High PH and Low TA

[blupblup]

Hi guys,

So, I have a brand new pool since the beginning of the year. All is well, except the ph is and the TA was constantly rising. I've added so much muriatic acid that I think we're currently not swimming in water but in muriatic acid. Just kidding.

Anyway, I don't know what to do anymore. I've come to a point where the TA is not rising , only the ph rises like crazy. Any tips?

You can see my PoolMath history on my profile page, but I'm adding it here for your convenience. (Yes, I need to add stabilizer. Dang those rain storms!)

FC 5.5
CC 0.5
ph 7.8
TA 40
CH 300
CYA 40

Thanks in advance!


PS: I've added borates a while ago, but haven't bought the borates kit yet. It is on my to do list. We've lot's of rain and storms so that's not helping either.

 

[jblizzle]

What pH are you trying to maintain? 7.8 is fine as long as the CSI is balanced.

 

[blupblup]

The pH of my pool water. It is 7.8 now, but it keeps going up.

Thanks.

 

[mknauss]

Be sure you are adding your Borate level in PoolMath. It makes a huge difference in calculating your acid requirements to adjust pH.

Wait until your pH is a solid 8 before lowering to 7.6

 

[blupblup]

Thank you Marty. I shouldn't worry about the TA getting too low?

Be sure you are adding your Borate level in PoolMath. It makes a huge difference in calculating your acid requirements to adjust pH.

Wait until your pH is a solid 8 before lowering to 7.6

 

[mknauss]

With Borates the whole TA / pH dance changes. It was not a good idea to add borates to a new pool that is still curing.

You will need to add baking soda to raise TA.

 

[blupblup]

Oh okay. I added the borates because every time I added muriatic acid, a couple of days later pH was way over 8.0 again. So as soon as TA and pH were at a good level for several days in a row, I added the borates. It didn't help much, pH kept rising again and again. I've never had this with my previous pool, which was also a new construction.

I'll keep adding muriatic acid every time it goes over 8.0. I'll add baking soda too.

Thanks again.

 

[mknauss]

Your PoolMath logs do not show Borates being tracked. Be very aware you must have the Borate level in PoolMath for proper TA and pH adjustment measures to be calculated.

Looked back a few months and saw a Borates entry. Just be sure to keep that up to date if you do any water exchanges.

 

[blupblup]

Yes, thank you. I’m aware.

Borates don’t have influence on pH and TA test results, right?

 

[mknauss]

No

 

[jblizzle]

But you need to enter borates into the calculation because it will influence how much acid is required to make a given pH change.

 

[blupblup]

Thank you, I get that. Like I said in the original post, it has rained a lot since I added the borates so there’s most likely close to 0 borates in my pool.

Anyway, I ordered the borates test strips, so I’ll know soon.

But I don’t see the relevance to my problem with the pH constantly rising since February. I’m able to get the pH down to 7.0 with pool math and muriatic acid and a week later it’s way over 8.0. It’s been like this since February.

 

[mknauss]

New plaster. pH will rise for up to a year while it is curing.