High PH - Feeling stupid

[Newbie65]

Thank you! Thank you! I will buy acid and bleach at lunch and go home after work and put it in. I checked my alk this morning and it was at 170. I will add the acid then the bleach and check in 2 hours. Hopefully, this will get me on track. How high do I need to keep my TC readings and for how long?

[KurtV]

...I checked my alk this morning and it was at 170. I will add the acid then the bleach and check in 2 hours.
I usually wait about an hour after dosing with one before adding the other.
Hopefully, this will get me on track. How high do I need to keep my TC readings and for how long?
You need to get your Free Chlorine (FC), not Total Chlorine (TC), up to shock levels, test frequently (like 3x per day if you can), and add more bleach after each test to return the FC to shock level. You can use "Ben's Best Guess Table" to determine the shock level for your pool but it's a function of the amount of CYA you have in the water. So, you're going to have to get more CYA reagent or take a sample to the pool store to have it tested for CYA. In the interim, it will probably be OK to use 15 ppm as a guestimate. As Michael said, it will take about six gallons of 6% bleach initially to get to 15ppm. You'll need to keep bringing the water to that level of FC until you hold FC overnight. It will probably take at least several days.

Best of luck.

[Newbie65]

Okay. Here's the update.... Put in half gallon of acid at 5:45 p.m. waited until 6:30 put in 6 gallons of bleach. Checked the pH at 8:30 still at or above 8.2 Chlorine WAY over 5 ppm, my HTH test kit only goes to 5 which is a nice yellow and my test turned almost orange. Went ahead and added the other half gallon of acid. Also, I felt the side of the pool and I have scaling/roughness, can anybody tell what to do about that? Hopefully in the morning I will awaken to a lower pH reading and a less green pool maybe cloudy blue??? Should I go ahead and brush tonight or just wait til morning?

[Newbie65]

Sat. a.m. - no change in color. Tests show orange cl, ph 7.2 (yipee), alk 150; going to try to get better test kit today so I can try to test cya. Any advice on what to do this afternoon?

[mwsmith2]

Good job on getting the pH down. If you are going to go get a test kit, and you have a Leslie's in your area, you might want to look for their High Range Cl test kit. It's a DPD-FAS test that will test up to 50 ppm Cl. It's considerably more accurate than the OTO test, as it will show you within 0.5 ppm where you are at. This will enable you to maintain the Cl level at 15 until the water clears (which is what you should be doing this afternoon, btw )

Let us know what happens with the CYA. Aim to keep your pH in the 7.5 range or so for now. We'll decide what to do once we find out the CYA level.

Michael

[mbar]

You can raise your ph while lowering your alk by facing your eyeballs up to aerate your water ( your pool return eyeballs, he he). Your alk should come down a little - it should be between 80 - 120, so this is a good time to use this method to raise your ph to 7.5

[Newbie65]

No one in my area had the type of kits you recommended. I ended up getting some evil test strips just to get an idea of my cya. They're showing 30-50 which is in range. The strip shows TC of 5 and FC of 10. The drop kit shows bright yellow so I guess 5. How can I figure out my FC and TC since neither the strips or the drop test go up high enough? I thought I saw a thread earlier that showed how to figure it but I've read so many now I can't remember where I saw it. If my levels drop should I wait until evening or go ahead and put bleach in anyway. I don't want to throw money hand over fist I'm spending enough as it is... When should I start brushing and vacuuming? My pool is still green....

[mbar]

Here is the "shot glass method": You can double the reading to 10 by mixing equal amounts of pool water and steam-distilled water. I like to use the "Shot Glass Method" --One shot of pool water, one shot of distilled water. Mix and now measure. If the reading is "5ppm", you have 10ppm. You can keep going - 3 shots will take you to 15ppm and so forth. You will not be able to test for combined chlorine with this method.

The test strips aren't too accurate, but the regular drop based kit with just chlorine and ph will be ok for testing with the method above for now. If you do have a cya of 30 to 50, then you need to have your chlorine at 15 to get to shock level. You will have to keep it there for a couple of days until you clear up all the algae. It is best to keep the chlorine level constant, so you should check at least 2 x a day - 3 times is better. Once you are holding chlorine overnight, then you probably have the algae killed. But since you can't test for combined chlorine right now, you should keep the chlorine levels high for a couple of more days. Remember to backwash and keep your filter running 24/7. Keeping your ph low is ok for now, because chlorine is more effective with a low ph, so I wouldn't worry about raising it for now. You can brush and vacuum right now - the more the better. Your water will clear with high chlorine levels, constant filtering, and regular backwashing. Oh yeah, did I mention patience? I always hate that patience thing!



Stabilizer . . . . . . Min. FC . . . . Max FC . . . 'Shock' FC
=> 0 ppm . . . . . . . 1 ppm . . . . . 3 ppm . . . . 10 ppm
=> 10 - 20 ppm . . . . 2 ppm . . . . . 5 ppm . . . . 12 ppm
=> 30 - 50 ppm . . . . 3 ppm . . . . . 6 ppm . . . . 15 ppm
=> 60 - 90 ppm . . . . 5 ppm . . . . . 10 ppm . . .. 20 ppm
=> 100 - 200 ppm . . . 8 ppm . . . . . 15 ppm . . .. 25 ppm

[aylad]

You need to start brushing and vaccuming NOW--as well as raising your chlorine to about 12-15 and keeping it there until the green goes away, which means testing and adding enough to get back up to the shock level at least 2 x daily. Right now your pH isn't as much of a concern as your algae problem, so I'd leave the acid alone--the amount of bleach you're going to use up to kill your algae bloom will probably raise your pH a tiny bit to get you back up to the middle of the " normal" range.

Your FC + CC will ALWAYS = TC, so your strip numbers aren't quite right. You'll do better to use Carl's shotglass dilution method that Marie described above along with your drop-based test kit. Keep your filter running, backwash as necessary, and it shouldn't take more than a few days to get your pool back to blue.
Janet

[Pamsel]

I'd like to add a question to this thread. I also have very high PH and over the last 30 hours have put in a total of 1 gal muriatic acid. I have a 14,500 gal pool. So far, the PH has not come down and my TA is also very high -320

I think I should have dumped in a half gallon of acid to start with, but now that I've put a gallon in since noon yesterday, do I wait or should I still go dump another 1/2 gallon in?

I'm maintaining my chlorine at about 10-12ppm - I need a kit that is accurate over 5ppm. Can someone tell me exactly which of Ben's kits to buy? It looks to me on the site that the main one is no longer available?

Thanks!