Hello all,
Just this season we converted to SWCG from TriChlor tabs (thank goodness). Our CYA was way too high at the end of last season so I drained it and had new water brought in so I started from a blank slate in order to get the water balanced.
My question is, does adding CaCl raise pH and TA? I know it adds to sodium (now) after seeing this thread (Will adding Calcium chloride increase the salt level as read by my SWG?). Wished I had seen that before adding the salt knowing I needed about about 60 lbs of CaCl to get my hardness up from 60....
But from 2 days ago to today, my pH rose 0.4 and TA rose 10. I added no other chemicals other than 25 lbs of CaCl (in doses of 10, 10, 5) so I assume that is it. But this is counter intuitive to what I understand when brewing beer. CaCl is often used to lower pH. I understand there are different chemicals at play. I'm just trying to understand why my pH and TA went up and I couldn't find anything that supported the rise from CaCl. I had them in balance and now they are not.
I'm thinking now I let the CH lie at 270. I was targeting 450 (mid ideal 350-550), but concerned if I add more CaCl I'm going to put my salt up too high (requiring 30 lbs to reach 450 from 270).
Below are my logs. CH is not in the first one because I had tested it the day before (130) without yet adding CaCl.
Just this season we converted to SWCG from TriChlor tabs (thank goodness). Our CYA was way too high at the end of last season so I drained it and had new water brought in so I started from a blank slate in order to get the water balanced.
My question is, does adding CaCl raise pH and TA? I know it adds to sodium (now) after seeing this thread (Will adding Calcium chloride increase the salt level as read by my SWG?). Wished I had seen that before adding the salt knowing I needed about about 60 lbs of CaCl to get my hardness up from 60....
But from 2 days ago to today, my pH rose 0.4 and TA rose 10. I added no other chemicals other than 25 lbs of CaCl (in doses of 10, 10, 5) so I assume that is it. But this is counter intuitive to what I understand when brewing beer. CaCl is often used to lower pH. I understand there are different chemicals at play. I'm just trying to understand why my pH and TA went up and I couldn't find anything that supported the rise from CaCl. I had them in balance and now they are not.
I'm thinking now I let the CH lie at 270. I was targeting 450 (mid ideal 350-550), but concerned if I add more CaCl I'm going to put my salt up too high (requiring 30 lbs to reach 450 from 270).
Below are my logs. CH is not in the first one because I had tested it the day before (130) without yet adding CaCl.
