High TA and Low pH. How to fix?

[JamesR]

Friends AGP, vinyl liner, 12K gallon
CYA = 50
FC = 5
CC = 0
CH = 300
Ph = 7.2
TA = 120

No way to aerate that I can see. Your basic one wall return and one skimmer. How would someone reduce that TA down to 80 without dropping the pH even lower? is 120 bad for an AGP?

 

[jblizzle]

There is no real reason to worry about TA. Just keep the pH in the 7s and the TA should balance itself out.

Some people make PVC fountains to spray the return water into the air to aerate to raise the pH. If there was a desire to do so.

No reason to worry about the higher TA unless you are bored and looking for something to do.

 

[JamesR]

No, not bored,...got plenty of stuff to do. Just trying to help her get everything balanced and squared away. I will let her know to just leave it be and continue her weekly testing. She borrowed my TF-100 kit for a while for pool opening/start-up. Liked it so much she bought her own, with speed stir also.
Thanks,
Jim

 

[chem geek]

Is she using Trichlor? Usually you don't get a low pH with a higher TA unless some acidic chemical is being added such as Trichlor or non-chlorine shock (MPS) or even Dichlor. The TA usually drops over time, but someone may be adding baking soda to keep it up.

Maybe she doesn't have much aeration or had a pool cover on the pool which prevented outgassing.

 

[JamesR]

She did put on a solar cover the other day, would that have done it?
As far as the Trichlor or Dichlor, I will ask her if she has added any shock to it. I told her to use 8.25% bleach as her choice of chlorine for maintenance and shock if needed.

 

[chem geek]

Yes a pool cover could lock in the pH in spite of the higher TA so perhaps that was it and the pH might have been low from some product she used.

 

[Richard320]

The simplest way to get a lot of aeration is to throw some kids in the pool with some paddleboards.