Calcium Carbonate Mistake

[mzuniga]

So fist off, I live in a Spanish speaking country and English is my second language. I build my pool about 2 years ago and I have religiously mantain it to TFP standars.

My CH was a bit low today and I realized I was out of calcium. I went to Pool Math and, lo a behold, I relized I’ve been adding Calcium Carbonate instead of Calcium Chloride all this time. So I must have mistranslated at some point and that combined with the fact that Calcium Chloride is very hard to get where a live threw me off. I know, I’m an idiot!

Now I have always stuggled with high PH so that might just be why. Now the question is how persistent is the PH elevation effect of Calcium Carbonate. Will the PH be elevated as long as there is Calcium Carbonate present in the water? In that case I should probably think about empty and refill my pool outright. Now if the effect is just at the initial application i should probably just start adding Calcium Cholride from now on.

As always, any advice will be appreciated. My numbers are as follows:
-FC 5 (SWG)
-Salt 3200
-pH 7.6 (maintained with lots of CO2 injection)
-CYA 60
-CH 250
-TA 130

 

[ajw22]

CH of 250 is ok for a plaster pool. No need to add more CH.

CO2 injection for your pH does not lower your TA. Your TA of 130 can lead to scaling in your IntelliChlor cell.

TA - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

You should use PoolMath and enable CSI tracking and have PoolMath calculate your CSI.

 

[mzuniga]

Thank you. I do use PoolMath and track CSI regularly. It rains a lot where I am so 250 will get to 150 in a mere month or two in the rainy season. I know about the TA and I use Muriatic Acid and aireation to lower my TA every once in a while. However there is still the question about the persistence of Calcium Carbonate effect on my water.

 

[JamesW]

Calcium Carbonate raises the calcium hardness and the total alkalinity by the same amount.

As long as the calcium carbonate completely dissolves, there is no persistent effect.

The calcium ions and the carbonate ions separate and go their own way.

The carbonate ions mostly convert into bicarbonate by picking up a hydrogen ion, which raises the pH.

 

[JamesW]

El carbonato de calcio aumenta la dureza del calcio y la alcalinidad total en la misma cantidad.

Mientras el carbonato de calcio se disuelva por completo, no hay ningún efecto persistente.

Los iones de calcio y los iones de carbonato se separan y siguen su propio camino.

La mayoría de los iones de carbonato se convierten en bicarbonato al recoger un ión de hidrógeno, lo que eleva el pH.