pH low, Alk high

[DocShay]

Hey guys,

First time pool owner here, just got a 3500 gallon Intex pool this year (With their crappy cartridge filter, planning on getting a better sand filter & pump next year).

I've been using Poolmath and TFP as best as I can, been using a good taylor kit to monitor as well. Running into a problem I could use some help with.
I add liquid chlorine everyday.
Pool started to feel a bit "slimy" the last day or two - So it seems I may need to SLAM. Gotta wait for the sun to go down today to start the Chlorine loss over night test, but until then I did some water testing

My CYA was abit low (30) so I added Stabilizer to bring it up to 45. Simple enough.
My pH is sitting low at 7.0, Poolmath says add some Borax to bring it back up to 7.6 Simple enough - except...
My Alkalinity is sitting at 110. The recommended safe range is between 50-90. Pool math says lower pH to 7.0-7.2 then aerate to increase my pH.

Should I just let my pH sit unadjusted an and aerate until Alkalinity drops? I took a look at TFP Lower Alk and it stated you only need to lower Alk for 2 reasons...
"1. to slow down the rate that the pH

2. if high TA is contributing to a high calcium saturation index (CSI) which puts you at risk of calcium scaling."

Neither of those reasons apply to my situation, my pH is already too low and I don't have a plaster pool so i'm unconcerned with etching on plaster.
I'm only now questioning whether I need to actually lower my Alk is because in Poolmath it tells me the recommended safe range for Alk is 50-90 (Mine is 110) - But I can't seem to tell if that actually matters or not in my situation.

I'm leaning towards putting Borax to increase my pH today, ignoring my Alk and waiting to do my chlorine loss test to determine if I need to SLAM or not.
Does this sound right?

Thanks everyone!

 

[Bperry]

Hey guys,

First time pool owner here, just got a 3500 gallon Intex pool this year (With their crappy cartridge filter, planning on getting a better sand filter & pump next year).

I've been using Poolmath and TFP as best as I can, been using a good taylor kit to monitor as well. Running into a problem I could use some help with.
I add liquid chlorine everyday.
Pool started to feel a bit "slimy" the last day or two - So it seems I may need to SLAM. Gotta wait for the sun to go down today to start the Chlorine loss over night test, but until then I did some water testing

My CYA was abit low (30) so I added Stabilizer to bring it up to 45. Simple enough.
My pH is sitting low at 7.0, Poolmath says add some Borax to bring it back up to 7.6 Simple enough - except...
My Alkalinity is sitting at 110. The recommended safe range is between 50-90. Pool math says lower pH to 7.0-7.2 then aerate to increase my pH.

Should I just let my pH sit unadjusted an and aerate until Alkalinity drops? I took a look at TFP Lower Alk and it stated you only need to lower Alk for 2 reasons...
"1. to slow down the rate that the pH

2. if high TA is contributing to a high calcium saturation index (CSI) which puts you at risk of calcium scaling."

Neither of those reasons apply to my situation, my pH is already too low and I don't have a plaster pool so i'm unconcerned with etching on plaster.
I'm only now questioning whether I need to actually lower my Alk is because in Poolmath it tells me the recommended safe range for Alk is 50-90 (Mine is 110) - But I can't seem to tell if that actually matters or not in my situation.

I'm leaning towards putting Borax to increase my pH today, ignoring my Alk and waiting to do my chlorine loss test to determine if I need to SLAM or not.
Does this sound right?

Thanks everyone!

Stop. Your pH will rise all on its own and your TA will lower all on its own if you just keep the pH so it starts with a “7”. This is all assuming youre testing with a TFP recommended kit and not paper strips or a pool store.