Need help getting PH up

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krasay3

Member
Jun 3, 2019
13
Spokane
Hello, I am new to TFP and have been reading and learning a lot this last could of weeks. Some background on the last few weeks. And I now know do not take the advice from the pool store who keep selling me chemicals that are not helping...Having said that, I went to the pool store to test my water after not being able to get it clear or to get the PH up. They advised me that we had high phosphates and gave me PhosFloc. We spent the next 4 days vacuuming to waste trying to get that all out. It helped clear the water only slightly but I still could not get the PH up (it has been very low). After the Floc we changed our filters and I added 12lbs of soda ash (4 one day and 8 the next) but the ph was still not reading on the test strips or basic taylor drop tester I owned and the pool was just get more cloudy. I read on here to aerate the pool to help with the PH, which we have been doing via our slide. It did help it to clear the water within about 36 hours. But the Ph was still not high enough to register.
Sooo, to cut to the chase, I now have a Taylor Complete FAS-DPD 2006. I just did all of the tests on it (some twice) and these are the result
FC - 1
CC 3
PH - it is so low I had to add 20 drops of R-0006 base demand Reagent to get it to 7.1
ALK - 110
CH - 275
CYA - 100
Sat - Neg 1.35
We are currently running the slide non-stop to aerate. I had been using Trichlor pucks but have switched to adding liquid sodium hyporchlorite 10% because it has a higher PH.
Am I good to add soda ash again along with aerating? Pool Math states to add 55lbs of it and 4 gallons of bleach. I have been reluctant on the soda ash because it wasn't doing anything before but I am so worried that the acid is ruining our pool. Should I drain and fill some water and then do soda ash?

Your advice is much appreciated!
 
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If your CYA was not that high, with the high CC and crashed pH, I would have suspected ammonia.

So the dot disappeared with only adding a little bit of water to the tube?
 
Great.
To get down to 50 ppm or so you should exchange 60% of your water to fresh. Or you can do multiple little drain/refills. As you have a liner pool you can not drain more than about 18" of water each time so you do not damage your liner.
 
If you can exchange now, you do not need to mess with anything. If not for several days, then you need to get your pH into the 7's so it does not damage your liner and heater further. Use Borax. Add enough to get from 6.8 to 7.5. Circulate pool 30 minutes, test, and repeat.
 
Am I good to add soda ash again along with aerating? Pool Math states to add 55lbs of it
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How are you getting 55 lbs of soda ash required from PoolMath?

Your base demand indicates 23 lbs required if it's accurate.

That indicates to me that the CYA is probably way higher than 110.

With your current TA, the pH should be much higher unless almost all of the TA is from cyanurate.

I would not add any more soda ash at this point.
 
JamesW said:
How are you getting 55 lbs of soda ash required from PoolMath?

Your base demand indicates 23 lbs required if it's accurate.

That indicates to me that the CYA is probably way higher than 110.

With your current TA, the pH should be much higher unless almost all of the TA is from cyanurate.

I would not add any more soda ash at this point.
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Thank you, you are correct. When I did the pool math I was guestimating a PH of 6 because I knew it was lower than the 6.5 on my tester. I'm just learning how use the base demand procedure. I got my new testing kit today.
 

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I would estimate that the pH is about 6.4.

Not great, but out of the danger zone.

I suspect that the TA is being substantially influenced by the high CYA. I would estimate the CYA to be close to 150 to 200.

Even though the TA seems high, it's probably only about 20 to 30 once you remove the CYA effect. I would suggest raising it by about 30 ppm with bicarb unless your fill water is higher than 80. Bicarbonate normally has a very small effect on pH unless the pH is below 7.0. At 6.4, bicarb should have a significant effect on the pH.

Make a test sample with 1/3 pool water and 2/3 tap water and mix well. Then, test the mixed sample for CYA. Then, multiply the result by 3 to get a better estimate of the total CYA.

Once you do some dilution, the readings should begin to make more sense.

What is the pool water calcium hardness?

What are the chemistry readings for the fill water?
 
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Ok, now you just have to do a dilution in steps or continuous.

Steps is removing some water and refilling. Continuous is adding and removing water at the same rate so that the water level in the pool remains the same.

I would not add any more bicarb or pH increaser at this point until you do the dilution and see where everything ends up.

Some of the base demand is due to the cyanuric acid and some is due to carbonic acid (carbon dioxide).

The carbon dioxide should significantly offgas, which will raise the pH.

Check pH and base demand again when you get a chance to see if the carbon dioxide is offgassing.
 
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I did a drain/fill of about 10 inches, or about 5000 gallons and the readings were
CYA 80 (high but improved)
Alk 130
PH - below 7.0, base demand at 11 drops to 7.4
FC 0.4
CC - 1
Cal 300

I just drained about 6000 more and am currently filling over night. I am out of CYA reagent and will get more in the morning. I am hoping this round will get the CYA down to a workable level and help get rid of some of the Combined Chlorine.
Once it comes down should I be starting over with the SLAM method? I want to get my supplies gathered.
 
Things are looking much better. Some carbon dioxide has offgassed. The pH is better (estimated to be about 6.9).

I suspect that the pH will recover to about 7.2 to 7.4 within a day or so.

With the CYA reduced, the carbonate alkalinity is coming up, which will help the pH recover.

I would get some chlorine in the water in the morning if you can. Do an OCLT once you get everything running to see if a SLAM is needed.
 
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