pH and TA seesaw

Bigdog43 · Jun 20, 2018

Obviously meant PH in the subject but I don't see a way to edit the subject. (Done..)

So I keep going on this roller coaster ride with PH and TA. This time of year my water starts to get warm and begin running my waterfall nearly constantly for aeration. I also have a couple of those aerators on my return jets. This continually drives the PH up so I'm adding MA to lower PH, but then that lowers TA, so I'm adding baking soda to get TA up, which in turns raises PH even more. Any suggestions or is this just the way it is?

FC: 5
CC: 0
CYA: 30
TA: 70
PH 7.8
CH: 200 (been using cal hypo this year to slowly get my calcium up, i realize it's a little low for plaster)

tim5055 · Jun 20, 2018

Stop raising the TA and see if things stabilize with the TA a little lower. 50 is the TA sweet spot in my pool.

Demegrad9 · Jun 20, 2018

Why are you using baking soda to increase TA?

Jimrahbe · Jun 20, 2018

BD,

I suggest that you reduce your TA to 60 or even 50 and see what happens... Just don't let it go lower than 50...

Why are you constantly running your waterfall???

When you add MA only add enough to drop the pH to about 7.5...

Thanks,

Jim R.

Richard320 · Jun 20, 2018

The seesaw effect comes from micromanaging.

Hold off on acid until pH gets to 7.8, and then maybe only target 7.5. The lower the pH, the faster the pH Rise from aeration. If you dropped pH to 7.2, you'd likely be at 7.5 in two hours with a waterfall on. Why not cut back on the acid and save a few bucks? Second piece of advice: don't raise TA until you get to 50. If that drives CSI too low, raise the CH.

tim5055 · Jun 20, 2018

Demegrad9 said:
Why are you using baking soda to increase TA?

Because that is what is recommended to raise TA Pool School - Recommended Pool Chemicals

Bigdog43 · Jun 20, 2018

Jimrahbe said:
BD,

I suggest that you reduce your TA to 60 or even 50 and see what happens... Just don't let it go lower than 50...

Why are you constantly running your waterfall???

Because my water temp is 92 and I'm trying to cool it down so people will actually get in the pool.

- - - Updated - - -

Richard320 said:
The seesaw effect comes from micromanaging.

Hold off on acid until pH gets to 7.8, and then maybe only target 7.5. The lower the pH, the faster the pH Rise from aeration. If you dropped pH to 7.2, you'd likely be at 7.5 in two hours with a waterfall on. Why not cut back on the acid and save a few bucks? Second piece of advice: don't raise TA until you get to 50. If that drives CSI too low, raise the CH.

Will do, thanks