pH Under 7 After Clean Up

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tippakayak

tippakayak

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Aug 4, 2018
20
Tucson, AZ
We are in the final stages of a pool remodel from heck and today the subcontractor that installed the stonescapes interior used a lot of MA as part of their second pass at a clean up. The pool has had water in it for a little over 2 weeks and we’ve been keeping it between 7.2-7.6. We noticed the tarnish being removed from our copper scupper and the PH is definitely below 7, maybe as low as 6. Is this going to cause problems for us long term?
 
When the ta is red, the ta is 0 or negative and the pH is 4.5 or lower, which is very dangerous to the copper in the heater and scupper style fountains.

To calculate the actual ta, use r-0006 base demand to titrate from red to green and then multiply the result by 6.3 to see how negative the ta is.
 
I would not leave the pH that low with the water going through the heater and scuppers.

I would bring the TA up to 80 and then recheck the pH the next day.

It's likely that a significant amount of copper has been stripped from anything that is copper.

You probably have a lot of copper in the water and you should be careful not to make it drop out as stains.

Don't use sodium carbonate or calcium hypochlorite as they can react with the copper and create stains.

What is the builder supposed to be doing with the chemistry?
 
The builder is useless. The interior installer seems like a good guy and he just instructed us to add a box of baking soda to the pool. He said that we should turn the pump off.

The interior installer also said they used just shy of 2 gallons on our small pool when the ph was around 7.4 before the cleaning.
 
Increase the TA by 60 ppm and brush and circulate well for an hour and then retest.

If the TA is then readable, increase to 80 ppm and then recheck the next day for pH and TA.
 
Thanks for the advice! My husband is afraid to go too far from the interior installers recommendation so we are adding 2 more pounds (after the initial 1.5 pounds) and then will test before possibly adding another 2 pounds (so total would be 5.5 pounds). The interior installer asked that we test again in the morning and then he said he can stop by early afternoon.
 
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If that 0 TA water was in contact with any copper, it dissolved some of it. How much, hard to say. Only way to get rid of it is to drain and refill.
 
What does copper in the water mean in terms of causing damage? We are already planning on draining the pool in October/November so that the interior can be acid washed (to resolve some issues with excess "cream"). Would it be better to drain it sooner?
 
Copper in the water can stain the pool surface. You have to be careful not to rapidly raise the pH. That is why JamesW said to NOT use soda ash.

You may as well wait until you are going to drain in a month or two.
 
I would get the TA to about 80 and then keep checking the pH, but don't force the pH up too fast.

Any damage from the low pH has already occurred.

Once the TA is at 80 ppm, the pH is essentially 100 times higher than it was before.

Maybe test the water for copper to see what the level is.
 
Thanks! I realized I have a broad spectrum pH test for gardening that seems to be showing a pH of 6.5 (this was after adding 3.5 pounds of baking soda last night). I just added 2 more pounds of baking soda and am going to the store to get more.
 
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