I am having some trouble getting my pH levels to stay down. My water chemistry is a bit out of order at the moment, all the numbers I am after are steadily coming in line as I add chemicals, but pH simply won't stay down. I am using a TF-100 to test my water samples.
My FC has been high, but is now falling. I believe this is because the titanium electrode in my SWG has gone bad (new one on order) and may have been going overdrive on chlorine production before its death. I never actually added any chlorine to the pool manually and our city water has high chlorine to begin with so that could be the reason also. TA in the water is also VERY high, but it is also falling slowly. CYA was low (despite stupid test strips - so glad I bought the TF-100) but I have that on the rise as well.
Here are readings from three different days:
5/28:
FC - 8.0
CC - 0.5
TC - 8.5
CH - 450
TA - 240
CYA - 22
pH - >8.2 (The pinkish hue of the water was more vibrant than the top square on the tester.)
At this point I added some stabilizer, about 3.5 lbs, and about a quart of muriatic acid.
5/29:
FC - 7.0
CC - <0.5 (Pinkish hue of the water was barely noticable.)
TC - <7.5
CH - 450
TA - 210
CYA - 45
pH - >8.2
I didn't add any extra CYA at this point since the stuff allegedly takes some time to register on a test. I did however add two more quarts of muriatic to the pool.
5/31:
FC - 5.0
CC - 0.0
TC - 5.0
CH - 400
TA - 180
CYA - 48
pH - >8.2
I don't really understand why the muriatic acid is not getting the pH level down. When I add some I wait about an hour or so and test it and the level is about 7.5, but 24 hours later is has skyrocketed again. I understand it isn't going to move much because of my TA level being so high. But now since I have that coming down I would suspect I should see some kind of small change.
I'm going to check my CYA levels over the next couple of days to see if it rises any more before adding more stabilizer. Water is currently crystal clear. I've been vacuuming anything that settles to the bottom and skimming off anything on top of the water with my net.
Any ideas to help get my pH down - and keep it down?
My FC has been high, but is now falling. I believe this is because the titanium electrode in my SWG has gone bad (new one on order) and may have been going overdrive on chlorine production before its death. I never actually added any chlorine to the pool manually and our city water has high chlorine to begin with so that could be the reason also. TA in the water is also VERY high, but it is also falling slowly. CYA was low (despite stupid test strips - so glad I bought the TF-100) but I have that on the rise as well.
Here are readings from three different days:
5/28:
FC - 8.0
CC - 0.5
TC - 8.5
CH - 450
TA - 240
CYA - 22
pH - >8.2 (The pinkish hue of the water was more vibrant than the top square on the tester.)
At this point I added some stabilizer, about 3.5 lbs, and about a quart of muriatic acid.
5/29:
FC - 7.0
CC - <0.5 (Pinkish hue of the water was barely noticable.)
TC - <7.5
CH - 450
TA - 210
CYA - 45
pH - >8.2
I didn't add any extra CYA at this point since the stuff allegedly takes some time to register on a test. I did however add two more quarts of muriatic to the pool.
5/31:
FC - 5.0
CC - 0.0
TC - 5.0
CH - 400
TA - 180
CYA - 48
pH - >8.2
I don't really understand why the muriatic acid is not getting the pH level down. When I add some I wait about an hour or so and test it and the level is about 7.5, but 24 hours later is has skyrocketed again. I understand it isn't going to move much because of my TA level being so high. But now since I have that coming down I would suspect I should see some kind of small change.
I'm going to check my CYA levels over the next couple of days to see if it rises any more before adding more stabilizer. Water is currently crystal clear. I've been vacuuming anything that settles to the bottom and skimming off anything on top of the water with my net.
Any ideas to help get my pH down - and keep it down?