Borax dosing

[paigemetoo]

Is there a chart or guidelines to dosing borax?
Like ____ amount of borax will raise the ph ______amount for every ____gallons of pool water.
Have yellow reading(i know this could be way lower then 7) and need to know how many boxes I could poss need.

7 ph most likely lower
7 alk
30 cya
15 c

THX!!!

[JimK]

I use this for calculating doses

http://www.troublefreepool.com/calc.html

[PoolDoc]

Is there a chart or guidelines to dosing borax?
Like ____ amount of borax will raise the ph ______amount for every ____gallons of pool water.

The calculator Jim pointed you to, based on a much more elaborate spreadsheet by ChemGeek is OK.

But keep in mind, calculations for adjusting pH and alkalinity are ALWAYS uncertain.

You can calculate the ppm change in

• chlorine, based on a give dose, IF THERE IS NO CC, and
• calcium, based on a given dose, AND
• stabilizer, based on given dose, IF YOU MANAGE TO DISSOLVE ALL THE CYA, AND
• borates, based on a given dose, etc.

But the ONLY way to 'calculate' pH change is to do an acid/base demand test, and to work off those results.

For this reason it is ALWAYS best to add a PARTIAL dose, and then test, and then add some more IF NEEDED.

Pool stores don't care about this problem, because if you OVERDOSE, then they can sell you something ELSE to compensate for the overdose!

This is an issue ChemGeek and I went round and round about several times. Exact dosing works for HIM, because he is an exceedingly meticulous guy, in testing, in dosing, in everything. But that level of exactness is typical of maybe 0.01% of the population . . . and that is NOT an exaggeration. Precise dosing does NOT work well for 99% of pool owners.

Pseudo-exact chlorine doses are fine . . . because too much is probably a good thing. But for ALL other doses -- pH adjustment, alkalinity, calcium, stabilizer, etc -- incremental doses are MUCH better.

Pool pros have to use exact doses . . . even though they aren't optimal . . . because they don't LIVE at the pool. Pool owners do.

[JimK]

Thanks for the additional info, Ben.

I knew the calculator wasn’t exact, but it works well for me (perhaps I’m one of the more meticulous pool owners ).

I should have included in my post that it’s advised you add a partial dose first, then test to see where you’re at before adding more, at least until you get to know you’re pool well and how it responds.

[paigemetoo]

Thanks for all the help!!!
I really just wanted a ballpark to know how much to buy. I did only add a partial dose at first. I also understand when it shows yellow for 7 ph it could be much lower. In my case adding 70 oz worked and I'm sitting pretty at 7.4. I just opened my pool and was using dichlor to up the cya and to shock the crap outta it. Is it true dichlor will lower my ph? I have used it every year at this time and never had low ph.

So happy! For the first time in 10 yrs I had a clear pool in 1 day!!

One other thing. Should I mess with the 70 Alk? My gut says no but I would like another opinion

[PoolDoc]

Dichlor adds chlorine and stabilizer immediately, and lowers pH some later.

Once you've reached an adequate stabilizer level, you'll need to switch to cal hypo or bleach.

In some parts of the country, Walmart is selling 10% bleach for about $3.25/gallon in 1 or 2 packs as "Pool Essentials Chlorinating Liquid". That's cheaper than you are likely to find calcium hypo, since a gallon of 10% bleach is rough equal to 1.25 lbs of cal hypo. Also, bleach has virtually no 'side effects', where cal hypo will add calcium and raise alkalinity.

Regardless, I wouldn't mess with the Alk=70, unless you are having problems with pH instability.