Is Arm & Hammer Baking Soda the Same As Sodium Bicarbonate?

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dino1956

dino1956

0
Apr 23, 2013
145
Ok, I'm a Newb here! So please go easy on me! :) My Pool guy just retired & I am attempting to do my pool myself. Went to ACE Hardware to get Water Tested. Test recommended putting 20 LBS. of Sodium Bicarbonate in. I went to Dollar Store & bought 20 LBS. of Arm & Hammer Baking Soda, put it in pool. Ran Pump for one day. Went back to ACE & got retested & it now still says I need 17 Pounds of Sodium Bicarbonate. Asked ACE Salesperson why & he said the Arm & Hammer product is not pure & concentrated enough & he pointed to a 20 LB. Bag he sold for $23. & told me this is what you have to use. Am I wrong? Or is this exactly the same product? My PH is 8, It also advised I add 6 LBs. Muriatic Acid. Thanks in advance. I know for a fact my old Pool guy was slacking off on the Chemicals due to me having a 20' X 40' Pool & him wanting to save money & just get away with doing the bare minimum.
 
Re: Is Arm & Hammer Baking Soda the Same As Sodium Bicarbona

Same product.

Never seen MA reported as pounds :scratch:

Get yourself one of the recommended test kits and stop trusting the guy trying to sell you a $23 bag of "special" baking soda.
Likely their testing is just inaccurate ... as we see on this forum time and time again.
 
Re: Is Arm & Hammer Baking Soda the Same As Sodium Bicarbona

Welcome to tfp, dino1956 :wave:

As jbliz said, plain baking soda is sodium bicarbonate. What is your TA value? I would guess you do not need to add any baking soda.

For ph, Muriatic is a good choice for lowering it, but you need to know your current TA and pool volume to help calculate the liquid volume.
 
Re: Is Arm & Hammer Baking Soda the Same As Sodium Bicarbona

What is your chlorine source? If it is bleach/liquid chlorine then do not add anymore baking soda, our recommendations are 70-90 ppm for TA. If you are using trichlor (or dichlor) as your primary chlorine source (which we generally don't recommend), then our recommended range is 100-120 ppm for TA, so even then I would not add any more baking soda to your pool.

These number came from this pool school article. There is a lot of good reading in the pool school: http://www.troublefreepool.com/pool-school/
 
Re: Is Arm & Hammer Baking Soda the Same As Sodium Bicarbona

Total Chlorine is 6.5
Free Chlorine is 6.5
I know these are High. My Pool Guy just Shocked It last Wednesday.

PH 8
Total Alkalinity 116
Total Hardness 253

I use Shock in a Bag Chlorine & 3 Tabs for my Chlorinator.
It's a Large Pool
20' X 40' & Spa 6ft. Deep End 3 Ft. Shallow End
I figure it's about 27,000 Gallons.
 
Re: Is Arm & Hammer Baking Soda the Same As Sodium Bicarbona

Yeah, I probably would not add any baking soda, and just leave it where it is at. You might want to look at this pool school article: http://www.troublefreepool.com/pool-school/types_chlorine_pool

What shape is your pool (rec, oval, etc.) and what surface (vinyl, plaster, fiberglass)?

dino1956 said:
Total Chlorine is 6.5
Free Chlorine is 6.5
I know these are High. My Pool Guy just Shocked It last Wednesday.
Click to expand...
Do you know what your cyanuric acid (cya) level is? Depending on that, your 6.5 may not be too high.
 
Re: Is Arm & Hammer Baking Soda the Same As Sodium Bicarbona

That CYA is way too high, but also totally not a trustworthy number as it came for a store testing ... read the 100s of cases on the forum where the CYA specifically was WAY off from pool store testing.

For a CYA of 122, the MINIMUM you should ever let your FC get is 9 ppm to ensure no algae starting. BTW, once the FC > 10ppm (which you will have to be as 9 is the minimum) the pH test is no longer valid. Not to mention that the pool store FC test most likely does not actually go above 5 ppm, maybe 10ppm.

New reiteration:
Get a test kit
Read Pool School
Likely replace a lot of water to lower CYA
 

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Re: Is Arm & Hammer Baking Soda the Same As Sodium Bicarbona

Judging from what I just read on link you posted, Liquid Chlorine is best. but I'm guessing it' more expensive. So is my Chlorinator doing more harm than good?
 
Re: Is Arm & Hammer Baking Soda the Same As Sodium Bicarbona

Actually if you look at the $/ppm of FC ... liquid chlorine (or just plain old bleach) usually ends up being the cheapest option.

Using the pucks (trichlor) or the granular chlorine (dichlor) adds FC and CYA. The FC is consumed the CYA builts up to the point you are at ... way too high and then you have to replace water. So, yeah at this point the chlorinator is doing more harm than good.
 
Re: Is Arm & Hammer Baking Soda the Same As Sodium Bicarbona

Jason,
Thank you for all the help. I appreciate it!
I will get a Test Kit soon & test it.
But I would bet that my Pool guy kept the Chlorine high, because I have had problems with Green pool Algae in the not so distant past.
I almost always have Algae growing by Stairs or Ladders. Should I throw some Algeacide 60 in?
And I no longer trust the ACE Hardware store test, because it's asking for the same amount of Sodium Bicarbonate after I already put 20 LBs in. I always thought the chlorinator was a good thing, I guess, in my case no.
 
Re: Is Arm & Hammer Baking Soda the Same As Sodium Bicarbona

There is no need for algaecide if you maintain the proper FC levels. Also, Algaecide will not remove algae it only attempts to help prevent it.

Some people with short swim seasons and a lot of water replacement (either rain of for closing in the winter) can get buy with tablets. But, you have to understand the FC/CYA relationship and keep an eye on it and be sure the CYA does not get too high. If you keep the CYA normally low enough, then the chlorinator can be useful when going on vacations so that you maintain FC in the pool.
 
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