very high alkalinity

[rbossert]

I read the sticky on alkalinity but I'm still not sure what to do or what the cause of my problem is. My pool is an above ground, vinyl liner job. My pH is presently 7.8, Calcium is 80, Cl around 10 and alkalinity ranges between 500-600. The water is cloudy but clean and when we swim our skin often feels dry after a few hours. What would you suggest? Thanks.

[aylad]

What is the TA of your fill water? If it's not that high, then use the sticky on lowering alk with muriatic acid. If your fill water TA is that high, then there's not much you can do except keep your pH closer to 7.0 and keep your calcium levels down as low as possible.

Welcome to the forum.....

[waterbear]

Also, how are you testing the water. Strips are not very precise for testing TA.

[rbossert]

Yes, my source water, a well, has very high alkalinity. For some reason it is much higher than the house water which comes from another spring.

I'm testing with the Taylor reagents which are probably five years old. I have run out of the 009 as I've used so many drops to test this water and will replace it. How low should my calcium levels be and how should I lower them? What should I used to lower my pH?

[Watermom]

Vinyl pools do not need calcium so with such high TA, the lower the CH the better.

You use muriatic acid to lower pH. Please read the MA guide in Jan's signature above.

Welcome to the Pool Forum, by the way!

[aylad]

If your pool is plaster/concrete/gunite, you need your calcium to be 200-400 ppm. If it's vinyl-lined, then you don't need to keep it that high. Usually with a vinyl liner, the lower, the better--but with your TA that high, keeping it low is a necessity to keep from getting milky water from precipitating calcium. Use muriatic or dry acid to lower your pH, which will also lower your TA (as outlined in the sticky), but read the guidelines for safe handling of muriatic acid linked in my sig below, first.

Edit: Looks like Watermom's post button works faster than mine today!

[rbossert]

There have been several references to "sig"; where is this found?