New liner but well water has super high alkalinity

[Searstj]

Hello all,

Just had our new liner installed and they used our well to fill it and it just reached the top today. I went ahead and checked the TA before getting too into balancing other things and my reading is coming in at 550ppm… a far shot from 120. Using the pool math calculator for a 16k gallon pool, this comes out to a need of 120lbs of sodium bisulfate which make me thinks something isn’t right…. Does anyone have any guidance here???

 

[Texas Splash]

You want to use muriatic acid to lower the TA. I will take some time as you have to be careful and not allow the pH to crash too low. Plus with iron in the water, you don't want the pH too high either. In pools without iron, I would say let the pH hit 8.0, then use enough muriatic acid to lower the pH to 7.0. Each time you do that to the pH, it helps to lower the TA as well. In your case allowing the pH to rise to 8.0 might be tricky based on the iron (and FC level), but you can try. Watch for staining or water changes. But that's the routine. It will take a while. Just be patient.

 

[Searstj]

Thanks! Is there any concern with just seeing PH down instead of muriatic acid? A 50lb tub of it will be a whole heck of a lot cheaper then the amount of muriatic acid I will need

 

[Texas Splash]

PH down instead of muriatic acid?

Dry acid adds sulfates which can be problematic over time. Not ideal, but use it if you have to. See below.

Acid - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[Searstj]

Thanks for the info!