TFP Expert Discussion - pH and Alkalinity

[mknauss]

Come join us this Saturday, July 24, 2021 at 4 pm EDT/1 pm PDT. Joyfulnoise (aka Matt) will be joining us for a discussion about pH, Alkalinity, and how they effect pool water chemistry. We will be using Zoom. Questions will be submitted via Chat during the Zoom call.

 

[mknauss]

A bump to the top of the New Posts list.

Lot's of questions are asked daily about pH and TA on the forum. This Discussion will help those that have those questions. Please plan to listen in live or view the recorded version when it is posted.

 

[woodyp]

I see your bump and raise you a Bump!

 

[Newdude]

I raise your bump with a throwback photo from the first expert discussion. Look how young @Texas Splash was.

 

[Texas Splash]

 

[JoyfulNoise]

The lecture will last a little over 90mins with no bathroom breaks. At the end there will be a 20 question review test. You’ll have 15mins to complete the exam … no calculators allowed, slide rules are optional. All answers must be in ink and you must “show your work”. Please record all answers with 3 decimal point precision.

 

[mknauss]

Just a reminder -- Time is different that some of the past Discussions. 4PM EDT -- 1PM MST/PDT ---

 

[woodyp]

Crud!.....Got the right day this time but just noticed it was on Pacific time! and................

I can still make a pretty good "cheat sheet"!

 

[markayash]

will the TF store sell the banners like Matt has

 

[mknauss]

will the TF store sell the banners like Matt has

That is actually a round beach towel. Not sure if the store has them or not.

 

[woodyp]

I got one!

 

[HermanTX]

Great job Matt. Your PowerPoint presentation helped reduce the complexity of the chemistry. Obviously, your verbal explanation helped immensely. I missed the ending but will review when the recording is posted.

 

[GSD_fanatic]

I'm looking forward to the recorded version...I keep checking for it

I saw the one from last week (first one for me) and it was very informative.

Thank you mknauss and TFP for hosting these!!

 

[Leebo]

I'm looking forward to the recorded version...I keep checking for it

I saw the one from last week (first one for me) and it was very informative.

Thank you mknauss and TFP for hosting these!!

I’d guess it’ll be tomorrow morning early when I upload this for the public. I need to add some chapter markers to things and thanks to Matt’s geek out session it’s kinda difficult to do on this one.

 

[Lineman7]

Fiddle… I was too busy swimming

 

[TexEdmond]

 

[Selenap]

I don’t have the Zoom. Or maybe? I’m not important enough for fancy meeting over the Internet thankyouverymuch.

 

[mknauss]

 

[GSD_fanatic]

Very informative Matt!! , even though some of it was a tad too deep for me to comprehend on a Sunday morning.

Picked up several pointers that I'll remember for sure. Like the temperature affecting the PH when using a probe, I didn't know that. I saw several that could be bought for less then $20 and wondered if one of those would be sufficient. But when I saw numerous raves about the PH60, I went that route. Knowing what I now know, plus the ease of using it gave no reason for regrets.

Speaking of the probe...did I understand correctly? When testing the TA I can use the probe and when it reaches 4.5, that's the magic # that tells me I reached the max # of drops to add? I'll have to go back and review...dang dog kept interrupting me for attention.

Overall , it was an excellent discussion on the relationship between PH and TA and ones effect on the other. And what I took away the most is not get too focused on maintaining an exact #. Which admittedly I did at times.

Thanks mknauss and JoyfulNoise

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Very informative Matt!! , even though some of it was a tad too deep for me to comprehend on a Sunday morning.

Picked up several pointers that I'll remember for sure. Like the temperature affecting the PH when using a probe, I didn't know that. I saw several that could be bought for less then $20 and wondered if one of those would be sufficient. But when I saw numerous raves about the PH60, I went that route. Knowing what I now know, plus the ease of using it gave no reason for regrets.

Speaking of the probe...did I understand correctly? When testing the TA I can use the probe and when it reaches 4.5, that's the magic # that tells me I reached the max # of drops to add? I'll have to go back and review...dang dog kept interrupting me for attention.

Overall , it was an excellent discussion on the relationship between PH and TA and ones effect on the other. And what I took away the most is not get too focused on maintaining an exact #. Which admittedly I did at times.

Thanks mknauss and JoyfulNoise

As far as the pH probe method goes for measuring TA, I would only do that if you have 4.0 pH calibrating solution and you can calibrate your probe to that value. A 2-point calibration method (not every probe can do this) wound be optimal. The thing to remember about pH probes is that they are not perfectly linear over the full scale of pH. Only the most expensive lab-grade probes with 3-point calibration are going to have a wide linear range. Most pocket probes are only going to be linear around their calibration point for maybe +/- 1.0 pH unit.

So if you plan to use your probe for TA, you need to calibrate it to a pH of 4.0.