Hello,
We just got our 16,000 gallon pool replastered with medium gray. They wanted an acid startup. 5.5 gallons of acid have been in for about 72 hours. Most of the dust is gone, but there is still some kicked up when brushing 2-3 times per day.
The pH and TA are currently off-scale low when testing with my Taylor test kit, as expected.
When the dust is gone and it's time to neutralize the acid, I can't figure out how much washing soda to use. The pool calculator says that adding 320oz (20lb) of washing soda will raise pH by 4.34 and TA by 141. Obviously I don't want the TA to go up that much, but that may not be enough of a pH rise to get into the 7s so I can turn on the equipment. Do the formulas in the calculator break down at such extremes, or are these numbers accurate?
Is there a better way to tell how much soda ash to use in this situation? The equipment is not on yet, so adding a little at a time and mixing by hand doesn't seem too practical.
As an aside, I have the heater disconnected from the plumbing right now. It's only pump and filter in the circuit. In this case, is it okay to run the equipment prior to the pH getting into the 7s without damaging anything?
Thanks.
We just got our 16,000 gallon pool replastered with medium gray. They wanted an acid startup. 5.5 gallons of acid have been in for about 72 hours. Most of the dust is gone, but there is still some kicked up when brushing 2-3 times per day.
The pH and TA are currently off-scale low when testing with my Taylor test kit, as expected.
When the dust is gone and it's time to neutralize the acid, I can't figure out how much washing soda to use. The pool calculator says that adding 320oz (20lb) of washing soda will raise pH by 4.34 and TA by 141. Obviously I don't want the TA to go up that much, but that may not be enough of a pH rise to get into the 7s so I can turn on the equipment. Do the formulas in the calculator break down at such extremes, or are these numbers accurate?
Is there a better way to tell how much soda ash to use in this situation? The equipment is not on yet, so adding a little at a time and mixing by hand doesn't seem too practical.
As an aside, I have the heater disconnected from the plumbing right now. It's only pump and filter in the circuit. In this case, is it okay to run the equipment prior to the pH getting into the 7s without damaging anything?
Thanks.