TA woes with Arizona water...

[Rattus Suffocatus]

Okay.. I am about to add a Circupool SWCG in a matter of several days (it's on its way), and I have been having the same sort of issue I always have had here in Arizona with Low pH and high Total Alkalinity.

I admit I need to get the kids in the water and splash a lot.. but it's still cold enough that it isn't enough... They can only take an hour or so... This hopefully will change by the end of the week according to the weather, but I still think I need to rig something up to aerate much more.... Any suggestions, even if I have to add an additional pump or some sort of other device? I can start running the VSP on "quick clean" several times a day I suppose.....

I had the pool more or less settle into a pH 7.2 / TA 90 for several days (CH 275, CYA 40 -- yes I need to increase, SALT 800 -- before adding any, Temp 75F)....I could really get razzed and state that it looks like my CYA went down a little over the winter... like to 35... but I won't do that... I know better and I need to add more regardless....

But I didn't test yesterday, and today, I tested and my freaking TA jumped up to 110. (On both of my different test kits.) So I fear this is going to be a real problem with having the SWCG... unless it really does raise pH a lot on it's own. My fill water varies in CH from 150-350 or so depending on the time of year, but TA is pretty consistently 150-160. At least on my not quite statistically significant sampling so far. (And on CH from the Tucson Water department website going back for years.)

It sat all winter at 7.8 pH/TA 130/CH 250/CYA 40.. pretty much even CSI... So.. I am even questioning my intelligent in adding the SWCG now, except for the fact I really want to get the maintenance down to weekends only....

I can't find any Borax anywhere... that is a possible solution and I am hesitant to add soda ash because I could get away with a little...

So what do you experts recommend I do in the meantime? More acid and aggressive aeration? Any stupid aeration tricks that you have? I wish I still had that little electric outboard motor...

I should mention that on the hot tub I can aerate enough to raise pH with the jets.... so it's possible... but I am having a heck of a time doing that with the pool as it is equipped.

 

[mknauss]

Install the SWCG. The elevated TA may or may not create scale flakes. They will not hurt anything.

Do no chemically raise your pH. All of them add some TA, soda ash adds aLOT of TA.

 

[scottts]

Trust me. When you turn that SWCG, your pH will rise and you will dose acid enough to bring down the TA. My TA is 50 right now.

 

[Rattus Suffocatus]

Okay.. I was just more or less freaked out about the rapid rise I had seen in TA in a couple of days. I suppose it is possible that since I am try to aerate a bit that I mixed everything up better and I really hadn't gotten the whole mass of water down to TA 90... but if not... wow...

I did like the idea of adding some Borax for pH stabilization.. but I still have concerns (probably invalid) about toxicity... my dogs are stupid... they prefer the pool water to anything else I put out!

I suppose running negative CSI for a few weeks won't ultimately hurt the cell and I am getting the bypass.. I could pull it out and use up the liquid chlorine I have if needed for awhile... as it is I might get it going and run it at half (and if I get busy turn it back up) until I get down to my last couple of gallons of liquid chlorine (and I am still using in the detached hot tub...)

 

[scottts]

I've been running slightly negative CSI (actually LSI as that's what the intellicenter reports) for months through the winter. As I understand it it helps keep calcium off the chlorinator cell plates. Looked at them last weekend and they seemed brand new. Can't wait to see how water chemistry changes now that the temps are going up.