High Alkalinity, Low pH. Aeration.

[LARichardson]

Hey everyone. I'm new to the forum. I'm heading into my fifth year as a pool owner but still consider myself very much a novice. For the first 1-2 years, I hired a company to do my pool care. Then, a neighbor taught me basic water balancing. I bought some test strips, and some chlorine pucks, and was on my way. Up until now, I got by just adding chlorine pucks when needed. Occasionally, around the beginning of summer, I would need to put liquid chlorine in, to kind of "shock" the pool, but that was it. This year, I am having a little more trouble. There is more algae in the pool, and, looking at my test strips, I notice that my pH is very low, and my alkalinity is high. So, I got on YouTube. I saw one video that suggested using dry acid to bring the alkalinity down, and soda ash to bring the pH back up. I've tried this, but it's not really working. The soda ash seems to bring the alkalinity back up before it begins to really touch the pH.
I have been browsing these forums. It seems that the best (maybe only?) method for dealing with this problem is to bring the pH up using aeration, and then gradually bring the alkalinity down using acid. I have a built-in aerator on the pool, but am planning on making something using a submergible pump. I have been running my pool pump constantly over the last four days, in order to allow chemicals to mix, and I don't want to be running it that much.

So, a few questions:

1) Do I have the right idea. Is aeration/acid the best way to get the pH up and alkalinity down?
2)The pH is very low. Around 6.2. Should I take care of that first, using soda ash, let the alkalinity go up (I think it's around 160 now), and then start the longer process of aeration/acid? It definitely worries me to have the water that acidic.
3) I've noticed that most people are using muriatic acid for this process. Is there a benefit to using MA over dry acid?

Any advice is really appreciated.

 

[aussieta]

pucks are highly acidic which has driven your ph low
but that is the least of your issues
pucks are 50% cya aka stabilizer
you now most likely have such a high cya level that your pool is unsustainable
we only offer advice based on trustworthy test results
so your first thought should be on a better test kit
taylor k2006c or tf100pro

Swimming Pool Test Kits Compared

What pool test kit should I buy? Why not use test strips? Our recommended test kits will pay for themselves in no time!

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[kimkats]

Hello and welcome to TFP! You have made two very important steps in taking care of your pool. Firing the pool company and finding TFP.

Your next step is to get your own test kit. Look here for the ones we use: Test Kits Compared The test strips you are using are not reliable and cause many headaches in a pool. Their place is in the trash can............sorry but only speaking from experience.

My guess is your CYA (Cyanuric Acid aka chlorine stabilizer) is way high from your many years to tablet use. See the tablets have chlorine in them BUT they also have to have something to "bind" the chlorine to a dry form. Most of them use CYA for this. The CYA builds up over time. The only way to lower your CYA level is to drain some of your water and refilling with fresh water. Right now we don't know how much water you need drain is unknown right now due to the lack of a good test kit. The more CYA the water has the more FC (Free Chlorine) needed. You can look at this chart to help see what I mean: FC vs CYA chart location The two columns on the right are for FC.

I am going to share another link with you to help you learn all of the words and acronyms used in pool care:
TFPC for Beginners

This is a lot of new information. Once your read over things a couple/few times it will start to all make sense. Ask any and all questions you have! We have all been there and understand how overwhelming it can be.

Kim

 

[LARichardson]

Thanks for the responses. I just ordered the TF Pro test kit, and read through the links that you sent. I’ll come on back when I have some test results.

 

[kimkats]

Well done! Now while you are waiting for you test kit find some liquid chlorine. You can find it at Walmart (liquid shock"} in a white bottle, Same idea at Lowes and Home Depot. Your local pool store might sell it in refillable yellow jugs. Do not get bleach as they have started adding all kinds of *stuff* to it as of late Put in half gallon each night to help keep your pool from getting too much algae.

Keep the aeration going just in case the pH is really that low. Low pH can harm your plaster in the long term.