BBB question

[Thesil]

Ok I am new to the BBB method but something does not make sense to me. My alkalinity reading was 33. The pool calculator says to add 629 ounces of baking soda to bring it up to 100. I don't know how much 629 ounces of Arm and hammer would cost, but I know that 10 pounds of total alkalinity at the pool store is $18. What am i missing?
Thanks

 

[JasonLion]

I'm not sure I understand exactly what your question is.

Baking soda (grocery store) and TA Increaser (pool store) are exactly the same chemical, except that baking soda is purer and significantly less expensive.

I'm not sure if you really want to raise your TA level to 100. If you are using trichlor tablets you should raise it to 120, while if you are using a SWG or bleach or liquid chlorine or cal-hypo you should only raise TA to 70.

 

[dattia]

How big is your pool?

 

[JohnN]

What are you using to test? Most reliable test kits only read in increments of 10 ppm.

 

[Thesil]

My pool is 30,000 gal. I tested the water at pool store. I understand that the 2 chemicals are the same, but 629 ounces of baking soda must be way more expensive than the $ 18 I spent on total alkalinity powder. It was 33.9 ppm

 

[Butterfly]

What are you using to test? Most reliable test kits only read in increments of 10 ppm.

I'm w/John and am suspect of that test result. I suggest you not add anything until you can have it confirmed.

 

[Butterfly]

Ok I am new to the BBB method but something does not make sense to me. My alkalinity reading was 33. The pool calculator says to add 629 ounces of baking soda to bring it up to 100. I don't know how much 629 ounces of Arm and hammer would cost, but I know that 10 pounds of total alkalinity at the pool store is $18. What am i missing?
Thanks

Well, baking soda, if purchased by the one pound box is somewhere around 39 to 50 cents. So, 10 pounds would be about $4 or $5. Of course, most folks buy the bulk baking soda at the wally worlds and other stores. They now keep it in the pool sections.

 

[dattia]

When I plugged your pool gallons into the Pool Calculator, I got 472oz by weight of baking soda, since you were starting at 33. That would be 29.5 pounds. I can get a 1 pound box of no name baking soda for about 50 cents, so that would be about $15. If you are trying to compare price, will that 10 pound bucket of TA Powder bring you up to the number you want or will you need more?

 

[chem geek]

BioGuard Balance Pak 100 is $18.99/12 = $1.58 per pound
GLB Alkalinity Up is $21.64/15 = $1.44 per pound
ProTeam Alkalinity Up is $36.62/25 = $1.46 per pound
OMNI Total Alkalinity Increaser is $16.86/12 = $1.41 per pound
Pool Elements Alkalinity Increaser is $35.60/25 = $1.42 per pound
Robarb Alkalinity Up is $34.86/25 = $1.39 per pound

and all of the above have 100% Sodium Bicarbonate as their ingredient. Compare this to Arm & Hammer Baking Soda at Walmart (in store) for $0.72 per pound for the 1 pound box, but less than that for bulk sizes.

 

[Thesil]

Ok dattia. Thanks. I think I put 40,000 gals instead of 30 in the calculator. That makes more sense

 

[ping]

You are missing the fact that you would need 20 more pounds of the alkalinity up, so you need to spend about $36 more at the pool store, or spend a fraction of that at the big box store. Like the others said it is the exact same chemical. See this link for more information about chemicals, pool-school/recommended_pool_chemicals.