high pH and TA, cloudy water

[Watermom]

To answer your questions:
-- go ahead and add more acid today after you test pH to see where it is
-- fine to add bleach 15 minutes after adding acid --- just need to get it mixed it a bit first
-- You can swim 15-30 minutes after adding acid or bleach. As long as it has had time to mix in so nobody swims into a hot spot, you're fine.
-- You can buy CYA reagent (R-0013) from the test kit link in Ben's signature above.

By the way, will you please take a minute and add your pool's information to our pool chart? It makes it easier for someone here on the forum to give you good advice to you.

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EDIT -- Looks like Jan was posting while I was typing but our advice is nearly all the same.

[fiveUNDERfive]

Thanks for your help. I'll report back after we get some MA. Approx how long (how many 1/4 gallon additions) will it take to lower the pH? Will the MA also help my incredibly high TA? I am using well water if that makes any difference. Last summer, when we filled, our outdoor hoses came off AFTER all our water treatment (iron out, water softener, greenlight filter) but this year hubby had the hose bays changed so they are directly off the well. We have had to fill slightly more often than last year bc we have a slow leak near the pump. I am not sure if that is the reason for my increased difficulty or not.

BTW, I did complete the pool chart earlier before I posted.

Thanks for your help!
J

[aylad]

As your pH comes down, so will your alk--and as the pool is aerated by swimming, splashing, etc, the TA will slowly be stripped away (until it raises again when you top off your pool )

There's not much of a way for me to guess how many additions it will take to bring the pH down--a lot depends on how high the pH really is, what your TA is (the higher the TA, the more likely it is to take more MA) and what your actual doses really are. You'll just have to add, test, and adjust--trying to shoot for exact numbers doesn't work very well!

Janet

[fiveUNDERfive]

Tested late afternoon.

CL 1-3
pH 7.8
TA 190

Added MA.

Tested now (about 2-3 hrs later)
CL 1
pH 7.5-7.8
TA 240!

Why did the TA increase with the MA??

Ugh. This is so frustrating. I see no difference in the water's clarity...still very cloudy. Now perhaps slightly green tinged.

I added the rest of the pH down (just to use it up -about 9 oz). Waited a few mins and added a gallon of bleach. Will test again in the am.

[aylad]

Acid isn't the only thing that will cure cloudy water--and with a CYA of 50, a Cl of 1-3 isn't nearly enough to keep algae from growing in the pool. I would shock the pool to 15-18 ppm, using bleach, and hold it there until you can go from sundown to sunup without losing more than 1 ppm of chlorine. I'm betting your cloudy water is an algae bloom, not a pH issue.....

Janet

[fiveUNDERfive]

Thanks Janet. That's what I am now wondering, since my cloudiness has turned greenish. I added a gallon last night, and my walmart kit is reading "at least" 5 (it's slightly darker yellow than that). How do I know if I am at 15-18? Add 2 more gallons and "hope?" This am my TA is down to 180 and the pH is 7.5 Should I add some more MA too?

[aylad]

I wouldn't worry about the TA and pH right now. pH is fine where it is, and TA isn't going to be critical right now, as much as clearing up the algae is. Here's how to force your kit to read higher chlorine readings than it was designed to....
http://www.poolsolutions.com/gd/how-...d-testkit.html

If your pool is 24' diameter, and 48" from floor to water level, then I'm estimating about 13,500 gallons. Do I have the dimensions right? In 13,500 gallons, each 1 gallon of 6% bleach you add is going to raise your FC by 4.4 ppm. Each 3.5 cups of bleach will raise your FC by 1 ppm, so you can use those as a reference point. You need to get it up to 15-18 ppm and hold it there by testing as often as possible and adding whatever amount of bleach you need to get back up over the 15 ppm mark, until you can measure at sundown and then again in the morning before the sun hits the pool, and not lose more than 1 ppm of chlorine in that time. When you get to that point, and the pool has cleared up, then you can let your chlorine drift back down--but only to the 3-6 ppm range. Any lower than that, and you're going to have algae growing. If you can, brush the pool after your chlorine additions, and keep your filter running 24/7 during the process, cleaning the filter as your pressure indicates.

Janet