Alkalinity Moved FAST

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Also by the laundry detergent, and raises pH without affecting alkalinity, is washing soda (aka soda ash) which is sodium carbonate.
[EDIT] Also by the laundry detergent is washing soda (aka soda ash) which is sodium carbonate. Like borax, soda ash raises pH with little effect on TA. [End EDIT] Down here, 'pH Up' is made from this stuff, but it sounds different for yours

Over on the baking aisle is the baking soda which raises TA. Baking soda's chemical name is sodium hydrogen carbonate, and some common names include sodium bicarbonate, bicarb soda, bicarbonate of soda, or just plain 'bicarb'. Baking soda is also sold at a premium for pools as 'buffer' or 'alkalinity up'
 
needsajet said:
Also by the laundry detergent, and raises pH without affecting alkalinity, is washing soda (aka soda ash) which is sodium carbonate. Down here, 'pH Up' is made from this stuff, but it sounds different for yours
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That's not true. Washing soda will affect TA, twice as much for the same weight as baking soda. It just affects pH as well, whereas baking soda has little effect on pH (unless you jack your TA up and turn on your jets).

Using poolmath, for a 300 gallon hot tub, it says to add 0.3 oz washing soda to take pH from 7.2 to 7.5 assuming no borates. This will add 7 ppm of TA.
 
Thanks, jseyfert, I stand corrected and should have said it differently, e.g. "...while only slightly affecting alkalinity, like borax".

The goal was to raise pH from 7.2 to 7.4 in 200 gals of water
Borax - 0.36 oz, TA will rise 3.5 ppm
Soda ash - 0.18 oz, TA will rise 6.4 ppm

vs. baking soda, where 0.4 oz will raise TA by 10 ppm, but only raise pH by 0.02
 
Curious here, but can't he just throw in some baking soda and aerate to raise his pH as well? I know it won't change his pH right away but a higher TA means a higher settled pH, right?

So I guess what I'm saying is if you add x amount of washing soda to raise the pH by 0.2, and that raises the TA by 6 ppm, will that ultimately change pH any more than adding enough baking soda to raise the TA by 6 ppm and aerating?

Seems to me one will "get it now" and one will "get it later" but overall the effect is the same. Is this true, or not quite?

Maybe I should be asking this down in the deep end.
 
Very good point. That's how I understand it as well. I mentioned soda ash to let the OP know the options for doing what was asked. I agree with you that he should get the pH wanted by having TA a bit higher, but probably not very much higher because it's so close already. There was a good suggestion earlier of just topping up which would probably also do it, but I'm not sure how often top-up is needed or how quickly the OP wants to hit their ideal pH.
 
It has been 24 hours and the pH came up from 7.2 to 7.4 and the TA back up to 80ppm. My water level is low and I do need to add water, my tap pH is 7.2 and I am unsure on my tap TA right now. I brought a sample to the store to compare to my K2006 and they got slightly different readings, but my calcium is high @ 440ppm so I may have to look at a water change soon.


EDIT: DISREGARD ABOVE POST - I mixed up my pool thread with this spa thread because I had a pH of 7.2 in both bodies of water.
 
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