A pH miracle

[palmspriings]

After draining and acid washing for extensive calcium staining back in February, I have battled rapid hikes in pH...about .2-.3 per day. Asked for advice everywhere I could and nothing really seemed to help. Fast forward-my last acid addition was 6 days ago. I took it down to 7 to also lower my TA (which is now roughly 65) and for the past 3 days, it has remained at 7.5!

Q-is it possible that the residual calcium from the acid wash continued dissolving, thus increasing my pH? Does anyone have experience with this? I'm praying the problem doesn't return!

Thanks for the feedback!

 

[JasonLion]

When you acid wash, whatever is going to happen happens right away. There wouldn't be any delayed effects.

There isn't quite enough information here to be sure, but most likely you were experiencing PH drift because your TA was too high.

 

[palmspriings]

I was afraid I was going to hear that Jason.
My TA has been in this range since March, so its not that either. I haven't changed anything. Maybe the TA of my auto-fill suddenly decreased, think I'll check that.

 

[chem geek]

Maybe there has been a change in wind? There's less carbon dioxide outgassing on a still air day.

 

[palmspriings]

No miracle, it was just the more rapid dissolving of the trichloro pucks as the water continued to warm under the desert sun. Back to the drawing board

 

[chem geek]

Thanks for letting us know. I didn't know you were using Trichlor. That's like adding both chlorine and acid (and CYA, of course) so would help keep the pH lower. And yes, if it were to dissolve faster then that is like adding more acid to the pool. The lower TA which you write is now 65 ppm would also help counter the rate of rise from carbon dioxide outgassing.

 

[palmspriings]

Yes, I had been using it for months, but even with it the pH still rises. Guess it was just freak conditions that accelerated the pace of dissolve. My CYA also jumped and this is why I took it out, but two weeks later I have learned pucks are the only way to survive in the desert if one is not available to do daily additions.

 

[linen]

but two weeks later I have learned pucks are the only way to survive in the desert if one is not available to do daily additions.

This is not true. SWGs and liquid chlorine pumps are very viable options used by many arid/hot climate pool owners. Pucks on the other had will be a recipe for drain/refills.

 

[palmspriings]

True enough Linen, however the CH requires frequent partial drains anyway. I would love to go salt, maybe down the road