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Thread: TA, Borax and Alkalinity test

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    Default TA, Borax and Alkalinity test

    I wonder what Taylor's TA test actually measures. It can't be the actual amount of the bicarbonate anion, because Taylor Tech warns that you have to account for the "alkalinity" contribution of CYA.
    Therefore, the TA must be related somehow to the buffering capacity of the dissolved species which serve as buffers.
    I read here and in the sister site that Borax actually serves as a buffer too. Does it also contribute to the measured TA?
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    waterbear is offline Lifetime Member Sniggle Mechanic waterbear 4 stars waterbear 4 stars waterbear 4 stars waterbear 4 stars
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    Default Re: TA, Borax and Alkalinity test

    Not appreciably and it's contibution to the TA can be ignored. As far as the CYA contribution to TA is is small enough at normal CYA levels of 30-50 ppm that it can be ignored also. Itis only when the CYA levels are high does the CYA adjustment become more important and is only really an issue when using an acidic stabilized chlorine source like trichor, which requires a much higher TA for ph stability. If you are using unstabilized chlorine it is a non issue. The borax buffer works differently than the bicarbonate buffer. Instead of causing the pH to rise toward 8.2 it causes the pH to fall so the two in conjucntion have an effect of helping stabilize the pH for a longer period of time.
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    Default Re: TA, Borax and Alkalinity test

    Quote Originally Posted by waterbear View Post
    Not appreciably and it's contibution to the TA can be ignored. As far as the CYA contribution to TA is is small enough at normal CYA levels of 30-50 ppm that it can be ignored also. Itis only when the CYA levels are high does the CYA adjustment become more important and is only really an issue when using an acidic stabilized chlorine source like trichor, which requires a much higher TA for ph stability. If you are using unstabilized chlorine it is a non issue. The borax buffer works differently than the bicarbonate buffer. Instead of causing the pH to rise toward 8.2 it causes the pH to fall so the two in conjucntion have an effect of helping stabilize the pH for a longer period of time.
    Cool. I haven't had a need to use Borax yet, and once I adjusted my pH from the initial 7.9 at opening, steady she goes on 7.5. I was getting prepared for a pH change, because this happened last seasons when I used stabilized chlorine, which I am not using any more, after being re-educated by this forum. To the best of my recollection the pH used to shift downwards, so I was anticipating the need to add Borax.
    You were absolutely right saying "don't worry about problems before they come up and just enjoy the water."
    The water is indeed perfectly sweet. The only thing I'm worried about is if my daily consumption of FC is "normal", roughly 1 - 2 ppm/day, see this post.
    If it is indeed normal, then the downside is apparently high maintenance costs because of the almost daily addition of bleach. The upside is that this is the 15th day after opening and CC <0.5 which means two weeks have passed and I didn't need to shock.
    As for FC consumption: I saw previous posts by chem geek speculating that polyquat may consume FC and the product of the chlorine - PQ reaction is not detected as CC. This makes sense because PQ contains nitrogen and the product may not be a chloramine. I wonder of CG or others have a final answer about PQ's FC consumption.
    Last edited by Water_man; 05-30-2008 at 02:15 PM.
    This is my ticket for Heaven (when all's working..) :

    22k Gal gunite IGP
    38 SF DE filter, 1 HP Hayward Super Pump
    Raypak 350k BTU Natural Gas Heater and solar cover
    8 gal Liquidator with bleach
    Dolphin robotic cleaner
    Taylor k-2006 test kit

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