low pH and TA.. help!!

[BigDave]

6.8 is probably the lowest reading on your tester. If so, you pH could be alot lower.
If you already have the pH up use it but it sounds like Washing Soda could be cheaper.

[tleigh0212]

6.8 is probably the lowest reading on your tester. If so, you pH could be alot lower.
If you already have the pH up use it but it sounds like Washing Soda could be cheaper.

It actually is the lowest reading, I never even thought about that. I was unfamiliar with all the cheaper methods before I bought the pH up, it wasn't too bad though. $5 for 4lb jug

[Watermom]

In addition to working on your pH and TA, you need to get some chlorine in there or you are gonna have a GREEN pool with low pH and TA!

Your CYA is perfect at 50 so don't use any more tabs or any more dichlor shock. (I'm assuming it is dichlor shock; correct me if I am wrong.) Trichlor and Dichlor both contain CYA and you don't want yours to go any higher. In addition, both are acidic and will lower your pH so that is another reason not to use them.

Just use plain, unscented household bleach for your source of chlorine. It will not add CYA and will do a great job of sanitizing your water. With a CYA of 50, you need to keep your chlorine level between 3-6 all the time or risk an algae bloom. It is much easier to keep algae away than it is to get rid of it once you have it. Add enough bleach to get the cl up to 6 ASAP. Then, test this evening and add enough bleach to take it back up to 6. Do this every evening when you test. Take the cl back up to 6. In a 4000 gallon pool, each cup of bleach will add just a little under 1ppm of chlorine. Use that as a reference to help you figure out how much bleach to add each evening.

By the way, you can be working on all of these things at the same time. It is just fine to add bleach right after you add Borax, baking soda, washing soda or pH-up -- whichever you are using.

[tleigh0212]

In addition to working on your pH and TA, you need to get some chlorine in there or you are gonna have a GREEN pool with low pH and TA!

Your CYA is perfect at 50 so don't use any more tabs or any more dichlor shock. (I'm assuming it is dichlor shock; correct me if I am wrong.) Trichlor and Dichlor both contain CYA and you don't want yours to go any higher. In addition, both are acidic and will lower your pH so that is another reason not to use them.

Just use plain, unscented household bleach for your source of chlorine. It will not add CYA and will do a great job of sanitizing your water. With a CYA of 50, you need to keep your chlorine level between 3-6 all the time or risk an algae bloom. It is much easier to keep algae away than it is to get rid of it once you have it. Add enough bleach to get the cl up to 6 ASAP. Then, test this evening and add enough bleach to take it back up to 6. Do this every evening when you test. Take the cl back up to 6. In a 4000 gallon pool, each cup of bleach will add just a little under 1ppm of chlorine. Use that as a reference to help you figure out how much bleach to add each evening.

By the way, you can be working on all of these things at the same time. It is just fine to add bleach right after you add Borax, baking soda, washing soda or pH-up -- whichever you are using.

I am going to the store in a little bit and going to pick up some bleach (I saw somewhere else something about %6 bleach, does this matter, or just as long as it unscented household bleach?). About an hr ago I added about 12oz pH up..just checked again and still unchanged. Is an hr too quick for it to show a difference, or how long should I wait in between checking it?

[Watermom]

Most household bleach is 6% sodium hypochlorite. Occasionally you still find 5.25% but not very often. But, don't waste your time buying 3% if you find that.

I usually wait a couple of hours after adding something before retesting.

[tleigh0212]

Ok, got my bleach. This may sound like a silly question, but how should I pour it in? Do I pour a little bit all around the pool, or just one area, or into my skimmer or how so? And also, how much should I start with pouring, I don't want to pour too much at once. And lastly, for future references, how long should a person wait after pouring bleach to enter the pool?

[aylad]

In a 4K gallon pool, each cup of 6% bleach should raise your FC by 1 ppm. With a CYA of 50, you need to keep your chlorine levels between 3 and 6 ppm at all times, so that should help you figure out how much to add. When adding it, you can either pour it in the skimmer, assuming you have no other chlorine source like trichlor or cal-hypo in the skimmer, or you can add it into the return stream, pouring slowly so you don't splash it on you, your clothes, or your liner. You can walk around the perimeter of the pool and pour it in, too, being careful not to splash it--just use a broom, net, or other equiment to help stir the water up after you add it.

Once you add the bleach, no need to wait to swim--just make sure it's well mixed into the water, and go! (That's why I put mine into the return stream--it helps dissipate it faster). Might want to make sure eyes are closed underwater for a bit, just in case...

[BigDave]

When we had the Intex donut, I would measure the bleach into a cup and pour a little in at a time as I walked around the pool (the Intex pumps don't really seem to mix the water up very well). Be careful not to splash. When I would put in a few cups, I would stir the pool with the oar from a small inflateable raft. Watermom figures that you need to raise your chlorine to 6 and that each cup of bleach will raise your chlorine by 1 ppm. So... if you start at 1ppm - add 5 cups to get to 6ppm.
If the water's well mixed, you can measure the chlorine soon after you put it in and if it's not out of range you can swim. Look at Ben's Best Guess Chart (in Watermom's sig) to for guidance regarding chlorine levels.
The Pool Calculator figures that it would take 11 oz by weight of Washing Soda or 22 oz by weight of Borax to bring your pH from 6.8 to 7.5. You can probably safely put this much in; this will take a little while to dissolve so give it some time and some mixing. I wouldn't put it in the skimmer with an Intex type cartridge filter as my experience is that they clog up pretty quick. Put it in the pool, mix and test in an hour. Mix some more. Test another hour after that - if the pH is the same both times, it's probably all dissolved. If you're still low, you can add more.