More grocery store chemicals :)

[TonyM]

Put this in the BBB forum because of the nature of my question - please move if it belongs in a better location

OK, so I do my full test tonight (as I do every Sunday), and find that my pH is getting a little high (I have a hard time reading the color chart, but it is definitely at the high end). Before I get to my question, here are my results;

FC = 3
CC = .25
TC = 3.25
TA = 120
CH = 230
pH = 8.2
CYA = 34
Temp ~89

The water is crystal-clear and beautiful

We are in a huge drought here in southern Tennessee, so I have been adding municipal water via a fountain quite often (which might be causing my pH to rise).

So, I refer to the calculator to see the amount of acid to add and it made me think of something....

One of the areas I dabble in is the printing industry, and printing inks and chemicals are affected greatly by pH. Water-based printing inks typically run in the 8.5 - 9.4 pH range, so the chemical used to clean the tooling needs to be higher to be effective. I remember one guy in the business (this has been a few years ago, but it stuck in my mind) said that the chemical used was so high in pH that it was unsafe to dispose of until the pH was lowered. The method used for lowering the pH to the safe range?

Orange juice from the break area (~1% acid pH of ~3.5)

Adding a liter or so of minute maid OJ brought the cleaner into the safe range, and it could be disposed of in a non-hazardous manner.

So, to my question.....

Would Orange Juice be an effective (BBB-type) "chemical" that could be used to control pH?

*Bonus question: will pH of 8.2 cause any harm to swimmers (should I shut the pool down until I lower the pH)?
**Bonus question 2: As a new lover of the BBB method (never going back to the pool store..... ever), I hadn't thought if bleach could be affecting the pH. After Googling 'what is the pH of bleach', I see that it had a pH of ~12.6. Does this impact the pH level at all?

Thanks -

Tony

 

[linen]

*Bonus question: will pH of 8.2 cause any harm to swimmers (should I shut the pool down until I lower the pH)?

Get that ph down. I would not let it ever get above 7.8 and defiently not above 8.0. The test generally reads 8.2 for ph above that, so you do not know how high you are! Do it before swimmers are allowed in.

**Bonus question 2: As a new lover of the BBB method (never going back to the pool store..... ever), I hadn't thought if bleach could be affecting the pH. After Googling 'what is the pH of bleach', I see that it had a pH of ~12.6. Does this impact the pH level at all?

For practical purposes bleach is effectively ph neutral.

 

[anonapersona]

I think the sugar in orange juice would be a big problem in the pool.

pH of 8.2 is not nice to the eyes and skin, so fix that before you let swimmers into the pool.

pH of bleach does affect pH of pool but for very short time, we tend to disregard it.

 

[TonyM]

Get that ph down. I would not let it ever get above 7.8 and defiently not above 8.0. The test generally reads 8.2 for ph above that, so you do not know how high you are! Do it before swimmers are allowed in.

That's what I thought, and will be dropping it in the morning. It may be closer to 7.8 - I really have trouble with the color-matching but always assume on the extreme side to be safe. Can I expect the wife and kids to start growing extra limbs from swimming in high pH water?

 

[TonyM]

pH of 8.2 is not nice to the eyes and skin, so fix that before you let swimmers into the pool.

Yea, I will be dropping it in the morning for sure. Planning a party for the 4th, so there probably will not be anyone in it until then anyway. I don't think that any harm will be done from it being a little high (sea water is between 7.5 - 8.4), but I like to keep it 'right on the money' if possible.

I do think that i will quit using the fountain so much to keep it from climbing back up towards 8.

 

[jblizzle]

If the pH test looks mostly pink, you can assume it is high. I find the orange is clearly different than the pink.

Posted with Tapatalk ... sorry if I sound short ... hate typing on phone

 

[TonyM]

If the pH test looks mostly pink, you can assume it is high. I find the orange is clearly different than the pink.

So, going forward it is better to err on the low side versus the high side? I can definitely do better with differentiation of the orange tint versus the shades of pink.

 

[jblizzle]

Well you do not want to really get below 7.2 either. Too high or too low can irritate the eyes and either damage equipment or cause scaling.

Posted with Tapatalk ... sorry if I sound short ... hate typing on phone

 

[TonyM]

Oh yea - the goal is to keep it on the money, but I may shoot for the bottom end tomorrow, since it seems that I tend to climb due to either my water supply or method of getting it in there. Will be easier for me to notice the rise more than anything as the shade goes to the pink side.

 

[TonyM]

I think the sugar in orange juice would be a big problem in the pool.

I hadn't thought about the sugar. Did some checking and there are a few brands that have 'no added sugar' (Tropicana, for instance) - but there still is some natural sugars present it seems.

 

[JasonLion]

The sugar will be a problem (OJ is naturally high in sugar), and the assorted organics will also be a problem. You will use up a fair bit of chlorine "cleaning up" the orange juice.

 

[TonyM]

Yea... figured that it would be a stretch but it made for some fun thoughts. I can imagine the look on my wife's face as I added the OJ while she was in the pool...

With the +105 degree heat we have been having, I could have thrown in some other fruits and vegetables and told her I was preparing a stew.