New to site - Help with pH and Alkalinity

[Kolton19]

Hey
I have owned a pool for over a year. I get the water tested and manage it myself. I’ve learned to backwash, break down filter, etc. The water has always been amazing and crystal clear. The chemistry I’m learning. I go to a bio guard dealer weekly and follow their chemical instructions.

Today’s reading -
pH - 8.1
Total Alkalinity - 81 (126 in parenthesis)
Free Chlorine - 2.2
Total Chlorine - 2.3
Calcium Hardness - 389
CYA - 150
Optimizer - 30
Phosphate - 3975

My main issues seems to be high pH. I can’t seem to keep it lower. I can get it down to 7.5 with a lot of acid but it comes back up with in a week.
Why do I add Balance Pak 100 if my pH is already high?
Any advise?
Thanks so much!

10,000 gallons Chlorine Pool
Intelliflow Smart Pump
Booster Pump for Polaris Cleaner

 

[Msch99]

Don’t know what balance pak is. Suspect it adjusts both PH and TA?

You only need muriatic acid to lower ph. No need to mess with TA. It can be As low as 50 even.


You need your own test kit. Pool store test are notoriously unreliable. I suggest the TF100 with speed stir. Or the Taylor k2006c. Link to TF100 in my signature.

Your cya is way too high, see link to chlorine/cya chart in my signature. With cya that high (if test is correct) you need to drain and replace about 2/3 of your pool water. You are at risk with that low of FC if cya that high.

Suggest you read ABCs of pool water chemistry, link in signature too.

 

[mgtfp]

I just looked up balance pak 100 - it's baking soda. And balance pak 200 is soda ash, balance pak 300 is calcium chloride.

 

[Jeff J.]

I just looked up balance pak 100 - it's baking soda. And balance pak 200 is soda ash, balance pak 300 is calcium chloride.

If it's baking soda, definitely don’t add it, it will raise your PH and TA. You're really flying blind without your own test kit, as stated above. You shouldn't add anything but liquid chlorine until you get one. Use PoolMath to figure out how much will add 5 ppm per day. That CYA number is particularly unreliable. If you've been using trichlor or dichlor, your number may be much higher than 150. I assume the Optimizer number is borates? You should get a borates test from tftestkits.net also.

 

[wireform]

As it has been recommended. Get your own test kit. The chlorine level you document should be causing the algae to thrive with a CYA level of 150. Get the TF-100 along with the speedstir and you'll have real numbers.