I read today on the back of a tub of Hardness+ not to add Alkalinity up at the same time. Why would that be?
Raising TA and CH at the same time
- Thread starter moore887
- Start date
- May 23, 2015
- 25,710
- Pool Size
- 16000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
Increasing both CH and TA at the same time can cause localized scaling of calcium carbonate and cloudy water. CH should not be raised arbitrarily, often it is not necessary. Why are you adding CH?
- May 23, 2015
- 25,710
- Pool Size
- 16000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
If your local water is soft and rain overflow makes it difficult to maintain CH, then try chlorinating with cal-hypo instead of liquid chlorine. It’s much easier to carry around and costs only slightly more than liquid (purchased in bulk it can cost less). You can dilute it in a buckets, then pour it out in front of return and sweep whatever granules hit the bottom. Depending on pH and TA, you might get some minor, temporary cloudiness but it will go away.
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Hi Matt, Thanks for the advise on the Cal-Hypo. I had heard of it but never gave it a second thought. The pool in question is a couple of doors down to me on a house that went for forclosure. Despite the pool cleaning company being paid, they stopped coming when they found the house had been sold. I helped the new owner in with furniture and just happened to catch the pool in time. The tadpoles and a couple of frogs had already opened up a resort!
There was no trace of any chemical in the pool so I slammed the living daylights out of it and pulled it clear in 3 days. I only brought up the CYA to 20 because there's a pentiar inline puck feeder on the pad and I reckon the owner can get away with loading it with trichlor until the CYA goes north of 70.
Like I mentioned, CH is at 120 ALK is readying 80. PH is holding it's own at 7.4 without drift.
Only real bad side of the pool is a suspected crack in the surround of the skimmer. Water level won't stay up as far as the skimmer. The owner has topped it off twice and within 2 days it's below the skimmer again, so that valve is now off and the main drain is on. There's a lot of brown stains on the floor of the pool. I think it has had a rough 20 years!
There was no trace of any chemical in the pool so I slammed the living daylights out of it and pulled it clear in 3 days. I only brought up the CYA to 20 because there's a pentiar inline puck feeder on the pad and I reckon the owner can get away with loading it with trichlor until the CYA goes north of 70.
Like I mentioned, CH is at 120 ALK is readying 80. PH is holding it's own at 7.4 without drift.
Only real bad side of the pool is a suspected crack in the surround of the skimmer. Water level won't stay up as far as the skimmer. The owner has topped it off twice and within 2 days it's below the skimmer again, so that valve is now off and the main drain is on. There's a lot of brown stains on the floor of the pool. I think it has had a rough 20 years!
- May 23, 2015
- 25,710
- Pool Size
- 16000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
Certainly looks like a good rescue story. The new owner should consider TFP if they’re amenable to that. Maybe but them a TF-100 as a house warming gift. Given the soft water, they can extend the water’s lifetime before draining by judiciously using cal-hypo and trichlor (never together though!) for chlorination. Calhypo would be a good choice when the rains come and dilute away the CH. Its just a matter of finding the right regimen and keeping an eye on all levels.
Thanks Matt, I will look into the Cal Hypo stuff. I'm not sure if this guy wants to even look after the pool himself as he has bought the place purely as an investment property (it was his wife that though the pool would be a good idea). I think a bulldozer might be more up his alley. He thought that the puck feeder was something you fill up every six months and the pool takes care of itself! I think he's in for a rude awakening! Maintaining a pool with low water level and no surface skimming is not going to be easy.
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