pH, Alkalinity, Chlorine Increase & Decrease

[rjordan390]

I am new to pool maintenance with only a few weeks experience. I been searching the web on pool maintenance and have gotten a handle on what some chemicals will do to the water. I know that sodium bircarbonate will raise both the alkalinity and pH. Sodium tetraborate (20 mule team borax) will raise pH but not raise alkalinity as much as other chemicals. I know that muriactic acid will lower alkalinity along with pH. So that's as much it.
My pool is an Intex type of 2400 gallons and I am at the point where my water is clear with no algae on the bottom with the exception of some type of brown substance of which most was vacumned out. My tests using a Taylor K-0006 indicate I have a pH of 7.5, alkalinity of 110 ppm, free chlorine 4.5 ppm, Combined chlorine 0.25 and the Cya is 30 to 40 ppm.
So my questions are:
What other chemicals have an effect on the increase or decrease of pool parameters?
What I do not know is when adding chemicals to increase or decrease pH, alkalinity or chlorine as per my instruction book is how much it affects these other parameters?
For instance: My alkalinity originally tested at 140 ppm and I decided to lower it to 100 ppm and the instruction table indicated I needed to dose 24 ounces of muriactic acid. The table was correct when I tested later. But it lowered my pH so low it was far below the scale on my test equipment. Now this is what I am talking about. I had to add over a lb. of 20 mule team borax to bring the pH up to 7.5 to 7.6.
Your imput is appreciated.

 

[jblizzle]

Welcome

You will find a lot of great info in Pool School (button at upper right of the page).

Specifically Recommended Pool Chemicals discusses what chemicals are used to affect what parameters.

I re-read your post and suggest you also read: ABC's of Pool Water Chemistry

TA is not something that generally needs to be worried about ... focus on maintain adequate FC and keeping the pH in range. You do not want to adjust something without knowing how it affects others (or you get the very low pH, for example).

You can use poolcalculator.com at the bottom to see what levels adding certain chemicals to the pool will affect. Set you pool size at the top.

 

[march2012]

I am new to pool maintenance with only a few weeks experience. I been searching the web on pool maintenance and have gotten a handle on what some chemicals will do to the water. I know that sodium bircarbonate will raise both the alkalinity and pH. Sodium tetraborate (20 mule team borax) will raise pH but not raise alkalinity as much as other chemicals. I know that muriactic acid will lower alkalinity along with pH. So that's as much it.
My pool is an Intex type of 2400 gallons and I am at the point where my water is clear with no algae on the bottom with the exception of some type of brown substance of which most was vacumned out. My tests using a Taylor K-0006 indicate I have a pH of 7.5, alkalinity of 110 ppm, free chlorine 4.5 ppm, Combined chlorine 0.25 and the Cya is 30 to 40 ppm.
So my questions are:
What other chemicals have an effect on the increase or decrease of pool parameters?
What I do not know is when adding chemicals to increase or decrease pH, alkalinity or chlorine as per my instruction book is how much it affects these other parameters?
For instance: My alkalinity originally tested at 140 ppm and I decided to lower it to 100 ppm and the instruction table indicated I needed to dose 24 ounces of muriactic acid. The table was correct when I tested later. But it lowered my pH so low it was far below the scale on my test equipment. Now this is what I am talking about. I had to add over a lb. of 20 mule team borax to bring the pH up to 7.5 to 7.6.
Your imput is appreciated.

There is an article on lowering your TA on the site. Generally you should do it slowly over time. Aerate your pool, this will make your pH go up. Add MA to lower your ph and TA. repeat.

As the other poster mentioned, pH, FC and CYA are the main things you need to be concerned about

low pH can damage equipment, low FC will allow algae to grow, high CYA will allow algae to grow if your FC isnt high enough to compensate.

 

[rjordan390]

Thanks,
I made a printout of these articles and some others.