pH near 8 and possibly rising

[gorji]

Hello:

I've switched to the BBB method described in this forum. I've stopped using any chlorine tablets (trichlor) thru the feeder for 2 weeks now and have seen my pH drift up to near 8.

Cl 4
Total Cl 4
pH 8
Alkalinity 160
CYA 60
Calcium ~ 180

Should I be concerned that the pH is drifting up in the past 3 weeks since d/c the tablets? Before doing the BBB, I used to have to add pH up weekly to keep the pH between 7.2 and 7.8

Pool is 8800 gallons Fiberglass
Age of Pool is 1 year

I realize that pools have their own personality. I never thought that I may have to add acid to my pool.

Thank you

[PoolDoc]

You were adding acid before, in the form of tri-chlor(o-isocyanuric acid). When you stopped, you needed to replace it. There's nothing unusual about that.

[gorji]

Ok understood.
So its either acid or trichlor tabs keeping the CYA level in the back of mind and in check?
Thanks

[PoolDoc]

I think so -- I'm not completely sure I take your meaning.

But all forms of chlorine have side effects:

• Bleach has the fewest, and only adds chlorine & salt.
• Dichlor adds chlorine, stabilizer, and lowers the pH.
• Trichlor adds chlorine, some stabilizer, and lowers the pH quite a bit.
• Calcium hypochlorite adds chlorine, alkalinity, calcium, and raises the pH some.
• Salt water chlorine generation adds chlorine and raises the pH some.

These side effects may be good, bad, or indifferent.

For example, if you fill a pool with high pH / high TA water, dichlor's effects are ALL good: you shock the pool to get levels up, and the CYA also goes up, and the pH also goes done! But, if you use dichlor in a California pool with water that tends to be acid and is already high in CYA . . . then the side-effects are all bad.

So, for dichlor, trichlor, & cal hypo . . . we can't answer the question, "Is this good for my pool?" without knowing quite a lot about your pool. And, since one of the critical bits of info is CYA level -- at which 'guess-strips' are particularly bad -- we constantly end up whining about, "Please get a good test kit!"

We usually recommend bleach in unknown situations precisely because we often don't know enough about the pool to match side-effects and needs. (We also recommend it because it's almost always unavailable in un-gooped-up form!)

[gorji]

Thanks for the replies.

[PoolDoc]

Note re-edit of my earlier reply above. -ben

[gorji]

Understood and thank you.
When I got the pool, a friend of mind recommended the Taylor kits so recommended in this forum. At the time, I was wondering why but I have come to appreciate what I was told earlier.

I think it all comes to balancing stabilizer levels along of pH and Cl with the enemy being now or low chlorine (thus algae), extremes of pH and stabiilzer. I started to use the Trichlor tabs again just to try to keep the stabilizer levels from dropping too much but am relying on the bleach for the sanitizer not the tabs.

[aylad]

Looks like you've got a good handle on it! Just keep your chlorine in line with your stabilizer levels (see the "best guess chlorine chart" linked in Pooldoc's sig above) , watch your pH (the trichlor will drive it down, as you know), and you should be in great shape.

Janet