Reducing TA?

[Idigress]

Getting there slowly...yesterday I replaced 25% of water with fresh to get salt down. I used the pool math calculator and added 26oz muriatic acid to lower pH of 7.8. Here are my readings this afternoon:


Free Chlorine (FC) 3
Total Chlorine (TC) 3
Copper Ions (weekly) 0
Cyanuric Acid (CYA) 50
Acidity/Alkilinity (pH) 7.5
Total Alkalinity (TA) 240
Calcium Hardness (CH) 600
Total Hardness (TH) 500
Salt (weekly) 3500

TA is still too high. The calculator tells me to add 34oz of washing soda-is this same as baking soda? Or add 67oz of borax. Won't this kick my pH back up? Seems like a vicious circle ?

 

[pooldv]

That TA is very high. Here is how to lower it, Pool School - Lower Total Alkalinity

 

[waskydiver]

Keep your pH low.... Lower it more, even... 7... 7.2.

Keep it low.

1) This will keep your CSI in range.
2) This will drive down your TA.

The high TA will drive up your pH, which you will keep knocking down with acid, which will lower your TA.

Accelerate your pH rise with aeration, so you can knock it down to decrease your TA.

Eventually, you will find an equilibrium.

 

[Idigress]

Thanks, I'm working on it ��

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Thanks! Ok, I've added more acid and turned on the pump. Will that work for aerating the pool? Will pool be safe for swimmers in an hour or two?

 

[Idigress]

Thanks! Added more acid and have pump circulating. Will this be adequate for aeration?

 

[Richard320]

Thanks, I'm working on it ��

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Thanks! Ok, I've added more acid and turned on the pump. Will that work for aerating the pool? Will pool be safe for swimmers in an hour or two?

It's safe right now. TA is not harmful. A bunch of kids splashing will aerate better than anything you can devise.

What I'd worry about is what you're testing with. Are those pool store results?

 

[Idigress]

No, test strips just purchased. I'll take a sample to the pool store.

 

[Richard320]

No, test strips just purchased. I'll take a sample to the pool store.

You bwould do better to buy a test kit than go to the store. A test kit is a chunk o'change, but still cheaper than all the garbage the pool store will try to foist on you.

 

[Idigress]

Agree, will eventually get a Taylor test kit ��

Pool store tested my water and TA was 240. Everything else was fine except for low CYA, so I added 2lbs in a washing bag, tossed over the return. Running pump for 6 hours. Will test again around 10pm using my test strips.

 

[spinPHD]

Strongly recommend that you don't add anything other than some bleach until you get test kit. Pool store tests and guess strips are notoriously bad at the CYA test. By adding stabilizer without knowing your accurate amount right now could be causing more harm than good