Am I fighting a pH battle that I cannot win?

[ScottinTX]

Like others, my pH is always on a quick rise. I lower it with MA to 7.5/7.6, within 24 hours or less it's back up to the 7.8/8.0 range. I'm fighting my fill water...., it's softened so I'm not adding any more CH but my fill water TA is 300 with a pH of 7.8. My pool is trying to reach equilibrium with my fill water and I keep trying to force it down with MA, I add water and the pool "rebalances". In this Texas heat with full sun on my pool, I lose at least 100 gallons per day from evaporation. I have no aeration features, all my returns are barely breaking the surface. My TA is hovering around 70-80, CH is steady at 350.
How do you keep pool water decently balanced (CSI) when dealing with fill water that has such high TA and relatively high pH?

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Take your pH down to 7.2 using muriatic acid. This in turn will bring the TA down a bit also each time. Use PoolMath to guide you in quantities.

Lower Total Alkalinity

A lower Total Alkalinity level can help a pool owner stabalize their pH increase. We'll explain how to lower TA with a little help from muriatic acid.

www.troublefreepool.com

Monitor your CSI using PoolMath.

Do you have any other source, perhaps an outside non-softened source for water? That might help.

Maddie

 

[ScottinTX]

I do monitor CSI using PoolMath (how else would I?), it changes as expected right along with my rising pH. Unfortunately for me, pH and TA are the biggest drivers of CSI for this time of year with water temp steady at 88-90. I can fill with unsoftened water (TA 300, pH 7.8, CH 150) but then my CH would start climbing resulting in CSI going more positive.
Will try lowering pH down to 7.2 to work my TA down between top-offs.

 

[duraleigh]

Wow! That fill water is impressive! Not good.....but impressive.

So I would advise you to fill with that softened water and bring the TA down through the acid/aeration process. It'll take some time but I think you can get your water manageable if you get your TA down to about 70.........I think your acid additions should decrease.

Evaporation is not really relevant to your issue. Not sure why you mentioned it.

Filling with that softened water certainly is relevant and it will be your savior. Don't be a slave to csi. Get your TA down around 70, keep your pH in the mid 7's and I think your test results will show good trends.

 

[ScottinTX]

I mentioned the evaporation because for all that water I'm losing due to it I'm replacing with the 300 TA water (500+ gallons/week). I'll work on getting my TA down. Also gonna check the alkalinity with the water utility tomorrow.

 

[duraleigh]

I mentioned the evaporation because for all that water I'm losing due to it I'm replacing with the 300 TA water (500+ gallons/week)

I do not understand this sentence.

 

[ScottinTX]

Let’s try this...., my pool loses 500 gallons in 1 week due to evaporation alone. I add 500 gallons of water to bring it back up to the proper level. The water I’m adding has TA=300.

 

[duraleigh]

Now I understand.

Back to your original post for a minute. What effects are you seeing that your high TA is detrimental. Don't chase a csi number just because it says to. Are you getting any abnormal calcium deposits? What does your pool water and pool surfaces look like?

 

[jblizzle]

Systemic high CSI is what will lead to scaling. It will not appear overnight. I think you are doing what you can to keep the water balanced. The soft top of water will help and try to drive that TA down a bit. Would not be good to ignore the CSI balance and months down the road have scaling.