swimming and muriatic acid

[chem geek]

Kurt's absolutely correct. I forgot that kids splashing made for excellent aeration and that you needn't go down to 6.6 to lower your alkalinity -- you can go to the lowest on your test kit, probably 7.0 as Kurt surmised, and that is perfectly safe to swim in. It might take a little longer to lower the alkalinity compared to lower pH (though even 6.6 might only just sting the eyes), but since you're using the pool in the meantime, who cares? Thanks Kurt.

[mohawk]

Thanks for answering so quickly-I didn't want anyone to be harmed from the acid once I put it in. I think from other posts I read the process of lowering the alk is slow, but I have lots of time. Denise

[chem geek]

Thanks for answering so quickly-I didn't want anyone to be harmed from the acid once I put it in.

Just so you have even more piece of mind, I recently did an experiment to see how quickly chemicals would diffuse throughout the water and therefore how quickly they would be at safe levels. I put in some "Party Blue" dye at the return jet in the deep end of the pool and within a few minutes, it was spread throughout the deep end. Then, it got sucked into the two floor drains and into the skimmer and then started streaming out of the jets at the shallow end of the pool. The pool was full of color in less than 10 minutes and I didn't notice much change at all after 15 minutes. I think if you want to be very conservative, then it will be absolutely fine swimming after 10 minutes; 15 tops, but in practice it's probably fine after 5. This assumes you've got good circulation in your pool.

Richard

[waterbear]

Brushing the pool after adding the acid (or any other chem) will also help it to mix faster.

[mohawk]

What do you mean by brushing the pool? Denise

[waterbear]

using your pool brush and pole and brush down the sides of the pool. It creates currents in the water and helps mix the chems. ALL pools need regular brushing....it's a normal part of pool maintenance!