Alkalinity?

[waterbear]

IF your chlorine levels are very hight the only way to get an accurate pH reading is with a properly calibrated pH meter. Most pool stores do not use them, however. My opinion (and anyone please feel free to correct me if you think it is in error!) would be to:
1) let the chorine level drop to under 10 ppm (mix your sample of pool water with an equal amount of distilled water...a shot glass is a good measure) and then test it and multiply the reading by 2. This way you can test up to 10 ppm Cl instead of 5 ppm)
2) Then retest your pH and if it is extremely low add borax IN SMALL INCRIMENTS to bring it up to 6.8
3) Then follow the procedure in this thread exactly to lower the TA
http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?t=191

I noticed that you stated that the ALk was "190 (a purple color down from 240+ on the 23rd)" , Is the TA test in your kit a titration (where you add drops until the color changes) or is it comparing a reagent against a color chart, or maybe a test strip?(TA tests on pool strips are usually shades of green while TH ...Total Hardness... are blue to purple!) If it is not a titration test I would not mess with it at all until the water was tested with a titration test. This didn't register with me the first time I read it but as I reread through the post it set off a warning bell in my brain.

[savdoc2]

The TA is a titration test. 25ml of pool water, add 5 drops of the reagent and then count drops of the titration agent until it turns from green to red.

I haven't gone out to get any water yet today - my daughters have been high maintenance this morning. I will go buy some distilled water later.

I think I am concerned about the pH from the explanation earlier about the high CL level changes the pH reagent.

[CarlD]

Evan and I are on the same page here.

The WalMart HTH 5-way kit is really very good, but with super-high chlorine levels you may have problems with pH.

I had forgotten to mention that pH must be at or below 7.2 for aeration to work.

I've been an advocate of the shot-glass method for years. You can even use 2 shots of distilled water to one of pool water to measure chlorine levels to 15ppm with the 5-way kit.

Unfortunately, if you don't have the chlorine neutralizer, it's tougher to get an accurate reading--unless you have the Taylor phenol red that has the neutralizer in it.

[jenmenke]

I had forgotten to mention that pH must be at or below 7.2 for aeration to work.

So, how do you raise Ph above 7.2 without raising alkalinity? I have been doing the same process as savdoc2. I am now down to Ph of 7.1 or 7.2 with alk at 110 (down from 300+ a week ago). My fill water has a Ph of 7.2 and I can't seem to get my water any higher than that with aeration. Then I saw your note (quoted above). Is that all the higher I can get it with aeration? Which would be good to know since my fountains have been running for a week and I'm sick to death of them.
thanks
jennie

[Watermom]

You can just add a little Borax to the skimmer while the pump is running. It will raise ph without affecting alk. Just a little - ph at 7.4-7.6 is good.