Pristine Blue to Chlorine Help Needed
- Thread starter dtail
- Start date
Good Afternoon Matt,
I did my chem check this morning and I followed the directions I got from the PoolMath app. I retested this afternoon at 13:30 and almost everything is where it should be according to the app except for my TA which is 110. The app states to lower it by adding acid. My question is two fold. The acid the app is talking about it Muriatic acid correct? I've looked for that around here in High Springs Fl and I'm having a tough time finding it. Would it be carried in any other product, or under a different product name that you know of? I'm slowly learning about the chlorine process thanks to all the help I'm getting here and I really appreciate it. I'm hoping to stop testing daily for everything in the kit soon and just test for Cl, Br & pH on a daily basis and the rest weekly. I've been testing everything every day just to get my levels right. My calcium harness is higher than I want and the app is telling me to drain some water and add fresh water in order to lower my number. That is the only way to lower calcium hardness? These were my levels as of 13:30 today, and thank you again. Oh, one more thing. I was reading about Borax and have decided to use that to help with the stabilizer. Just wanted to get your thoughts on that?
FC 5
CC 0
pH 7.5
Cal 500
Alk 110
CYA 50
Test from K-1000
Cl 3
Br 6
I did my chem check this morning and I followed the directions I got from the PoolMath app. I retested this afternoon at 13:30 and almost everything is where it should be according to the app except for my TA which is 110. The app states to lower it by adding acid. My question is two fold. The acid the app is talking about it Muriatic acid correct? I've looked for that around here in High Springs Fl and I'm having a tough time finding it. Would it be carried in any other product, or under a different product name that you know of? I'm slowly learning about the chlorine process thanks to all the help I'm getting here and I really appreciate it. I'm hoping to stop testing daily for everything in the kit soon and just test for Cl, Br & pH on a daily basis and the rest weekly. I've been testing everything every day just to get my levels right. My calcium harness is higher than I want and the app is telling me to drain some water and add fresh water in order to lower my number. That is the only way to lower calcium hardness? These were my levels as of 13:30 today, and thank you again. Oh, one more thing. I was reading about Borax and have decided to use that to help with the stabilizer. Just wanted to get your thoughts on that?
FC 5
CC 0
pH 7.5
Cal 500
Alk 110
CYA 50
Test from K-1000
Cl 3
Br 6
- May 23, 2015
- 24,411
- Pool Size
- 16000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
Couple of things -
1. No need to report bromine (Br) as you don’t have any bromine in your water. Your pool is a chlorine pool. Only reporting FC/CC matters.
2. Your levels look great. Don’t obsess over things like calcium hardness or salinity (which I know you did not measure). They are very slowly changing variables and they are not as important.
3. You only need to adjust your TA if you can’t keep your pH under control. Remember, your pool is swimmable and safe at any pH value between 7.2-7.8. There is no such thing as “the optimal pH”. Most pool water with higher TA levels likes to be at a pH of 7.6 or above. So don’t obsess about lowering pH until your pH starts to go over 7.8.
4. If you wish to lower your TA, then you need to use the acid-aeration process which can be found in PoolSchool. Muriatic acid is, or should be, available in any pool store or hardware store like Home Depot or Lowe’s. Heck, even my grocery store sells MA with all of their pool chemicals. You want 20 Baume, which is 31.45%, muriatic acid as it is the most concentrated and the best price typically. Sometimes you’ll see “low fuming” or “green” MA but that stuff is just 15% MA and it is often sold at the same price as the concentrated stuff (so you’re paying more for less). Hardware stores sometimes carry the concentrated MA in their concrete and building materials section because contractors use it a lot. Lowe’s is known to put all of their pool chemicals out in their Garden section so you might find it there.
Two questions -
1. Do you get rain where you are?
2. Please measure your pool fill water supply and tell us what your pH, TA and CH of the fill water is (don’t bother measuring anything else but those parameters).
1. No need to report bromine (Br) as you don’t have any bromine in your water. Your pool is a chlorine pool. Only reporting FC/CC matters.
2. Your levels look great. Don’t obsess over things like calcium hardness or salinity (which I know you did not measure). They are very slowly changing variables and they are not as important.
3. You only need to adjust your TA if you can’t keep your pH under control. Remember, your pool is swimmable and safe at any pH value between 7.2-7.8. There is no such thing as “the optimal pH”. Most pool water with higher TA levels likes to be at a pH of 7.6 or above. So don’t obsess about lowering pH until your pH starts to go over 7.8.
4. If you wish to lower your TA, then you need to use the acid-aeration process which can be found in PoolSchool. Muriatic acid is, or should be, available in any pool store or hardware store like Home Depot or Lowe’s. Heck, even my grocery store sells MA with all of their pool chemicals. You want 20 Baume, which is 31.45%, muriatic acid as it is the most concentrated and the best price typically. Sometimes you’ll see “low fuming” or “green” MA but that stuff is just 15% MA and it is often sold at the same price as the concentrated stuff (so you’re paying more for less). Hardware stores sometimes carry the concentrated MA in their concrete and building materials section because contractors use it a lot. Lowe’s is known to put all of their pool chemicals out in their Garden section so you might find it there.
Two questions -
1. Do you get rain where you are?
2. Please measure your pool fill water supply and tell us what your pH, TA and CH of the fill water is (don’t bother measuring anything else but those parameters).
I went to Lowes and they didn't have muriatic acid in with the pool supplies but I didn't think to look in the concrete area for it. That's why I asked if it would have been part of another product sold for pools but I'll go look in the building supply or at Home Depot and get it there. To answer your questions,
1. Yes we do get a lot of rain in the summer here. We get usually almost every day between the hours of 15:00 - 18:00 and sometimes later with thunderstorms. We've got one coming on us now so had to get everyone out of the pool.
2. The levels you requested from my well where I get my fill water are as follows:
pH 7.5
TA 110
CH 550
I have been testing for CH everyday to make sure it doesn't go haywire in the pool and get too far out of hand.
1. Yes we do get a lot of rain in the summer here. We get usually almost every day between the hours of 15:00 - 18:00 and sometimes later with thunderstorms. We've got one coming on us now so had to get everyone out of the pool.
2. The levels you requested from my well where I get my fill water are as follows:
pH 7.5
TA 110
CH 550
I have been testing for CH everyday to make sure it doesn't go haywire in the pool and get too far out of hand.
- May 23, 2015
- 24,411
- Pool Size
- 16000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
Wow. Your municipal water is worse than mine....I didn’t think that was possible 
Can you divert rainwater to your pool? Any gutters near by? Before you expect it to rain, lower your pool water level by an inch. Let rainwater fill your pool.
Rain water has zero CH and only minimal TA (about 20-30ppm). It can help you to keep your CH and TA under control. Don’t believe the nonsense that rain water causes algae blooms, it doesn’t. In a properly chlorinated swimming pool, rain water will have almost no effect on sanitation. But it can help you greatly with maintaining a balanced saturation index.
Can you divert rainwater to your pool? Any gutters near by? Before you expect it to rain, lower your pool water level by an inch. Let rainwater fill your pool.
Rain water has zero CH and only minimal TA (about 20-30ppm). It can help you to keep your CH and TA under control. Don’t believe the nonsense that rain water causes algae blooms, it doesn’t. In a properly chlorinated swimming pool, rain water will have almost no effect on sanitation. But it can help you greatly with maintaining a balanced saturation index.
we probably got about an inch of rain here this afternoon and my pool was down a bit from everyone swimming in it. Maybe I need to look into a filtration system for our pump because we are on well water here, and the water we are pumping out of the ground is spring water. I'm going to recheck the water again tomorrow morning straight from the outside faucet. I took the readings from the end of the hose so that might have changed the readings.
- May 23, 2015
- 24,411
- Pool Size
- 16000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
A regenerative salt-based water softener would help remove the CH from the well. It is sometimes possible to get a small unit and only have it service your pool autofill if the plumbing is easy to modify. That way you can drink your refreshing spring water and the pool can stay off the calcium.
I installed a whole-house water softener a few years back and paid extra to have it plumbed into my auto-fill line (I also have a soft water spigot by the garage to wash the car with). It was worth EVERY penny.
I installed a whole-house water softener a few years back and paid extra to have it plumbed into my auto-fill line (I also have a soft water spigot by the garage to wash the car with). It was worth EVERY penny.