Brand New Fill Water - pH issue

[elsie]

I had a new liner put in a couple of weeks ago and not too long after I got the pool filled I covered it for the season. I have been adjusting the water balance for a little over a week now (I crawl under the solid cover to add chems to skimmer but take water sample in deep end), and have been running my pump 24/7 to make sure the CYA gets dissolved. Here are my numbers:

CYA 45
FC 2
TA 140
pH light orange!
20,000 gal. in ground
New 3/4 hp Hayward Superpump
New multiport
Same old Sta-Rght sand filter

I can't give you my pH because the light orange color doesn't match any color on the color comparator gizmo (OTO). Originally when the pool was filled the color was light pink (same as when I tested my tap water while the liner was being installed), so I thought it wouldn't take much Borax to darken the color up and get it to the 7.2-7.5 range.

I have now added two 4-lb. boxes of Mule Team Borax I bought at the grocery store. But the pH color has gone south -- from light pink to now light orange.

I just took a look at the pool calculator at TFP. For the heck of it I "guessed" and put in a current pH of 6.5 with a goal of 7.5. The calculator told me I need 218 oz. by weight of soda ash. If I take 218 oz. and divided it by 64 oz. which would be what the 4 lb. box of Borax is, I get 3.40. So, then I should add 3.4 boxes of the 4-lb. Borax boxes?

I don't think my grocery store has that many left. I may need to stop at the pool store. I would just buy pH up? But, the real question is, does anyone know what a light orange pH reading would approximate in a number measurement? I don't understand why it went from the original pink after I filled the pool to now light orange. I'm concerned about my pH not being stable. I never had a problem with low pH with my old pool water so this is all new to me. Thanks for any help you can provide.

[aylad]

Did you, by any chance, recently replace your pH reagent and possibly get the wrong replacement? Is it possible that you were using one of the other reagents instead of the one for pH? It would be really odd to me to start out in the "pink", add Borax, and have the pH go down.......did you check and make sure that you're adding the Borax in the green box and not the borax washing powder? (I'm not trying to insult your intelligence, but yours is a really odd situation). I'm guessing that the orange color is going to be in the low 6 range, and I really don't want you to have liner problems with a brand new one.

I guess it's possible that some byproduct form the new liner may be lowering the pH a little bit, but that's really a WAG....hopefully one of the others more expert in liners will pop in and give an opinion.

Janet

[elsie]

Good strategic thinking, Janet! Yes, I am anxious to get the pH correct since it's a brand-new spanking liner!

Interestingly, I did open a brand new OTO kit that I bought two or so months ago, throwing the little amount left of reagent I'd been using since I opened in early May away (darn--I could've cross-checked). The two kits are identical as to manufacturer, both bought at Walmart. I am leaving work early today (in 3 hours) to take a couple hours of remaining vacation, and on my way to SAMS I'll be going by pool store (which is quite a distance from my house) so I will stop and pick up new pH OTO. It's worth the 5 or 6 bucks to see if there's a difference before I start adding more Borax. That said, in the past I have found that kits made from different manufacturers give totally disparate results, and I try to stick with the ones that Walmart sells -- so perhaps I shall go there instead. It was the kind Home Depot sells that gave me an incorrect reading once. Then again, maybe it was simply on the shelf too long; one must be careful I suppose to draw conclusions too fast.

I'm pretty sure the Borax box was green -- I did a little research on the forum before buying and remembered to look for green box. It showed myraid uses, from cleaning the toilet to laundry booster. Are these the kind of uses the correct, green box describes? Does this sound right? I will check back in tomorrow and let you know what the new pH kit says...

[aylad]

Yes, if it's the green box, then it's the right stuff. The only other time that I have seen someone's pH result go from pink to yellow-orange was when he replaced his OTO reagent with R-0004 instead of R-0014 (or vice-versa, I have to check my kit to see which one belongs there). The bottles and reagents look the same, but they give quite different results. I'm wondering if you didn't have a bad batch of reagent. (Or the wrong one packaged with the wrong kit).

Please let me know what the new kit says when you get it--I'm really curious!

Janet

[elsie]

Well, bought a new pH kit at Walmart - unfortunately they didn't have any of the reagent packages only which cost just two bucks, but that's okay as it was very important to know for absolutely sure that my testing agents were sound; and picked up 3 boxes of Borax (green on yellow box). The color for the pH still came up light orange -- go figure! And yes, R-004. I keep my pH kit separate, actually, I keep it in a fanny pack with my chlorine reagents and CYA which is all I usually test for. A couple of times a season I pull Ben's old huge kit out and test for TA (even though I know the reagents are old-old-old - but they still seem to work).

Getting weary of crawling under the cover to skimmer or at deep end to take samples (though I suppose I could also take from skimmer or even pump basket), I put all three boxes of Borax in and then rechecked pH later and boy did it pink up! But I waited this morning to recheck again because of course all the water doesn't circulate in just a few hours. It was still dark pink though this morning so I added several cups of muriatic acid (my haste last night came back to bite me anyway.)

I expect tonight to have my pH more or less about perfect, i.e., within range, or at least very close. I take it low pH is terrible on a liner, and if one wants to safety err, one should err on the high side?

I look forward hopefully tonight to turning the pump off and resume saving $$$ on electricity, and take a rest from it. Although 8 months is far, far too long. But in the south and with all my trees there's no opening until after the spring mess, which is the 2nd week of May.

Janet, as always, thanks for your thoughts and help. Never having used Borax I was a little nervous and really appreciate your support!

[elsie]

Actually, I'm not sure if it's R-004 or R-0014 either -- I never look because the pH kit is in its own little box. I only know now that pink is a beautiful color!

By the way, when I was referring to my new liner, I should've said brand spanking-new not brand-new spanking which takes on a whole other meaning, or at least connotation, lol.