rising Alkalinity help!

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ladiekali

0
Nov 24, 2016
79
Davenport Florida
ok my current read out

cya less than 25
TA 130
Ph 7.5
FC 5.6

this morning

cya less than 25
TA 120
Ph 7.4
FC 0.2

all i added was sodium hypochlorite and pointed jets up for some hopeful aeration.

so why is alkalinity climbing over just 5 or 6 hours?

the other day i had alkalinity down to 100 from 170 using muriatic acid...
which lowered ph too much, oops.

i added some ph up, not knowing that it will raise alkalinity, it raised alkalintiy 20 ppm and that's where i started with this week,

so what's going on with alkalinity?

also, i wait 1-2 days after adding chemicals before i retest
I also scrub the entire pool walls and floor to help mix everything up, just in case.
 
ladiekali said:
ok my current read out

cya less than 25
TA 130
Ph 7.5
FC 5.6

this morning

cya less than 25
TA 120
Ph 7.4
FC 0.2

all i added was sodium hypochlorite and pointed jets up for some hopeful aeration.

so why is alkalinity climbing over just 5 or 6 hours?

the other day i had alkalinity down to 100 from 170 using muriatic acid...
which lowered ph too much, oops.

i added some ph up, not knowing that it will raise alkalinity, it raised alkalintiy 20 ppm and that's where i started with this week,

so what's going on with alkalinity?

also, i wait 1-2 days after adding chemicals before i retest
I also scrub the entire pool walls and floor to help mix everything up, just in case.
Click to expand...

Are you following this?:
How To Lower Total Alkalinity

You could easily have a +/- 1-drop error, especially at higher levels. Are you going slowly, about 1-drop per second, letting the drop naturally form and drop off on its own for every drop?

Honestly, I would be more concerned with that FC of 0.2ppm. You should be maintaining FC in the 3-6ppm range, never going below 2ppm.

If you still find your pH rising a bit quick, continue the acid / aeration routine. The TA will lower making your pH a bit more stable.
 
+1 to which test kit?

Variance of +/- 10 is not very important. Lowering alkalinity will make acid additions less frequent. Other than that both readings say TA is fine.

As far as where TA comes from. Mostly from fill water, from adding chems, and for a period of time from plaster and grout.

I can tell by your questions you're really getting the hang of this. Pool school has lots of good info. I trust that the 0.2 FC was alarming ;)
 
I got beat to the punch on my post by two others! :brickwall: Gotta work on my speed. :) I agree, TA is fine for now. Low FC is alarming.

Remember this simple thought:
- CYA and FC work together to keep pool algae-free
- PH, TA, and CH work together for calcium & acidity control

Next time you post, tomorrow perhaps, try to post a full set of numbers so we can see the CH as well. But right now, I would make sure the FC is between 3-5 ppm and never let it drop below 2 ppm. Hope that helps.
 
i don't know the name of the test kit, it came in a blue box, complete fas dpd chlorine it says

no worries on the chlorine, i'm slamming now... i just took all the numbers before i slammed,

wait.... will slamming affect the alkalinity level?

or not?

also, my water is well water, do you think the alkalinity could be raising when i refill from back washing the filter?

and yes, i use slow drops, i've read all that...

background infor: i bought this house with a pool, it was green, cya level well over 100, maybe even close to 170.
got the cya down, and wasn't too worried about the chlorine level as i was doing a lot of filling and draining,
just shocked the pool once a week. (with liquid chlorine so as not to raise the cya)

then was trying to get the alkalinity down from 170 to a normal range before chlorinating, figured 100 was good enough, but it's still raising.

but decided to go ahead and slam anyway to prevent algae problems...

trying to raise the ph with aeration, so that when i add more muriatic acid i can try to keep my ph above atleast 7.2
 
Since you are doing a SLAM, remember the SLAM basics:
- PH needs to be low (7.2-7.4) before increasing FC with bleach
- Since your CYA is at 30 or slightly under, your SLAM level is about 10 (it would be 12 with a CYA of 30) - don't overshoot FC.
- Once you pass the SLAM, then you can worry about the TA if needed. Focus more (after the SLAM) on what your pH does. If pH shoots-up fast each week, then you know you need to work on lowering TA more. But after the SLAM.

That blue test kit, is that from the pool store? Does it have the FAS-DPD (powder & drops) for testing FC over 5 ppm? If not, then you need to order the FAS-DPD to correctly perform your SLAM: FAS/DPD Chlorine & CC's test
. That's a must if you don't have it.
 
oh, and the calcium hardness level is off the charts, i have well water which is also hard water. there is nothing i know to do about it but deal with it.


should i be testing my water straight from the pool, would it be better to let the water get closer to room tempature?
 
Don't worry about CH at the moment. The SLAM is most important to prevent algae - especially with well water. You need to use the FAS-DPD (powder & drops) to monitor FC and CC until you pass the SLAM. That's priority #1. The other stuff can be managed after. Test everything from your pool at this point.
 

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i got my test kit from amazon. i don't understand your question, but i'm assuming i got the right one.
I just tested my chlorine level for slamming and it came to 12, i was shooting for 10, but i figure it's probably ok.

and just to share, this was what it looked like before i found this forum!
originally it was bubbly and smelled of sewage, so this was a lot of progress...


i do want to say, thanks for helping me. i've been very overwhelmed with all this.

- - - Updated - - -

and what it looks like now....

 
Since the sun is down, here's what you should do:
- Test adjust FC before going to bed. If you need to add bleach to reach an FC of 12, do it and double-check to make sure it's at 12.
- In the morning, before the sun hits the water, test FC again. If it's still at 11 or 12, that's great. If it dropped below 11, then you continue the SLAM.

If your FC held at 11 or above, and your CC is tested at 0.5 or less, and water is clear (which it seems to be) then you pass!

So reviewing the 3 SLAM criteria one more time:
- You don't lose more than 1 ppm of FC overnight
- CC is 0.5 or less
- Water is clear

Good luck!
 
wow at 7:30 my FC was 12
tested again at 9pm FC 8
added 64 oz of chlorine and at 10 it tested FC 17

so, maybe my pool is closer to 18000 gallons than 20,000?

I'm almost out of r-0871, should my local pool store have any refills?
i'll need to get some more tomorrow to continue slamming.
 
ok, i've thought about this alot, and i think it was 17 drops not 17 fc... i think i forgot to multiply by .5.... there's just no mathmatical way that 2.5 gallons of chlorine got my pool that is 18000-20000 gallons up to 17... and so i retested it just now an hour later, and it is measuring 8.5

i can smell some chlorine so i know it's killing something in there, i believe there is algae in the pores of the concrete.

I've brushed the pool twice just since 7:30 tonight and both times it kicked up stuff on the bottom and each time it looks cleaner.
 
Makin progress! Excellent. Chlorine has no smell but chloramines do, which form as contaminants are neutralized. The common name around here is motel pool smell. And yep, your SLAM is workin!! :stirpot:
 
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