First Test & #s are off the charts!

[ScottyJ2]

Adding acid (muratic acid) will work to lower both your pH and your TA. It will lower pH a lot more than it will lower TA, so it is a process.

Basically, you'll add acid to lower your pH. You can go to 7.2 vs 7.4 even if you want this process to move faster, but either will work. When you add this acid, your TA will go down some.

Because your TA will still be high, though, your pH will quickly drift back up to 8+ where it wants to be. You can speed up this natural pH rise by aerating the water, i.e. having it move at the surface with splashing/fountains/pointing your returns upward/etc.

When the pH gets close to 8 again, you'll repeat this cycle and lower it back down to 7.2/7.4. The lower the TA gets, the longer it should take the pH to drift back up. Over time, with your TA down you should get closer to an equilibrium where the pH is comfortable in the 7s and you don't have to add acid so often.

Okie dokie! Starting the process today. Thanks for the explanation!

 

[ScottyJ2]

Because your TA will still be high, though, your pH will quickly drift back up to 8+ where it wants to be. You can speed up this natural pH rise by aerating the water, i.e. having it move at the surface with splashing/fountains/pointing your returns upward/etc.

I turned my pool slide on to aerate the pool. What's your best guess on how long the slide will need to stay on before the pH drifts back up near 8?

 

[mguzzy]

I turned my pool slide on to aerate the pool. What's your best guess on how long the slide will need to stay on before the pH drifts back up near 8?

"DAAAaaaad! when are we going to get there?"
"We GET there when we GET there!"

 

[Newdude]

Someday we’ll find it
the TA connection
The lovers, the PH and meeeeeeeeeee

 

[magiteck]

I turned my pool slide on to aerate the pool. What's your best guess on how long the slide will need to stay on before the pH drifts back up near 8?

I wish I could give you a good guess, but I don't have personal experience at your levels and there are a lot of variables.

I would test daily, and I'd anticipate quicker movement at first, slowing the closer it gets to the "high point". Like a hypothetical might be...
Day 1 - 7.2
Day 2 - 7.5
Day 3 - 7.7
Day 4 - 7.8
Day 5 - 7.9
Day 6 - Still 7.9
Day 7 - 8.

Could go much faster, could go slower. My crystal ball is broken.

 

[ScottyJ2]

I wish I could give you a good guess, but I don't have personal experience at your levels and there are a lot of variables.

I would test daily, and I'd anticipate quicker movement at first, slowing the closer it gets to the "high point". Like a hypothetical might be...
Day 1 - 7.2
Day 2 - 7.5
Day 3 - 7.7
Day 4 - 7.8
Day 5 - 7.9
Day 6 - Still 7.9
Day 7 - 8.

Could go much faster, could go slower. My crystal ball is broken.

This helps. I wasn't sure if this was something that takes a couple hours, a couple days, or a week or two.

 

[DeanP66]

My experience with aeration is the pH will climb back up a little faster, the lower your pH is. I'm usually pretty aggressive when trying to lower TA and add enough acid to drop pH to ~6.8-ish. Might not be a great idea to keep it that low, but it only stays there for a few hours with my aerator going, so it doesn't concern me. Once I get to ~7.4, it seems the aeration takes a lot longer for the pH to go up any further, so I oftentimes, will add more acid again to get it back down to 6.8 and let it continue.

 

[ScottyJ2]

I'm still fighting through the TA / pH back-and-forth but in the meantime I have another question to ask the group:

The little cylinder thingy on the pump (that I guess is used to monitor when one needs to backwash?) was pretty green. I don't think it was necessarily the water that was green, but a green coating on the cylinder. Does that mean I have an algae issue within the pool that maybe I can't see? Or is it nothing to worry about? I got scared and did a backwash when I noticed it and so the pictures that I took were AFTER I backwashed. In case this is helpful, I just tested the water last night and these were some of the numbers....
pH: 7.5
FC: 8.5
CC: 0
CYA: 60 (?)

 

[wireform]

I'm still fighting through the TA / pH back-and-forth but in the meantime I have another question to ask the group:

The little cylinder thingy on the pump (that I guess is used to monitor when one needs to backwash?) was pretty green. I don't think it was necessarily the water that was green, but a green coating on the cylinder. Does that mean I have an algae issue within the pool that maybe I can't see? Or is it nothing to worry about? I got scared and did a backwash when I noticed it and so the pictures that I took were AFTER I backwashed. In case this is helpful, I just tested the water last night and these were some of the numbers....
pH: 7.5
FC: 8.5
CC: 0
CYA: 60 (?)

You can unscrew that thingy when the pump is off and clean it out ,that's all it needs.

 

[ScottyJ2]

You can unscrew that thingy when the pump is off and clean it out ,that's all it needs.

Thank you!