The Great Tetraborate Experiment!

[waterbear]

I have been toying with the idea of adding borax to 50 ppm to see exactly what effect, if any, it would have on stabilizing pH. My borate test strips arrived last night so today I tested my water:
FC 5 ppm
CC 0 ppm
pH 7.6
TA 120 ppm (before stabilizer correction)
TA 97 ppm (after stabilizer correction)
CH 220 ppm
CYA 70 ppm
Salt 3500 ppm (used the readout on my Aqualogic which is usually about 100 ppm high so I am estimating about 3400 ppm which is where I was last Friday when I tested it)
Borates 15 ppm (measured with AquaCheck borate test strip. I have used Borax in the past to raise pH)

Today I added 1 box (4 lbs, 12 oz.) 20 mule team and 1 pt muriatic acid to offest the pH rise. (might have to add more acid. I am being conservative, based on the recommendations for Proteam Supreme)
I will test the water in a few hours for pH, TA, and borates.
According to Bleachcalc this amount of borax should raise my pool to 50 ppm but the dosing chart for Proteam Supreme requires a lot more, and the pentahydrate uses less by weight than the decahydrate (20 mule team).

I have been conversing with chem geek (Richard) about the dosing and these discrepancies. The aquacheck test strips are designed for testing Proteam Supreme. We shall see what the outcome is.

My main purpose in this experiment is to see if I get less pH rise with my SWG by adding the tetraborates. (or a slower pH rise). Currently it takes a little over 2 weeks for my pH to hit 7.6 from 7.2. I add 1 1/2 pts. acid every three weeks which lowers me back down to 7.2. I want to see if the borates will hep keep the pH more stable as claimed. Many of the SWG monthly mixes contain tetraborates supposedly for this reason along with boric acid to offset the high ph...adding muriactic acid will form boric acid in the water so this just eliminates that step. I know NaturalChemisty's Salt Water Magic contains the tetraborates and I will bet that Mineral Springs by Bioguard does also.

I will post my results in this thread as they become available. This might turn out to be useful info or a bunch of junk....don't really know yet.