My ph is low and it laughs at Borax

[Unabomber007]

Went to the pool store and bought 5 new test chemicals (first time EVER they had stuff in stock) and a pump filter basket gasket which ran $43. They had Alk Up or whatever they called it for $40 for 30# and $60 for 50#. So I bought 4 12lb bags of Arm and Hammer for $25 at Sam's. Gonna dump two now and test later today.

The internet told me to just dump in in the deep end, so I'll split the difference and do one there and one in the skimmer. Will do another full round of testing later.

[waterbear]

Why is your CYA at 100? I would recommend a partial drain and refill to get it down a bit. BTW, what test kit are you using?

[Unabomber007]

Probably because of the damn 3" tabs we are using is my guess as they all seem to have stabilizer in them. I'd like to find tabs that are JUST bleach and that's it. Heck, I've even thought about using the Clorox tabs you drop in your toilet tank but they are expensive per use.

100 is a little high, but nothing too drastic but I will be taking some water out of the pool. Test kit I'm using is the big honking one they sell here and I've been replacing the chems in it when they get low. I think I have the 232 model off the top of my head. Off to the pool now...

[CarlD]

Why are you dumping in Baking Soda when you don't even know your T/A #? What if it's already 200ppm?

Your CYA is very high--you need to dilute your water and refill. That might, of course, be the best recourse--dump at least half your water and refill. It should solve CYA and the heavy acidity as well.

[Unabomber007]

I'm dumping in baking soda to raise the ALK of the water. That's what you do to raise it unless the instructions on the side of the bag are wrong. Not hatin' with this statement, just stating why I am doing what I am doing.

I have no clue what T/A is??? The only unknown I have in my chem right now is CAL.

[Unabomber007]

New testing:

FC 6
CC 0
TC 5
PH 6.8
ALK 60
CAL 0?
CYA 80 (tested twice and got 80 both times)

During the CAL test my water just BARELY turns pale, pale pink and even 40 drops does nothing to change the color. So I'm guessing no CAL as previous years I've had some results from that test but nothing this year.

The pool has only been circulating for 1 or 2 hours so the Baking Soda is working and hopefully will go up a touch more later. I ended up adding 2 12# bags to the skimmer and 1 12# bag to the deep end. I still have one bag left and 2 boxes of Borax.

[waterbear]

New testing:

FC 6
CC 0
TC 5
PH 6.8
ALK 60
CAL 0?
CYA 80 (tested twice and got 80 both times)

During the CAL test my water just BARELY turns pale, pale pink and even 40 drops does nothing to change the color. So I'm guessing no CAL as previous years I've had some results from that test but nothing this year.
Wrong guess. If it stays pink at 40 drops then you are over 400 ppm CH or CAL. You need to keep going. It is possible for Calcium Hardness to be over 1000 ppm
The pool has only been circulating for 1 or 2 hours so the Baking Soda is working and hopefully will go up a touch more later. I ended up adding 2 12# bags to the skimmer and 1 12# bag to the deep end. I still have one bag left and 2 boxes of Borax.

As far as the use of trichlor (and the Corox toilet tabets are the same chemical, btw. They are also trichlor), the reason it's used in erosion feeders is that it is a slow dissolving form of chlorine that is made from stabilizer and chlorine (a chlorinated isocyanurate). It's the nature of the beast. The next slowest dissolving form of chloine is cal hypo and that dissolves MUCH faster than trichor and cannot be used in erosion feeders but must be used in skimmers or special vented feeders to avoid explosions.

IF you continue to use trichlor tabs your CYA will continue to rise at the rate of 6 ppm for every 10 ppm of chlorine introduced and since most pools need to have 1-2 ppm FC replaced every day you can see that in just one month your CYA will rise by about 20-40 ppm!

[Unabomber007]

Just tested the ALK again after running the pump along with the robot for 2 cycles and it's 150 now. My wild guess turned out to be not too shabby. I added some more floc and I'll vacuum tomorrow and probably start working on pH and Calcium I guess. I'll have the pool store test my Calcium to triple check my kit and I guess I'll have to bite the bullet and buy their stuff as there is no "Walmart fix" for calcium that I know of.

Refresh to see above advice edit:

Thanks for the advice above....I guess tomorrow I'll go ahead and drain a bunch to stave off the CYA and keep a better eye on it. I used to be a testing ninja, but recently slacked off. I understand about the calcium issue....I'm having the pool store check it for me as well. That test over the years has gone from a high of 190 like 4 years ago down to like 40 last year. I (being honest here) never paid attention to it and it has been steadily going down over the years, which leads me to believe that it's now 0 vs. some ungodly number. So I'll have them check to be sure.