Big mistake in trying to raise pH... please help!

[JWB]

Thanks...

Yes both the "pH Up" (from Home Depot) and now Borax turn "teal blue" when either broadcasted or "diluted and skimmed" into the pool. I've started a Borax regimen (1 lb every hour, recheck) and am vacuuming and cleaning the filter grids every two hours. Two of the grids look to be damaged so I'll be ordering new ones today.

My liner is worse than I thought. It's light brown everywhere except towards the deep end. I also have a metallic film on top of the water. I'm so disgusted with myself for not learning this information sooner. If copper is to blame for the staining, is there a solution?

I'll report some levels later... thanks again

[JWB]

Well it's been slow going but I have new information. After 8 lbs of Borax, my pH level is around 7.0... not much better. I took a water sample to a pool supply company and they got a TA level of 90. They said that the soda ash turned blue (and didn't dissolve well) because I most likely have high concentrations of copper sulfate in the water. They gave me a sample water bottle and suggested I come back in three days to test for metals. Apparently they have substrates that can work with newly stained vinyl pools. Pretty expensive I bet?.. but I'm desperate to find a solution for my stained liner.

I'm continuing to add diluted Borax through the skimmer and also brushing the blue soda ash off the bottom. I'm not sure why the pH isn't rising faster given the amount of ash being circulated in the pool? I hope I'm doing this right.

Thanks for your help and interest.

[aylad]

It'll be interesting to see the result of your metals test--if you do have a high metal content you can use sequestrant.....take a look at Marie's (mbar) posts in the metals forum--she's the resident expert and has given lots of good information when it comes to dealing with metals. Is your fill source from the municipal water supply, or is it from a well?

I believe soda ash also raises TA along with pH, which may be why you're not getting as much rise in pH as you expect, but I really think your pH was much, much lower than you originally thought, which explains the huge amount of Borax being used to get it back up to normal ranges.

Janet

[waterbear]

I already said that you had copper in your water.
Question is, where did it come from? Have you been using algaecide?

[JWB]

I already said that you had copper in your water.
Question is, where did it come from? Have you been using algaecide?

No algaecide. The only tri-chlor I’ve used was in the two bags of powdered shock (40%), but that was six days ago when I was dealing with algae.

Actually, you said “it could be” copper so I wanted to get a second opinion. Sorry if it looked like I didn’t read your post. They basically backed up what you said but because I didn’t have a large enough sample, they couldn’t determine exactly what metals are present. I’ll find out later this morning.

Let’s assume I have an abundance of copper in the water. With the pool’s current state (FC 5+, pH 7.0, TA 90), can I treat the pool with a metal sequesterant, or do I have to get the pool chemistry in order? Also, any chance the oxidized metals are keeping my pH from rising past 7.0 despite 14 lbs. of soda ash?

Thanks

[CarlD]

Soda Ash=pH Up!=Washing Soda (Arm&Hammer)

This raises T/A as well as pH. T/A of 90 is nothing to worry about.

[JWB]

It'll be interesting to see the result of your metals test--if you do have a high metal content you can use sequestrant.....take a look at Marie's (mbar) posts in the metals forum--she's the resident expert and has given lots of good information when it comes to dealing with metals. Is your fill source from the municipal water supply, or is it from a well?

Janet

Thanks Janet I'll check that out. My water comes from a municipal source. From what I understand now, as this kind of water evaporates, the metals are left behind. That probably explains why the water has always had a strange metallic taste since we inherited this pool. I hope I haven't endangered my family by not taking action to correct it. Having never had a pool before, I thought it was normal.