Nervous about adding Borax.

[DennyB65]

According to the instructions for fine tuning SWCG's here on The Forum, for my 12000 Gal. pool I should be adding 760 ounces of Borax and 14 Gal. of acid split between two doses. That means 380 ounces of Borax and 7 Gal. of acid, brush pool and add the same amounts again, brush again, then run pump for 24 hours straight and test. Please verify, this just seems like allot of chemical to be adding at one time. Would it be better to add over a longer period of time as is generally suggested with other chemicals? Thank You in advance for everyones replies.

[chem geek]

You can use The Pool Calculator (http://www.thepoolcalculator.com/) to calculate dosages, but what you wrote does not seem correct. To get to 50 ppm Borates, it would take 706 ounces of 20 Mule Team Borax (not 760 ounces, so was that a typo?) and 337 fluid ounces of full-strength Muriatic Acid (31.45% Hydrochloric Acid) which is 2.6 gallons, not 14 gallons (where did you get that number?). The out of balance condition is relatively brief, but if you want to you can alternatively add one box (76 ounces) of 20 Mule Team Borax with 36-1/2 fluid ounces (about 4-1/2 cups) of full-strength Muriatic Acid. If you add the Borax first, then the pH may rise to around 8.3 while if you add the acid first the pH may drop to around 7.0 but the combination will keep the pH the same, say at 7.5 if that's what you started with. Just make sure to add slowly over a return flow at the deep end for best mixing and lightly brush the side and bottom of the pool after addition (especially after adding the acid).

[DennyB65]

Thanks Chem Geek! Not quite sure how I came up with 14 Gal of Muriatic Acid!