Will borates help with autofill that is extremely high pH?

[LDave]

Hi all! My autofill source runs pH > 8.2. Its off that charts on both my ways to test; R-0004 and R-0014. My autofill TA is 130.

I'm averaging to need to add 3/4 to full gallon of MA (14.5%) per week in Phoenix, AZ at this time of year to keep the pH in the 7.6-7.8 range. Will borates help with this? Can it reduce the impact of high pH coming in? Or is it all about stabilizing other sources of pH increasing?

 

[proavia]

Try letting your pH sit in the 7.8 to 8.0 range.
Just keep your CSI in the 0.00 to -0.30 range to minimize calcium scaling.

An reason why you are using 14.5% acid instead of 31.45%?
The higher strength 31.45% muriatic acid costs about the same as the lower strength 14.5% - and you would use half as much for the same pH change.

Borates will slow the pH rise, but you end to use more acid to move the pH lower.

 

[ajw22]

No, borates will not help with high pH fill water.

 

[LDave]

No good reason except I figured it was more expensive since it was 2x+ the strength but I never bothered checking. Thanks for the tip! I never see prices on these things at Home Depot. I've ignored CSI until now and looking at PoolMath I see its high based upon Sunday's measurements. Which should now be lower because it just got 1g of MA on Sunday. But I can see tweaking my pH just a little lower it moves down quickly. I've been adding MA 1x or 2x a week. I guess it would likely be beneficial to just figure out what it needs daily and just add it in smaller doses to keep the levels more stables across the board.

 

[jark87]

I’m in a similar situation: high pH and TA fill water. I also use a chiller during the summer, causing more rapid evaporation as well as aerating the water. As suggested above, I manage my pH to the 7.8-8.0 level during the summer, primarily because it’s next to impossible to keep it lower than that. I use 31.45% MA and add roughly 1 pint 2x per week. It’s manageable. I try keeping TA in the 60-70 range, but it also often gets to 80.