6.8 pH and site says go down?

[tookiesmom07]

I am new to pooling and have no idea about chemicals or quantities. So I used the aquachem 6 way test strip and plugged the results into their website. But what I don't understand is if my pH is low, why in the world would I go down? I have looked around the site here and would figure my pH needs to be say 7.2 or so. So if it's 6.8 or less according to the strip results wouldn't I go up? And we were planning on using baking soda to do so. Any advice here please!

 

[Leebo]

What do you to sanitize your pool?? Do you use pucks and granulated shock??

 

[Bama Rambler]

If it's 6.8 you certainly need to raise it.
What numbers did you enter on the aquachem site?

 

[JasonLion]

Baking soda is not an appropriate way to raise PH. Baking soda raises TA a great deal, and PH very little.

Another thing to think on, many tests report any PH below 6.8 as 6.8, so your actual PH might be lower.

 

[tookiesmom07]

All I have to go on is going by the color selection on the back of the bottle and the results of my test strip color. I think we should go up also since that made no sense to me. We will get some pH up instead of using baking soda. And we'll be doing tabs since that's what we bought instead of granular. Should we do those first and see if that affects the pH before going up with it?

 

[JasonLion]

Adjusting the PH is a top priority.

Using tablets rapidly lowers the PH. Your PH is already too low. You should never allow PH to go below 7.2. PH below 7.0 can damage the pool, especially if the PH stays low for a long time or gets way below 7.2 for a shorter time.

If you post your full set of test strip results we can give you more specific advice.

I also highly recommend that you get a top quality test kit. Reliable test results will save you lots of time and chemical usage, and save you a great deal of money in the long run.

 

[tookiesmom07]

I will try to post more specific results tomorrow due to it being late and bedtime here. It would be the weekend before we could get something for the problem due to working hours. Hopefully it can wait til then. And hopefully we can get it adjusted to 7.2 or so and I can get a good test kit ordered. But that wouldn't arrive til next week maybe so we will have to work with what we have for now.

 

[Bama Rambler]

Another thing that would help is to know the size pool and equipment you have and your general location.