TA Issues; First-Year Pool Owner

[Rangeball]

Looks really nice.

And rain is a great aerator

[PoolDoc]

TA is holding at 270. I guess mostly I am learning for next year. I have no idea what my starting TA was, but both the TA and pH were off the test strips and very high. I had added some pH Minus and 2 gallons of muriatic acid (MA) diluted in water, walked around the perimeter and dumped in the pool rather than dumping in spots, over a course of 3 days. This caused the pH to drop well enough and the TA came down a bit (down to about 6.8 or so), but the pH never raised up. I freaked out about it (afraid of liner damage) and added pH up. That led to TA going right back up and some water cloudiness. I think the water cloudiness was due to not enough chlorination due to increasing CYA levels, though.

Everyone is learning for next year, their first year!

Still, it sounds like you are making good progress.

But, you may want to test your fill water. Some parts of the country have very hard water that's also high in alkalinity. If so, learning to manage that is going to need to be one of your pool care skills.

Good luck!

Ben

[mas985]

Snowymoon,

Another option is to get yourself a SWG which raises the PH so you will be adding acid to keep it down which will lower alk as well. I have fill water that is 250 ppm but my pool water is 120 ppm.

[Snowymoon]

Wal-Mart does have a SWG that works with the current filter I have. I think it was $124 or so. Might be worth the investment for next year. I will have to look into it more.

[Snowymoon]

It is working! It is working! After 2 days of aeration with my rigged fountain, the pH went up to 7.8. I added more dry acid tonight. I only have a bit left. I will see how low I can get it with this method, let the pH raise to about 7.5 again and just leave it. There are only about 5 weeks left anyway.

Now I need an extra hose so I can run the surface skimmer with the "aerator."

I am sooo prepared for next year!