SLAM complete, now to balance TA and pH

[goonerbilt]

I'm going to be building me an aerator this weekend that will go into my Jet port to start raising my pH so I can then add Muratic acid to bring it and the TA back down.
Current test results:
FC: 7.0
CC: 0.5
pH: 7.4
TA: 190
CH: 60
CYA: 40
CSI: -0.670

My questions before I get started are:

• Is there any reason to rush this process to bring the TA down? From what I have read, I don't believe there is, but want to confirm
• How do you control the TA and pH with fountains and water features in pools when you have them both in ideal ranges? I plan to turn the jet port into a fun water fountain so that the kids can enjoy it and I can work on the TA. However, as I know my kids once I get the TA under control they will still want me to put the fountain in every now and then for fun and it will continue to raise the pH and not the TA.
• Are there any "Do/Don't do this or that" I should be aware of when developing an aerator? I'm a fluid dynamic Engineer and will be developing it to optimize flow rate and velocity with the pressures that my pump develops. I also plan to have a small jet still come out under water to help maintain some underwater circulation. Anything else?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Richard320]

No there is no rush. pH will rise plenty quick on its own and then you can deal with it.

Once the TA is pretty low, the pH rise is smaller and slower. Running a fountain for an hour is not going to ruin everything. And with low TA, the amount of acid to adjust pH becomes so small that TA reduction is hardly noticeable.

You'd know more than me about the physics involved.

 

[splashpad]

• Are there any "Do/Don't do this or that" I should be aware of

So, I'll say it since Richard didn't No need to "chase" TA. Just monitor the PH, when it rises, lower it with a dose of MA.
Kids splashing will raise the PH w/higher TA's and the fountains are awesome!
That being said: If you do end up using up all your TA, it's added with a bit of baking soda (you can literally make it an unending cycle)
With vinyl, the most important thing is to not have the PH lower than 7, it damages it.

 

[goonerbilt]

Thanks Richard, that is what I was hoping to hear. I assumed it wasn't impossible to manage as a lot of people have water features in their pools and seem to manage it just fine.

I'm guessing I should start slow and only have the aerator in for a couple hours a day to monitor the effects on the pH to start with.

Now that I think about it, I might split my return from the filter so that I can just keep the Jet in the pool and build a separate water feature that I can just mount to the deck railing that will shoot into the pool. Then I can have a ball valve on each line to be able to control flow and on/off for each line separately. Then I don't need to remove the Jet every time I want to run the water feature just turn some ball valves.

 

[goonerbilt]

Thanks for the pH notification as well!!! I will be sure to lower it down to 7.2 each time to be sure not to "push the limit".