Borax

[abessellieu]

To Chem Geek: And let us know your results.

I am new at all this, and recently lowered my pH too much (to 7.2) and my plasterer recommended I keep it as close to 7.4 as possible. Since my TA was already 120, I wanted to raise my pH slightly w/o affecting TA, so I used your table to calculate how much Borax to use.

I have a newly (5 days ago) replastered pool that holds about 35,000 gal. By my calculations that is 2.19x larger than the 16,000 gal base you used.

According to your table 1 lb Borax with TA of 120 and pH of 7.2 will give a rise in pH of .07.

So I calculated 4 lb Borax would give me a 1.3 bump up in ph:

4/2.19 = 1.83 x .07 = 1.3

So I added 4 lb Borax at about 10 pm last night and at 8 am this morning my pH was 7.4. This was a little more than I expected, but I thought it might be due to the curing plaster. Doesn't it cause an upward creep in pH?

If this is the case it looks like your table is pretty accurate, but please let me know if you see any errors in my calculations or my logic.

I am still struggling with all of this, but each step I take seems to clear the fog a bit more. I really appreciate your taking the time with the tables and all, because at least it gives me a starting point. Otherwise I'd be totally clueless instead of mildly confused.