pH Swing/Acid use

[alright_alright_alright]

Hello. This has been ongoing since pool install...My plaster/pebble pool is a year old now and I am still having to add acid about every other day due to high pH. Is this normal for anyone else? Here are my test results:

FC- 5
pH-8.2 down to 7.4 with almost a half gallon of muriatic acid this morning
TA- 60
CH- 375(may be lower if "violet" counts as turning blue)
CYA- 20( I added 2 lbs of stabilizer 2 weeks ago and still getting low result)

Just for fun, I tested with the strips just to compare and my pH ALWAYS reads the same, 7.2. Can't believe they can sell such worthless ****!
I live in central Texas where the water is very hard and the pool was filled with well water, fyi.

This may be a dumb question but what happens to all of that acid? It cannot be good to have to add so much so often right? What am I doing wrong?

Thanks for any advice you can give.
Andrea

 

[Patrick_B]

Not that unusual. You can try keeping it closer to 7.6 and see if it levels out some there. What is your fill water TA?

 

[alright_alright_alright]

Just tested fill water and it was 290. I try to get it to 7.5-7.6 but it lasts for only a day. I have no idea how to get it to level out anywhere close to that. Very frustrating!

 

[jblizzle]

With fill water TA at 290 ... how did you get your pool TA down to 60?

Or did you accidentally test your tap water for CH?

 

[alright_alright_alright]

I have no idea! I tested for TA and it took 29 drops to change it to red. It is very possible I did something wrong though. Lol.

 

[jblizzle]

I would recheck the pool TA then as 60ppm is surprisingly low.

 

[alright_alright_alright]

Is TA not affected by the addition of acid? Because I have added a LOT of acid over the last year.

 

[mrcarcrazy]

Is TA not affected by the addition of acid? Because I have added a LOT of acid over the last year.

Does your spa spillover run as default? Acid + aeration lowers TA...(oversimplified).

I am having the same experience as you. I add approx 25oz MA every 2 days to keep my pH around 7.4. My fill water is also high like yours. (I don't remember the actual numbers on the fill water, but the pH is 8.0-8.2. My TA is 50.....if it drops any more I'll have to fix that.

 

[jblizzle]

Acid will lower the TA, but people with fill water that high rarely are able to get it that low in the pool

 

[alright_alright_alright]

Yes we have a spillover plus we have the slide and waterfall that we turn on when we are using the pool. And bubblers in the beach area.

 

[mrcarcrazy]

my theory is that's the cause. (It's what I blame @ my house).

 

[Patrick_B]

Fill water TA and Aeration. High Fill water TA and pH are just harder to deal with.

 

[alright_alright_alright]

Also, when I had my little walmart pool a couple of years ago (from same fill water) I only added acid once all summer. Of course I didn't have the good test kit. Ha. But the pool looked great.