Going into my 3rd full year with my in-ground plaster pool. First 2 years everything was normal, then last summer the PH started going crazy. It goes up to over 8.0, I add a gallon of muriatic acid to bring it down to 7.7 or 7.8, and then 3 or 4 days later it is back over 8.0. TA stays in the 100-110 range, but have to use baking soda to keep it there since I'm adding about a gallon or more of acid every week to keep the PH down. The first 2 years PH was stable and used a gallon of acid every few months. The acid is expensive and now I'm using almost as much acid as I am chlorine! It's a 35k gallon pool with spillover spa and I've been testing with a ColorQ tester with fresh test chems. Nothing has changed that I am aware of. I'm at wits end and grasping for any ideas about why this is happening and how to fix it. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
Crazy Fast PH Rise
- Thread starter PoolJohn
- Start date
- Jul 21, 2013
- 52,271
- Pool Size
- 35000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
Welcome to TFP.
Stop using baking soda to raise your TA. High TA causes your pH to rise more rapidly. Let your TA drop to 60-70 and find an equilibrium point where your pH is stable. Any TA 50 or above is ok.
Do you have any water features or spa spillover you run frequently?
What test kit do you use to test your water chemistry?
If you intend to hang around here please put details of your pool in your signature. It will let us help you better.
I suggest you review ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry
Stop using baking soda to raise your TA. High TA causes your pH to rise more rapidly. Let your TA drop to 60-70 and find an equilibrium point where your pH is stable. Any TA 50 or above is ok.
Do you have any water features or spa spillover you run frequently?
What test kit do you use to test your water chemistry?
If you intend to hang around here please put details of your pool in your signature. It will let us help you better.
I suggest you review ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry
Last edited:
John,
A gallon of MA will drop your pH from 8.0 to 7.1...
I agree with Allen.. Quit adding baking soda..
If you run your spillover spa constantly, it will cause your pH to constantly increase. That is what I do when I want to increase my pH.
Thanks,
Jim R.
A gallon of MA will drop your pH from 8.0 to 7.1...
I agree with Allen.. Quit adding baking soda..
If you run your spillover spa constantly, it will cause your pH to constantly increase. That is what I do when I want to increase my pH.
Thanks,
Jim R.
I had the same problem, I couldn't keep the pH down! Pulling hair as my test kit & pool shop were reading the same TA levels, until I got myself a CCL kit, my TA is stable around 60-80 and I'm not adding acid so frequently!
Moral to the story, get yourself a Taylor kit and drop TA down to 60-80, will make a world of difference.
Moral to the story, get yourself a Taylor kit and drop TA down to 60-80, will make a world of difference.
I too when our pool was installed purchased a ColorQ thinking it had to be good because it took the guess work out due to the photometer providing actual values. Well the problem is it’s not accurate/repeatable and will cause you to think you have issues when you may not or vice versa. As suggested above get a TF100 test kit and speed stir and then once you have accurate data you can proceed accordingly.
Salty
Salty
John,
I have the TF-100 and the Color Q. I find the Color Q, to be accurate as you need to be, and repeatable, but you just need to know what it can't do well.. It can't read FC over 10 unless you dilute the sample which leads to errors.. It really can't be used for what we call a SLAM where we need to test really high FC numbers.. It measure Total hardness and not Calcium hardness, even though the test is called CH, it is not. As long as you know that it is not a big deal.. It measures pH better than my eyes can and I find it measures CYA as good as my eye can.
But, just like I would not rebuild an engine without a good torque wrench, I would not work on my pool with access to my TF-100.. I use the Color Q, for my routine tests where I am looking for changes in my readings... A good analogy is the I use the Color Q as I would a normal wrench, where just tight is tight enough.. But if I need to know exactly how tight something is, I use my Torque wrench (TF-100)...
Thanks,
Jim R.
I have the TF-100 and the Color Q. I find the Color Q, to be accurate as you need to be, and repeatable, but you just need to know what it can't do well.. It can't read FC over 10 unless you dilute the sample which leads to errors.. It really can't be used for what we call a SLAM where we need to test really high FC numbers.. It measure Total hardness and not Calcium hardness, even though the test is called CH, it is not. As long as you know that it is not a big deal.. It measures pH better than my eyes can and I find it measures CYA as good as my eye can.
But, just like I would not rebuild an engine without a good torque wrench, I would not work on my pool with access to my TF-100.. I use the Color Q, for my routine tests where I am looking for changes in my readings... A good analogy is the I use the Color Q as I would a normal wrench, where just tight is tight enough.. But if I need to know exactly how tight something is, I use my Torque wrench (TF-100)...
Thanks,
Jim R.
Thanks for all the advice. I'll try letting the TA settle lower. I'm pretty much stuck with the ColorQ or some other digital meter; I'm colorblind and can't see test strips very accurately. I'm just at a loss of why it suddenly changed, maybe something to do with the new plaster? The main thing is to get it sorted, hopefully lower TA will do the trick. Thanks again!
P.S. The pool company configured the spillover spa to run all then time when the pool pump is on. I'll need to dig into the book to find out how to change that.
P.S. The pool company configured the spillover spa to run all then time when the pool pump is on. I'll need to dig into the book to find out how to change that.
John,
Go the Settings and the signature and add your pool's signature... It will help us help you... Look at mine for an example..
Thanks,
Jim R.
Go the Settings and the signature and add your pool's signature... It will help us help you... Look at mine for an example..
Thanks,
Jim R.
- May 3, 2014
- 58,311
- Pool Size
- 6000
- Surface
- Fiberglass
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
It would be best to get the FAS-DPD test to back up your ColorQ. That test goes from pink to clear.
Ditto on what everyone recommended. I run my TA at 60 and keep it there. Mine had rapid rise syndrome before I got my TA down. If I lower my PH to 7.2 it still rises to 7.6 in a few days but then it stabilizes and takes a couple of weeks to hit 7.8.
Another member of the rapid rise club here. TA is 100, how do I get down to 60? I've just finished slamming so my ph is not stabilized enough for accurate measurements. Once the chlorine drops I'll take a ph measurement, so lets say its 7.6, I'll bring it down to 7.0-7.2 and test TA, then raise the ph with aeration back to 7.5, at this point the TA should have remained at the number it was when I first lowered the ph to 7.0-7.2, right? If the TA still needs lowering, I lower the ph again to 7.0-7.2 which would again lower the TA, then aerate to raise ph, correct? Now the TA has been lowered twice, and I continue this pattern until I hit my target. Is my concept on lowering TA right?
thanks, Brian
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