without knowing it.

If anyone gets to the end of this post and has actually read through it all and replies, GOD BLESS YOU ! You are a meticulous person and obviously dedicated to advancing peoples knowledge of pool chemistry.
 
You have an excellent grasp of the process. A large pool and your "world record" T/A makes yours a VERY large task but you're doing extremely well. All those numbers look in the ballpark to me.

One note, It is pretty much accepted that this is the ONLY way to permanantly lower T/A.
 
I've gotta tell you guys, if this works, I'm going to go on a crusade to spread the word. Last year I battled scaling and algea like you can't imagine. A lot of work and poor water quality for all the effort. I'm determined to get it right this year! Hopefully this TA will continue to drop and I can enjoy a clean, clear pool this summer.

Another question.

It has been a cool spring so far by N. Texas standards. My water temp is 62*F-64*F right now. Does this process work quicker when temps. rise?
 
TA Now 210-220

:-D Good Morning :-D

I've continued the aeration and PH adjustments over the last 24 hrs. and here are the results:

Test 11: 4/17 11:00a
CL 5
PH 7.5
TA 210
CA 45

I'm noticing a very consistant drop in PH when the 2gal. of acid are added, followed by a consistant TA drop over 24hrs., followed by a consistant PH rise. This seems almost too good to be true. One other observation. I'm adding the acid in the morning before I go to work @ 11:00a, lowering PH to 6.8-7.0. When I test 12 hours later after retuning from work @11.00p, I've got the TA drop I'm looking for (seems to be fairly repeatable at 40ppm average), with the PH returning to 7.2 or so. I let it go over night like that. The next morning, when I do my full series of tests, PH has returned to7.5 but TA has not dropped any further. In fact, TA will usually come up with PH overnight (last nights TA & PH were 200 & 7.2). What I think this demonstrates is that to get the TA drop, PH must be below 7.2. Sound right?
 
Mark,

There's quite a few folks on here that understand this process better than me but I think your assumption is correct. They'll chime in soon to confirm or add more info.

I posted to let you know I am so impressed that you've gained such a good grasp of the process and are performing it in a very organized manner.....nice work! :lol:
 
Thanks

Dave,

Thanks for the compliment. I really can't help it. The organization and such. Dare I say anal? My wife gets on me all the time for being too exacting about things. I'm just that way naturally and my profession helps hone it even further. I'm an avionics technician, working on large transport jets. I.E. Boeing 777's.

Mark
 
Jason,

You're absolutely right. I just read my post from this morning. The way I have reported this makes it sound as if the aeration time is dropping the TA. Not so! That is my fault. After adding the acid each morning, I'm usually in a rush to get to work. I'm rather quickly checking PH only and then rushing out the door. When I return in the evening and do a full set of tests, then report my findings, I'm lagging by 12 hours on reporting the TA drop.

Thanks for pointing this out. I'm new to this and I'd hate to be creating the wrong impression on just how this works.

Mark
 
Jason,

I'm curious. Does water temp. have any effect on this process? It's still cold here. My water temp. is 62*F. Got a heavy rain last night. The water in my pool did just fine. Not a lot of change due to the rain.

Test 12: 4/18
CL 5
PH 7.4
TA 180

I've quit testing on the CYA and CH for now as they were steady at 50 and 350 over the course of the first 10 tests. I'm thinking I'll eventually have to add a little more CYA, but for now the chlorine shock I added last Sun. is still there in a big way. I've been reporting a CL of 5. I'm sure it is actually higher than that, as my test is not the DPD which could give me an accurate test over 5. I'll probably be ordering one of the kits soon.

Well, I'm off to dump 2 more gallons of acid. That will make 10 gallons so far. I'ts still working and I'm almost there.

1 more question. Would now be a good time to start adding the salt? Or does that not really matter?

Thanks for the help and encouragement.

Mark
 

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Added The Salt

Hi Folks,

I've been busy over the weekend. I finished wiring the AquaRite control box, added the salt & continued lowering TA. Friday night I had a TA of 150, but PH had not climbed back up to where I felt saft adding more acid. I used Saturday to start adding the salt. I've dumped in 12 40Lb. bags and let it circulate for 24 hours. My first check of the salt level using Aquachek test strips shows my salt level to be at 3370. Way too high for the size of my pool vs. the pounds of salt added so far. I can understand some variance, but this much baffles me. I have a 20x40 Grecian style pool with a deep end of 8.5 ft.. They dug the shallow end pretty deep also at 4ft. I've calculated the volume using the formula: Length x width x average depth x 7.5 = Total Gallons. That's where I come up with the 36,000 gallons. If that was say 10,000 gallons too high, I'd still not have enough salt in the pool yet, according to all the tables I'm reading.Per the AquaRite instructions: Starting with 0ppm salt I need 960lbs. If my estimates are off by 10,000g, I would still need 690lbs. of salt for a 3200ppm level. I've added 480lbs and I'm at 3370! I'm wondering if these strips are way off.

By the way, I put in 2g more acid Sun. morning, have continued to aerate, and my TA at last test Sun afternoon is 110!
 
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