The Great Tetraborate Experiment!

[waterbear]

ok, tested borates and pH.....borates still reading 15 ppm and pH is at 7.6.....so 1 box of borax takes about 1 1/2 qts (48 oz) acid to neutalize the high pH. This is exactly in line with the Proteam dosing which says 10 oz. acid per pound. I put in 4.75 lbs (contents of one box) and it took 48 oz acid to bring the pH back to 7.6.

After I took the readings above I added 2 more boxes and a half gallon of acid. This was about 45 minutes ago and I just retested
Borates are now reading about 40 ppm (test strip color is right between the 30 and 50 ppm reading) and this is in line with the Proteam dosing and taking the weight difference needed for borax vs. supreme (.75 by weight of pentahydrate needed to achive the same level as the decahydrate.) the three boxes I put in (14.24 lbs) is pretty much the same as 10 lbs. of pentahydrate which will give me a ppm increase of about 23-24 ppm for my pool. Since I started with a base reading of about 15 ppm and am now reading about 40 ppm this is all in line.

The pH is testing at 7.5.

It's getting dark now so I will let the pool circulate overnight and continue tomorrow. My goal is to reach about 50 ppm borates. I figure it should take me about 1 1/2 to 2 boxes more to do it and maybe another 2-3 qts. of acid.