Acid Question

[Sunny32504]

I have a 24' round vinyl liner pool and my PH is 8.2 > the pool store told me to put in 1 pint of acid . Does that sound like enough. That stuff is scary to mess with too

[cygnusecks]

It depends on how big your pool is. How big is it in terms of gallons of water? I also don't find acid all that dangerous. I mean yeah if you drink it, that's bad. If you get a little on your skin, as long as you wash it off asap, no big deal. Just don't mix it with anything and don't let it splash around your kids and pets and you should be fine. Some people dilute it carefully in a giant bucket of water before pouring into pool. I just walk around the deep end and pour it in a little at a time.

[Sunny32504]

I think I have about 17,000 gallons .

[KurtV]

Sunny,
Assuming your 24' pool has 48" of water in it (52" high side walls), it holds about 13,500 gallons of water.

Determining how much acid to add to lower the pH a given amount is a little tricky because there are several variables. I would guess that a pint of acid would lower you pH about 0.2 or 0.3.

That's actually a very good approach to lowering ph (and adjusting other parts of your pool chemistry). Add a little, wait at least a few hours to circulate the water and distribute whatever you've added, test again, and repeat as necessary using successively smaller doses as you approach the goal.

(The exception to waiting a few hours to retest is cyanuric acid; it can take up to a week to dissolve so you have to be patient when adding it.)

[Sunny32504]

I added the acid at about 6:15 and it is now 8:22 no movement so I guess I will wait till tomorrow . I want to put shock in there but waiting for the PH to come down so it will work better . I will try again at about 9:30 and it nothing changes I will try tomorrow . I can't leave my filter running alll night because it worries my hubby because of the algea floating and he is concerned abou tpressure buiding in the filter

[waste]

Hi Sunny, I agree with cygn's assesment of the real hazard of muriatic (though it's not a toy and should be respected - ie take appropriate protective measures Glasses, gloves and long sleeves and pants) It should NOT be stored near your chlorine - the 2 'mix it up' VIOLENTLY (they can explode and the gasses would knock you off your feet, perhaps forever!)

As for 1 pt being enough, it is far far better to add the chems slowly (or at least in small doses) than to have to add another chem to undo the damage done by adding too much of something. So, add the pint of acid, let the pool run for ~ 4 hours, and test the water again. You can use the first amt of change (why isn't there a 'DELTA' symbol - and for that matter a 'DEGREE' symbol??) to gauge the amt to add to get where you want to be.

EDIT* What the heck is going on here tonight? Every time I post, somebody(s) posted whilst I type? It's gotta be Monday - our service van dropped its drive shaft onto the road this afternoon

[Sunny32504]

Sure enough it is to 7.6 today . yea!!!!! now I can add some bleach