I’ve been having an issue with my pool for at least the last five weeks, with my TA being in the low 50s and pH being 8 or above (or, as had been described to me, these two readings are abnormally “inverted”). Obviously, correcting for one throws the other off, which is what I have been experiencing every week for at least five weeks.
To start, my pool is in Houston, water temp low 80s, 17k gallon, pebbletec, chlorine. The pool is now 12 years old, and, since constructing and opening the pool, we’ve had great luck in achieving the proper balance of chemicals; prior to this year, TA and pH have never been “inverted”.
We test the water using our own test kit, comparing against tests performed by two local pool stores, and my neighbor’s pool contractor also tested the water for us one time this year. For the last several weeks, all tests have aligned remarkably well.
The latest results are:
Free Chlorine 2.5
Total chlorine 2.73
pH 8
TA 53
Calcium Hardness 192
CYA 49
Phosphates <100
TDS 1500
With regard to earlier tests this year, I tried raising the TA even when the pH was high with five pounds of baking soda (two weeks ago). We retested a week later, and while TA was in the high 60s, the pH also went up (about 8.3, I think). I therefore added dry acid last week (about two pounds), resulting in the readings shown above this weekend.
So, this week, I again added two pounds of Low n Slo from Bioguard to lower the current pH of 8. I added the Low n Slo this morning, so I have no idea how much it further lowered the TA.
Rather than bouncing back and forth with these two readings (i.e., TA and pH), is there something I can do to align these two readings?
Any additional thoughts regarding the above results from this week’s test would also be appreciated.
Thank you.
To start, my pool is in Houston, water temp low 80s, 17k gallon, pebbletec, chlorine. The pool is now 12 years old, and, since constructing and opening the pool, we’ve had great luck in achieving the proper balance of chemicals; prior to this year, TA and pH have never been “inverted”.
We test the water using our own test kit, comparing against tests performed by two local pool stores, and my neighbor’s pool contractor also tested the water for us one time this year. For the last several weeks, all tests have aligned remarkably well.
The latest results are:
Free Chlorine 2.5
Total chlorine 2.73
pH 8
TA 53
Calcium Hardness 192
CYA 49
Phosphates <100
TDS 1500
With regard to earlier tests this year, I tried raising the TA even when the pH was high with five pounds of baking soda (two weeks ago). We retested a week later, and while TA was in the high 60s, the pH also went up (about 8.3, I think). I therefore added dry acid last week (about two pounds), resulting in the readings shown above this weekend.
So, this week, I again added two pounds of Low n Slo from Bioguard to lower the current pH of 8. I added the Low n Slo this morning, so I have no idea how much it further lowered the TA.
Rather than bouncing back and forth with these two readings (i.e., TA and pH), is there something I can do to align these two readings?
Any additional thoughts regarding the above results from this week’s test would also be appreciated.
Thank you.
