How far do you need to raise the pH? What is your TA? What form of chlorine are you using?
How far do you need to raise the pH? What is your TA? What form of chlorine are you using?
Janet
TA is 130, so I was gonna lower it w muriatic acid. My ph is right on target, and I'm sure the acid will lower the ph as well, so I want to be prepared. Using swcg and last time i shocked with cal hypo was one week ago.
You said in post #1 that you needed to raise your pH but then in post #3 you state that pH is right on target.
shawnw wants to be prepared to raise Ph once it drops after adding acid to lower TA.........have I got that right, shawnw?
22'x40' Grecian Lazy L 20K gal IG vinyl pool; Aqua Rite SWCG T15 cell; Hayward Pro Grid 6020 DE filter; Hayward Superpump 1hp pump; 12 hrs; Taylor K-2006; city; PF:6
The process for lowering TA involves raising pH by aeration. Chemically adjusting pH with borax will bring TA back to where it was.
To substitute borax (decahydrate form) for the soda ash when using the Taylor base demand test use twice the amount of borax by weight then the amount of soda ash called for.
The decahydrate form of borax is commonly sold as 20 Mule Team Borax.
HOWEVER, this is only for raising pH when the TA is good and you don't want it to rise any higher and is not part of the TA lowering process, which involves dropping the pH to a safe level (7.0), aerating to bring the pH back up and repeating this process. When you add acid to lower TA you will also lower the pH by converting bicarbonate into carbonic acid (operative word here is acid). Carbonic acid, for our purposes is just carbon dioxide dissolved in the water (think club soda or seltzer). If we areate the water to drive out the CO2 (think shaking the bottle of club soda to make it go flat) we have lowered the amount of carbonic acid (operative word is acid) and the pH goes up. However, the carbonic acid is not converted back into bicarbonate but has been removed from the water so the TA does not climb. Once the pH has risen you can add more acid to lower the TA and pH again and repeat this process until the TA is where you want it.
Retired pool store and commercial pool maintenance guy.
JimK, you are correct. BigDave, please enlighten me...I am obviously still learning! What exactly do I need to do to lower the TA if not muriatic acid? I definitely do not want to start a vicious cycle btw the TA and ph!
My apologies, Shawn; you had 3 posts in moderation, and some how I lost 2 of them, trying to combine them.
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