PH Keeps Dropping

[rilesworld]

Newbie here. Does Ph ever stabilize? I have read about people with an SWG having trouble maintaining a consistent Ph, but what about those that do not have a SWG. I have a 20,000 gallon inground pool with a vinyl liner. My numbers are:

CYA - 45
TA - 90
CH - 120?
TC - 6.5
CC - 0
Ph - 7.4

I try to keep my clorine levels between 3-6 and I have to add about one 1.4Gallon jug every other day to do that. However, I am just curious if I should also be seeing my Ph drop on a regular basis. It seems like it drops about 0.4 every two weeks. I add Borax to get it back up, but I am just curious if that is normal.

Thanks.

[Watermom]

Ph can fluctuate some. Are you using anything other than bleach to chlorinate with? Trichlor and Dichlor are quite acidic. Also, acid rain can lower ph. Any time we get a substantial amount of rain, I find my ph has dropped a little. You may want to bump your TA up just a bit - maybe to 100 - and see if that helps your ph to be more stable.

[rilesworld]

This is the first year of pool ownership. The previous owners used pucks and furtunately I found this forum before I started tackling this pool. I started with a good test kit and found out, as suspected, that the CYA was off the charts.
After several partial drains and fills I got that under control. I would agree that the rain probably has some to do with my ph dropping. But in the past three days it seems to have gone from 7.6 to 7.3 without any rain. Still puzzling me. Oh well, could be worse. Off to the store to buy more Borax.

Oh by the way, it it OK to just sprinkle the Borax on the surface or should I be trying to disolve in a bucket first?

Thanks.

[gonefishin]

Hi

One reason why your Ph is drifting around could be due to your low TA. Your TA will give you an idea of how easy (or difficult) it will be to change your Ph. The lower the TA...the easier the Ph will react and change. The higher the Ph...the more difficult your Ph will be to change. Just by raising your TA...you may find that your ph drifting problems are gone.

But let's wait for one of the regulars before you go adding anything to your water

What kind of a pool? Do you have a heater?

happy swimming!
dan

[rilesworld]

I have a 16x32 inground pool, with vinyl liner.

Since the two responses I have both indicate that a slightly higher TA might help. I think I will try and bump that a little bit.

Thanks.

[rilesworld]

Anyone else have any theories as to why my Ph keeps dropping. I know most people have the opposite problem (maybe I should get a SWG )

I have been seeing my Ph drop 0.3 every couple of days. And though rain does seem to play a factor, this seems to happen even when it hasn't rained in quite a long time.

I still plan on raising up my TA a little more, to say 110 or so to see if that will help but just keep forgetting to get some Baking Soda from the store.

Thanks,

Riles