For some reason, I'm having a real problem balancing my pH and TA this season. I have a 400-gallon spa and use PoolMath to balance everything. I've been using the same routine for over five years now and have never had a problem - until now. I'm constantly chasing my tail trying to get the pH and TA to the proper levels. If I get my pH to 7.5 then my TA drops to around 30. I add the amount of Baking Soda that PoolMath calls for and my TA gets up to 50 or 60 where I want it to be but the pH goes off the scale on the high end. It usually takes around three ounces of Muriatic Acid to get it back down to around 7.5. Then my TA usually drops to about 20 or 30 and then the balancing act starts all over again. So far this season I've gone through about 8 ounces of acid and the same amount of baking soda.
Should I just work on getting my pH correct and not worry about the TA? Also, in the past when I got everything consistently balanced according to PoolMath, I would then add Gentle Spa and they would pretty much stay spot on until the next water change. All I would work on is keeping my FC readings in line. Until this year it's always taken about a day or two to get everything balanced but this year it's been a week and still not there yet. Any suggestions would be most appreciated.
Should I just work on getting my pH correct and not worry about the TA? Also, in the past when I got everything consistently balanced according to PoolMath, I would then add Gentle Spa and they would pretty much stay spot on until the next water change. All I would work on is keeping my FC readings in line. Until this year it's always taken about a day or two to get everything balanced but this year it's been a week and still not there yet. Any suggestions would be most appreciated.