Kiddie pool PH help

Hi. I am new to this forum and new to pool ownership. We decided to start with a small inflatable rectangular shape kiddie pool without a filter. We filled from a municipal source last week and don't want to have to keep draining and putting in new water due to the cost. I bought a PH/Chlorine test kit from our hardware store and chlorine tablets and a floating dispenser. The chlorine level has been stable for the past week. I am confused about the PH level. I don't understand the difference between the numbers and increase and PH and any info I have found online has confused me more. When I do the test daily the numbers are high and the color is a medium purple. I believe I need to increase the PH to bring the numbers down? Is that right? I have been adding Borax at the rate of 2 tablespoons daily but that has not made much of a difference. The pool contains 400 gallons and I mix the borax with the pool skimmer into the water and then retest after 4 hours or so. Do I need to add more Borax? Should I buy a PH increaser instead? My hardware store tried to sell me a large bottle of the increaser but from what I have read Borax will pretty much do the same thing. Any help someone can give would be so appreciated! Lisa

HI Lisa,

Borax does increase pH. You want your pH to be between 7.0 and 7.8. So if you are below 7.0, then you need to add the Borax to bring it back up. If you are above that range, then you need to stop adding Borax. The chlorine pucks you're using are very acidic and will tend to drive pH downward....so if you're not too high above the range, then just let the trichlor bring it down. If you're up in the mid 8 range, though, you need to add a little pH down or muriatic acid to drop it a little bit. If you will post the test result you're getting, we can help advise you better.....

Welcome to the forum!

membership upgraded. -ben

And, now, I've also moved the thread where it goes, so you can access it. Sorry.