PH 7.8 because I have to add water every other day

[chem geek]

Was just wondering, since I am going to have to constantly play with the PH until we can get the leak fixed, if there is something not quite so toxic.

Our pool person said no bleach until the PH comes down, it was heavily shocked about a month ago before we switched to the ionizer. No chlorine reading now.

First of all, your pool person is dead wrong about not adding any chlorine to your pool, even with an ionizer. It is true that with an ionizer you can usually get by with a somewhat reduced chlorine level (similar to what salt water chlorine generator - SWCG - systems do), but you can't live without any chlorine at all. It takes a while for all the pool water to get through the ionizer to have all the pathogens and algae killed so you need chlorine in the water to kill locally introduced stuff (from bathers, bugs, wind-blown material, etc.) and to kill anything that is attached to your pool surfaces that will never go through your ionizer.

Also, your pool person apparently does not understand that although using liquid chlorine or bleach initially causes a rise in pH (liquid chlorine has a pH of 13 and bleach typically around 11), the normal consumption (using up) of chlorine is an acidic process that exactly compensates for this initial pH rise except that liquid chlorine has a small amount of extra base in it. Bottom line, using bleach does not increase your pH and using chlorinating liquid only does a little bit. A technical chemistry discussion of this may be found on this post.

In addition, the recommendation to just leave your pH at 7.8 is a good one. You do not have to fight to get your pH lower. Did your pool person say that the ionizer does not work at this higher pH? What reason does he/she have for why the lower pH is necessary?

Finally, though it is true that Muriatic Acid is not something you want to inhale directly (also true for liquid chlorine or bleach), you should be able to add it without causing problems. You can always wear gloves if you are worried about spilling any, wash your hands afterwards, and hold your breath while you pour. I know it sounds kind of weird to hold your breath, but I've gotten pretty used to doing that or, at worst, just hold the bottle and pouring far away from my face and "downwind" if there is a wind. The Muriatic Acid isn't "killing you", but if you inhale enough of it then it will cause irritation in your nose (mucous membranes) and eyes. Obviously, enough exposure to it would be serious, but you aren't going to put your face over it nor drink it so you should be OK. Unfortunately, other acidic alternatives, such as the dry acid Sodium Bisulfate, have their own problems of introducing sulfate into your pool and etching plaster (probably due to not dissolving immediately and sticking to the bottom or side of your pool surfaces).

Richard