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!

[drbob101]

Ok the ph is 8.2 , TA is 60 and there is a lot of undissolved Borax on the bottom and the filter pressure is maxed out. I turned oin the polaris so now I am just mixing up that undissolved Borax but I will need to clean the filter now. Obvioulsy with all that undissolved borax it is very milky now also.

On the steps there is a lt blue precipitate looking deposit. This is a new liner, is this borax doing anything to the liner?

What now do you think?

[drbob101]

Here is the rinsed off DE from the filter and I would say that that is liner color!! This isn't good.

I dont have a circulate valve on my filter so I left the element out and have the filter running in basically circulate mode now.

[Watermom]

Unfortunately, this is another testiment to the truth of don't do too much too fast. I was afraid that adding that much Borax was gonna overshoot your target. It is always best to go slow with additions of anything. Several small additons that gradually get to a target are most always better than one huge addition. Fortunately, pH of 8.2 is not a dangerous thing and can be easily remedied with the use of some muriatic acid. I would suggest adding some baking soda first however to raise your alk up some before adding any acid.

I've never seen Borax damage a liner, so not sure what to say about that or even that it is actually is from the Borax.

[CarlD]

'Mom is right again!

Since you pH is 8.2 and Borax is on the pool floor, you may want to vacuum it to waste so it doesn't raise your pH any more.