Should I raise my pH and/or TA?

Jump to latest Follow Reply
JotaDe

JotaDe

0
Dec 22, 2016
30
Austin, TX
Hi folks, I don't believe I've posted here before so I'll provide some background.
I'm a new pool owner of of 3 years, we inherited a pool that was about 10 years old at the time we purchased our current house. I stopped using a pool service a few months ago as I've always wanted to manage the chemistry myself and just needed to get some of the move-in projects completed before I took it over. Plus I used to own a salt water reef tank, so maintaining water chemistry isn't completely foreign to me.

So far I've been able to keep the pool in decent shape, the water is clear and no obvious visible issues are arising. I've been playing with using a combination of tablets and liquid chlorine in order to maintain my FC and not need to add so much liquid bleach daily. A concern is the CYA level which seems to be somewhere between 70-90 (the testing process is pretty difficult to get accurate readings), so while I know this is high, and tends to mean I need to maintain a higher FC reading, I'm not sure if it is impacting my pH and TA results.

Current pH and TA readings:
pH = 7.26
TA = 70

As I understand, both of these are acceptable ranges, but are nearing the minimum threshold. Should I be raising either of them now?
 
Jo,

The tablets are driving your pH and TA down.. The one advantage to tablets is that they have acid in them... the disadvantage, as you already know, is that your CYA is out of control...

I would not do anything to your pH or TA... As long as pH is in the 7's and your TA is above 50 you are good.

Thanks,

Jim R.
 
Howdy Maddie :)
I didn't add in my full test results as I assumed folks looked them up from the signature. My mistake, and I now see there doesn't seem to be a link to the poolmatch.app results so here they are:

FC = 9.5
CC = 0.0
pH = 7.26
TA = 70
CH = 300
CYA = 80
Temp = 79°
 
I didn't add in my full test results as I assumed folks looked them up from the signature. My mistake, and I now see there doesn't seem to be a link to the poolmatch.app results so here they are:
Click to expand...

Oh gosh! That feature isn't too old so I forget to check that first! Thanks for the reminder. You can find them under the Avatar of folks who have turned that feature on.
 
I'd leave TA alone and the pH could be raised a bit to 7.6 to get the water balanced a bit better. Use aeration to raise the pH a bit. Point the return eye up to let the water roll at the surface. It is a bit slow, but no chemicals are needed.
Your PoolMath logs are available, so thank you for setting that up.
 
Thanks folks. I appreciate your replies.

Somehow I thought I saw a comment about changing to SWG, but I don’t see it anymore. Apparently this pool had that originally, but it also has coping made of local limestone. And the salt ate through it ASAP. In fact apparently they quickly replaced the coping (same material) and got rid of the SWG. I’d prefer to go back to SWG, but I don’t think that’s an option given all of the limestone around the pool. IF the pool coping and deck was constructed of a stronger material I’d switch to SWG in a heartbeat.
 
Soft stone is vulnerable to erosion in any pool environment. Non- SWCG still have 1000+ppm salt due to the liquid chlorine, fill water, muriatic acid, sweat, etc. Worst case you need to seal the stone, and that should be done regardless how you chlorinate the pool.

This forum has never seen a documented case of stone erosion specifically attributable to the salinity levels needed for a SWCG that are maintained at TFP parameters.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply