How low can TA be

[cschnurr]

I have an SWG for the past two years and have always had to add quite a bit of acid to maintain pH. I've seen in several posts that lowering TA and adding borates can help this problem.

During my first year as poolowner, I had TA of over 200 and I was adding a acid weekly. Last year, my 2nd year, I reduced TA down to 120 using the method described on this site, and my acid consumption decreased to a reasonable level of every 2-3 weeks.

I'm just opening my pool and have a low pH, so now would be a great time to lower TA. Will lowering TA some more reduce my acid usage. I couldn't find a recommendation as to how low TA can go and what is the risk. I do remember someone suggesting to another member that they might want to raise TA in order to keep the sparkling water look.

My measurements at opening were
Cl-0
pH-7.2
CH-250
TA-100
CYA 40

Since these measurements I've started shocking the pool and will add some CYA to get it up to around 60 for the SWG.

As much as I trust your expertise, I'm going to pass on adding borates for the very reason I came to this site... I just don't feel comfortable putting anything into my water I don't understand. I'm just too new at this to get my head around that borate thread. Maybe next year.