Hello everyone,
So this is my first time posting in here. I've been a lurker the past two months since I've taken over managing and learning everything I can about maintaining my dad's in ground swimming pool. So since I've only been working on the pool since May, I consider myself a newbie at pool maintenance and I thought I knew what I was doing. Well... I done messed up! I need some advice on what I can do to remedy the situation here. Here's the problem:
So our plaster pool with the overflow raised spa(one in my profile picture) has the tendency to have high pH(7.8-8.0) every week or two despite having Alkalinity of 90 consistently(I have a new Taylor K2006 kit I bought back in June). I would always bring pH down to 7.2 as a result because I knew it was always going to go up to 8.0 after 10 days. Anyway, so I chalked it up to just the tribulations of having a plaster pool and having an overflow from the spa. So I decided to look into buffers that would keep the pH levels more consistent over time. Another issue with this pool was the tendency to develop dark yellowish algae fairly easily over by the stairs in that dead water space. I would brush 2-3 times a week and I still would get some just starting to attach on the stairs. That's when I did a lot of research for about 6 weeks on borates, watching youtube videos, reading posts on here, etc. and decided that my pool was a good candidate for borates. Plus I wanted to see for myself a sparkling effect to improve the appearance as an added bonus.
Fast-forward to yesterday evening. I spend the afternoon all excitedly raiding Walmart and Target for borax and grab 13 boxes of the stuff(the measurement would bring my borate level for a 20,000 pool between the 30-50ppm range according to pool calculator)
Here's where I messed up, instead of using MA to offset the high pH of the borax like all the instructional videos and requests suggested, I decided, due to not wanting to make an extra trip, to just grab the Chlorox brand "pH down" dry acid containers I saw in the Walmart pool chem section. I didn't think anything of it because I figured it would do the same exact thing as MA, which is bring down the pH. I purchase 3 containers(5lbs each container) of this pH down powder after estimating that was how much I needed to offset the borax.
So I get home, I test the water one last time and here were my results before the borates were put in at 6:00PM
FC: 6.0
CC: 0
pH: 7.2
AT: 90
I was like, sweet! It's right where I need it to be and now I can add the borates! So I added half of everything first, so 1.5 containers of the dry acid into the water, brushed it up, mixed it up, waited about 7-10 minutes then started adding 6 boxes of borax to the pool, mixing it with my pole, brushing it all around. I waited about 30 minutes and at around 8:00PM, I added the remaining 1.5 containers of dry acid and 7 boxes of borax and brushed and mixed it in the pool for about 30 minutes.
Then I pat myself on the back for a job well done, and leave the equipment running(research online indicated I leave equipment running at least 48hrs)
The next morning, I wake up all excited to look at the pool, and WOWEEE, the pool definitely looked very sparkly and incredibly clear looking(not that it didn't before, it just didn't look "Super HD crystal clear" haha) I was all excited but also hoping that my pH was okay and that the dry acid stuff worked alright despite not using MA.
I go ahead and test everything with the Taylor K2006 kit. Here are my results as of 11:00AM today and I about absolutely died of horror:
FC: now 3.0(I thought... WTF? how did it decrease by half within 24 hours? Reminder that when I checked the day before, it was 6.0 or 6.4 on the 25ml test) I couldn't believe it so I did the test again doing the 25ml and it was again exactly 3.0.
CC: still 0
Now the scary part:
pH: 11.0 (whoaaaaaaaaaa, I started to sweat and feel very stressed out thinking WTF???)
TA: 140 now(me thinking, no no no no, this cannot be happening, this is crazy)
So anyway, that's the big problem now, 17 hours into the borate process and already pH and TA are too high, essentially making me feel like I totally ruined my pool and screwed up everything now.
Here are the rest of my results because I decided to just do Calcium and CYA since my test for those 4 weeks ago:
Calcium: 330
CYA(done at 12:00PM today, back to the sun, vile down to my waist) Test one: 80 Test two: 70 Test three: 70. Since this test always drives me nuts I ran it three times(using the same cloudy solution of course) and the first time I thought I didn't see the dot at 80 mark. Then I ran it two more times and I noticed that I did still faintly see the mark at 80 but it totally disappeared at 70.
So I'm going to say: CYA 80, too high but manageable .... Also just to note, I now only use liquid bleach(the 10 %pool grade stuff and took out the pucks that screwed up my CYA)
Okay fellas, so after I did the tests, I added 90oz of MA since I had one leftover jug left that wasn't quite full from last week because I was like ... I need to get this pH down, and I need it down, nooooowwwwwwwwwwww. Right? I know 90 oz isn't enough but I figured, I should just mix it in for starters, test the pH after an hour and see if there's any improvement.
So here's my newbie question: My dad usually buys and puts in the MA for me since I'm always nervous handling it.(I know, stupid right?) I just help calculate the amounts for him and he's pretty brave to just mix it in there for me. Therefore, he usually buys it for me and since he's gone all this week, I'm going to have to buy it myself.
So question, what stores sell MA? Could I just try Home Depot, ask around at Walmart?(I personally didn't see it there but maybe its hidden somewhere) or do I have to make a stop at Leslies Pool and ask for it over the counter there?
Second question, my dad said something like they(I think the pool store?) told him he needed to have a plastic crate thing to carry the MA in, or maybe he was talking about the liquid chlorine, otherwise they wouldn't sell it to him so I don't know where that crate is now(we have a blue crate that's blue and not orange out next to the pool so maybe he uses that?)
Third, how incredibly screwed am I at trying to get my pH down since borates are now introduced to my pool? Should I be stressed out today or can I successfully fix this?
Lastly, thank everyone for all your help! Hope someone can give me advice today. I'm going to do an updated test on pH now that the 90oz of MA has been in there for 2 hours. I'll provide an update of that soon.
So this is my first time posting in here. I've been a lurker the past two months since I've taken over managing and learning everything I can about maintaining my dad's in ground swimming pool. So since I've only been working on the pool since May, I consider myself a newbie at pool maintenance and I thought I knew what I was doing. Well... I done messed up! I need some advice on what I can do to remedy the situation here. Here's the problem:
So our plaster pool with the overflow raised spa(one in my profile picture) has the tendency to have high pH(7.8-8.0) every week or two despite having Alkalinity of 90 consistently(I have a new Taylor K2006 kit I bought back in June). I would always bring pH down to 7.2 as a result because I knew it was always going to go up to 8.0 after 10 days. Anyway, so I chalked it up to just the tribulations of having a plaster pool and having an overflow from the spa. So I decided to look into buffers that would keep the pH levels more consistent over time. Another issue with this pool was the tendency to develop dark yellowish algae fairly easily over by the stairs in that dead water space. I would brush 2-3 times a week and I still would get some just starting to attach on the stairs. That's when I did a lot of research for about 6 weeks on borates, watching youtube videos, reading posts on here, etc. and decided that my pool was a good candidate for borates. Plus I wanted to see for myself a sparkling effect to improve the appearance as an added bonus.
Fast-forward to yesterday evening. I spend the afternoon all excitedly raiding Walmart and Target for borax and grab 13 boxes of the stuff(the measurement would bring my borate level for a 20,000 pool between the 30-50ppm range according to pool calculator)
Here's where I messed up, instead of using MA to offset the high pH of the borax like all the instructional videos and requests suggested, I decided, due to not wanting to make an extra trip, to just grab the Chlorox brand "pH down" dry acid containers I saw in the Walmart pool chem section. I didn't think anything of it because I figured it would do the same exact thing as MA, which is bring down the pH. I purchase 3 containers(5lbs each container) of this pH down powder after estimating that was how much I needed to offset the borax.
So I get home, I test the water one last time and here were my results before the borates were put in at 6:00PM
FC: 6.0
CC: 0
pH: 7.2
AT: 90
I was like, sweet! It's right where I need it to be and now I can add the borates! So I added half of everything first, so 1.5 containers of the dry acid into the water, brushed it up, mixed it up, waited about 7-10 minutes then started adding 6 boxes of borax to the pool, mixing it with my pole, brushing it all around. I waited about 30 minutes and at around 8:00PM, I added the remaining 1.5 containers of dry acid and 7 boxes of borax and brushed and mixed it in the pool for about 30 minutes.
Then I pat myself on the back for a job well done, and leave the equipment running(research online indicated I leave equipment running at least 48hrs)
The next morning, I wake up all excited to look at the pool, and WOWEEE, the pool definitely looked very sparkly and incredibly clear looking(not that it didn't before, it just didn't look "Super HD crystal clear" haha) I was all excited but also hoping that my pH was okay and that the dry acid stuff worked alright despite not using MA.
I go ahead and test everything with the Taylor K2006 kit. Here are my results as of 11:00AM today and I about absolutely died of horror:
FC: now 3.0(I thought... WTF? how did it decrease by half within 24 hours? Reminder that when I checked the day before, it was 6.0 or 6.4 on the 25ml test) I couldn't believe it so I did the test again doing the 25ml and it was again exactly 3.0.
CC: still 0
Now the scary part:
pH: 11.0 (whoaaaaaaaaaa, I started to sweat and feel very stressed out thinking WTF???)
TA: 140 now(me thinking, no no no no, this cannot be happening, this is crazy)
So anyway, that's the big problem now, 17 hours into the borate process and already pH and TA are too high, essentially making me feel like I totally ruined my pool and screwed up everything now.
Here are the rest of my results because I decided to just do Calcium and CYA since my test for those 4 weeks ago:
Calcium: 330
CYA(done at 12:00PM today, back to the sun, vile down to my waist) Test one: 80 Test two: 70 Test three: 70. Since this test always drives me nuts I ran it three times(using the same cloudy solution of course) and the first time I thought I didn't see the dot at 80 mark. Then I ran it two more times and I noticed that I did still faintly see the mark at 80 but it totally disappeared at 70.
So I'm going to say: CYA 80, too high but manageable .... Also just to note, I now only use liquid bleach(the 10 %pool grade stuff and took out the pucks that screwed up my CYA)
Okay fellas, so after I did the tests, I added 90oz of MA since I had one leftover jug left that wasn't quite full from last week because I was like ... I need to get this pH down, and I need it down, nooooowwwwwwwwwwww. Right? I know 90 oz isn't enough but I figured, I should just mix it in for starters, test the pH after an hour and see if there's any improvement.
So here's my newbie question: My dad usually buys and puts in the MA for me since I'm always nervous handling it.(I know, stupid right?) I just help calculate the amounts for him and he's pretty brave to just mix it in there for me. Therefore, he usually buys it for me and since he's gone all this week, I'm going to have to buy it myself.
So question, what stores sell MA? Could I just try Home Depot, ask around at Walmart?(I personally didn't see it there but maybe its hidden somewhere) or do I have to make a stop at Leslies Pool and ask for it over the counter there?
Second question, my dad said something like they(I think the pool store?) told him he needed to have a plastic crate thing to carry the MA in, or maybe he was talking about the liquid chlorine, otherwise they wouldn't sell it to him so I don't know where that crate is now(we have a blue crate that's blue and not orange out next to the pool so maybe he uses that?)
Third, how incredibly screwed am I at trying to get my pH down since borates are now introduced to my pool? Should I be stressed out today or can I successfully fix this?
Lastly, thank everyone for all your help! Hope someone can give me advice today. I'm going to do an updated test on pH now that the 90oz of MA has been in there for 2 hours. I'll provide an update of that soon.
