Just Started Performing My Own Testing, Question About Elevated TA

[robhdrider]

I am a long time pool owner (since 1990) but just started doing my own testing this week. One of my friends owned a local pool store which I utilized for testing, they used a drop/color based system which provided consistent results so I utilized them for many years. They sold the pool store and the new owners switched to a test strip based system, immediately I started to see issues with the results and couldn't trust the numbers so I decided to purchase a TF-100 and perform my own testing.

I received my test kit on Thursday and tested that day, I then performed another round of testing today, other than CYA, which I am raising, the results were very consistent between the two rounds of testing.

Today's results:
FC 4
CC 0
PH 7.2 (Did not plan to adjust as I have a SWG and know this will rise on its own)
CH 275
TA 120
CYA 45 (started out at <20, added 8 lbs of CYA and waiting a week to see where it lands)
Temp 82
Salt 3400
The water is clear and I'm not having any issues holding chlorine (supplementing with 12.5% liquid until the CYA gets high enough for the SWG to keep up).

My questions are on the TA, do I need to go after it now to get to the recommended 60-80 for a SWG equipped pool or just let it come down with the required acid additions over the summer? What is the potential issue if I leave it at the present value?

Thanks!

 

[JasonLion]

The question on TA is: does the PH go up annoyingly quickly? If so you should actively lower TA. If you don't mind the PH increases you can just lower PH to 7.2 every time it gets to 7.8 until the TA comes down.

 

[robhdrider]

Thanks for the quick reply JasonLion!

I don't have a feel for the rate of PH rise yet this year as the pool has only been open for 10 days with the SWG cut back and sanitizing with bleach as I had a higher chlorine demand than the SWG could keep up with. Last year I would add acid about once a week which I don't have any issue with, if it is similar again this year I will wait for the normal acid additions to bring the TA down.