Prioritize management of TA or CH?

[pgershon]

I have been testing my pool daily for almost a month now, have gotten the TA and pH down from very high levels and added substantial calcium (was TA=120, pH>8 and CH=70). Now I have TA about 70 and CH at 350. pH is suddenly stable at 7.7. Water temperature runs 80-85.

But I am concerned that the TA could drop to 60. I switched my fill water from the whole-house filtration system to the direct well water. The former came in at TA=120 and the latter is TA=30. The switch really stabilized my pH rise so now I can run the waterfall without driving pH up above 8. Should I be adding being soda to keep the TA at 70, or increase the CH further to 450 to give me more of a buffer for TA / pH? I am shooting to keep CSI in the -0.2 ish zone, obviously subject to pH and temperature changes.

Overall chemistry:

FC 7.0
pH 7.7
TA 70
CH 350
CYA 70
Salt 3700
Borates 0 (I have boric acid ordered but maybe not needed)

 

[mknauss]

Sounds like you are trying to be too fine in your adjustments. What you have is fine. Leave it until the TA drops below 50 or the pH rises to 8.

 

[pgershon]

What do I do to deal with staining. My CSI is slightly less than zero now, with pH at 7.9. My stain I’d and removal procedures required me to drop pH to 7.2. But pool math says my csi would drop to -0.68. Is that ok for a few days to a week until I raise pH back?

 

[mknauss]

Is that ok for a few days to a week until I raise pH back?

Yes. But better is to wait until the end of the swim season when the water cools. Then do the stain treatment (if iron filter it out of the water, if copper, drain and refill the pool).