Sudden cloudiness

[waterbear]

I ordinally do not run my filter all night, I hope I do not have to , to much longer, my electric bill is going to hurt this month.
Barry

THIS is why testing your water on a regular basis and keeping it balanced is so important. It saves a LOT of money in the long run.

[Barry J]

I just re-tested this AM, and got Cl at 5, and Ph at around 7.0....more baking soda???
I leaving tomorrow morning, I should be safe with my dad just adding granular chlorine for a week, correct??
Barry

[Watermom]

Baking soda is not used to raise pH, it is used to raise alk. What is your alk now? 20 Mule Team Borax (laundry aisle at Walmart) is used to raise pH. Add a half a box slowly to the skimmer. Retest pH a couple hours later and add a little more if it is still below 7.6.

Did you add the rest of the CYA as advised?

[Barry J]

I added the CYA as advised last night.
In the medical field a ph of 7.45 or higher is called alkalosis, that is where I figured raising the Ph is raising the alk...I'll go test that now

Total alkalitiy is 80ppm..how much borax???

Oh yeah borax is for the ph......sorry I'm already in "vacation mode"...ok some how is my alk???? Do I need anymore baking soda???

[BigDave]

Your alk is good enough. If (after a while) you find you pH is moving too quickly, you may consider bumping up a little with baking soda.

[Watermom]

What is the ingredient in your granular chlorine. Cal-hypo or dichlor? What is your pH?

[Barry J]

49% Calcium Hypochlorite
My ph was 7.0

[waterbear]

if cal hypo and sodium hypochlorite are your main forms of chlorine than an ALK of 80 is perfect once you get the pH up with borax. It will minimize pH rise from outgassing of CO2 which will be the main cause of pH instability in your pool.

[Watermom]

You've got to get that pH up before you leave town. Get it to 7.6 or so. Add borax, wait 2 hours, retest, redose until you get it there. 7.0 is too low. If it drops any lower, the water will become acidic and can damage your pool. Take it up to around 7.6. No higher than 7.8.

[SalemCastles]

Since you haven't been measuring . . . .

================================================

In this post, DurhamHouses took some positions contrary to the 'standard' advice we give here. He might be right . . . but our policy has long been that if you want to contradict our standard advice, you may do so in the China Shop. There, you can argue it out to your heart's content.

And . . . if you prove your point, we'll change.

But, we do not do those debates in the middle of threads, where we're trying to help someone.

So . . . his thread, and subsequent replies have all been moved to this thread:
http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?13588
in the China Shop.

Sincerely,

Ben Powell