Constant struggle with high pH

[sbooker]

Hi! I have a salt water pool and spa. They have been up and running for a little over 2 months. I check pH every few days and it is consistently high, so I’m adding acid often. Sometimes my chlorine is high as well- not sure where to balance output %.
Currently pH is above 7.8. 2 drops on pH Taylor test kit, brings it down to 7.4-6 and 3 drops to 7.2-4.
Current alkalinity in spa is 100ppm
Current free chlorine in Spa is 3.6
CC in spa 0
Total hardness is between 250-450

 

[Rocket J Squirrel]

Is the surface plaster or something else? Fresh plaster is known to raise pH for a long period of time after installation and you just have to manage it with muriatic acid.

 

[TinFoilHat]

Yeah, that's normal for new plaster or an acid washed pool. It lasts for a year or two. Get yourself one of the recommended test kits here and join the chemistry-driven pool owners that don't spend all their hard earned money on pool service or pool store shenanigans. You need one of the test kits shown in Pool School that will enable you to test for stabilizer (CYA) which is the dictator of what your Free Chlorine should be in your pool. Get the CYA/FC relationship right and you'll end up with a clean and sanitary pool.

 

[sbooker]

Thank you! I do have new plaster, underground pool and spa. I’m in Utah. We keep our pool covered when not in use, so we shouldn’t have a ton of loss of chlorine unless splashing, swimming… My CYA is low- about 29. Once I raise that, how do I know what my generator % shouldn’t be for pool and spa. Note that it’s September and pool is being used much less, so I keep the % even lower so it’s not constantly generating chlorine?

I’ve been using Taylor Test Kit

 

[TinFoilHat]

If it's not a Taylor K2006c with the salt kit add on then it's not a recommended kit. TF Testkits are better in that the TFPro has a Speedstir. Add a salt kit to that if you get it too. Your CYA is always rounded up to the higher tens number so IF you're reading 29 it's really 30, for what it's worth. For that low of CYA you need to be at 3-6 ppm and we like to stay on the hot side. However, your CYA for SWG should be between 60 and 90 ppm and we recommend you add with granular stabilizer following the "sock method" which is putting it in an old sock that you can then hang in front of a water return. Then every couple of hours you can squeeze it. Once it's all in the pool, by the correct amount of course, then based on what CYA measurement you get will change your FC usage. This is all in the Pool School in the left pane. It will take at least 24 hours for the CYA to stabilize to a number.

Keep in mind that the SWG can't get you to these numbers, so that's what liquid chlorine is used for. Once you have stable water readings then you can set the SWG to maintain the FC. I forgot to mention that you should download the PoolMath app that will help you determine how much of anything to add.

 

[sbooker]

Correction with my typos- what should my chlorine generator % be?

Should I lower percent when people aren’t swimming as much?

 

[setsailsoon]

Correction with my typos- what should my chlorine generator % be?

Should I lower percent when people aren’t swimming as much?

S,

Welcome to TFP! You've come to a great place for pool owners. We do pool care a little different than your pool store may recommend but that's because we don't sell anything and everything we recommend is based on sound, proven science. Hundreds of thousands of us are using TFP methods to have crystal clear gorgeous pools at the lowest cost possible.

It's actually pretty easy to determine your swg settings. But we need some info on your pool, brand and model of chlorinator. Please provide this information in your "Signature" this way we won't have to ask basic information over and over so you get answers quicker and our volunteers can be more efficient with their time. Its easy to do, here's how.

Here's some links to helpful info on how we do pool care:

Pool Care Basics
Test Kits Compared

You should also download Pool Math. It will help you with chemical additions including swg settings. Once you fill out your signature we can give you initial settings for the swg. Also please know your FC will cycle in a range from target to a few ppm above. It's not going to be constant and should not be from min to target. This prevents you going too low due to unplanned events that results in algae.

I hope this is helpful.

Chris