Cant seem to raise TA or PH

[drbob101]

My TA is persistant at 50 and ph 6.4-6.8. At first I tried just raising the ph with 2 boxes of borax over a 2 day period with no effect. I then tried raising TA with 10 lbs of Leslies Alkalinity INcreasor which is think is baking soda and its has stayed at 50 after 12 hours.

I have brown staining of white pool fixtures and this happened last year and then went away when I think chemistry got in balance.

It is a 20000 ig vinyl and this is the first year for the new vinyl liner.

CYA is 25 and I plan on adding that when I get TA PH issue resolved.

I opened the pool 2 weeks ago and shocked with liquid bleach and used chlorine granules in a sock in the skimmer for maintainence chlorine levels which show .5ppm now

Any ideas woulld be appreciated.

[CarlD]

Don't worry about T/A for now. When you raise your pH, T/A will go up too.

You can raise your pH with Borax, but I'm guessing you'll need 4-6 boxes of the stuff at least.
You can also use Arm&Hammer Washing Soda (in the yellow box, not the orange one). It's not baking soda and WILL raise your pH and with it your T/A, more than Borax. It's in the laundry section, probably right next to the Borax.

Washing Soda is the same chemical as pH Up! that pool stores sell, only it's a lot cheaper.

But you need to get your pH up NOW, more than anything else, at least to 7.0.

The alkalinity increase is just baking soda.

[Watermom]

After you add either the Borax or the Washing Soda, you don't have to wait hours and hours before adding more. Just give it a couple or 3 hours and then retest and redose as needed. As Carl, said, you want to get that pH up ASAP!!

[drbob101]

The grocery store didnt have the AH Washing Soda and I had two boxes of borax at home. I bought a third and just put all three in and am running the filter and polaris and the pool has turned all milky.

Ill run the filter all night and see what the morning brings and test ph and TA then.

Thank you for the replies.

[Watermom]

OH!!! That is a LOT of Borax added at one time. I hope you don't overshoot your target. It is usually best to add things gradually rather than a huge shot all at one time. Fortunately, your pool is pretty big so hopefully it will put you in range. Please post your testing results in the morning.

BTW -- really nice pool!

[CarlD]

Usually, I'm the pessimist and 'Mom is the optimist, but in this case, with your volume and super-low pH, I think all three boxes will be needed. Testing tomorrow will tell!