high alkalinity

[Woods]

We were told by the people who check our water that our TA was above the Max. They have been telling us to add the acid. They told us our pH was good. I am so confused. This is our first summer with a pool. Our neighbors got their pool at the same time we did, but their TA is good so the high TA can't be due to our water supply. If our pH is good then why do we keep getting a reading that our TA is too high.

Thanks for your help!

[chem geek]

If you have a salt system (SWG) then you are very likely to be having the pH rise over time. You are getting advice to lower your TA because they are going by standard ranges instead of looking at the whole balance of calcium carbonate saturation in your pool. At any rate, you can follow the procedure I linked to and lower your TA. Just to ahead and do that. Don't be confused. Get your TA down to 80 ppm by following the procedure.

Then after that is done, report back with how its going and whether you notice the pH rising as much or needing to add as much acid.

As for how you got the high TA in the first place, you initially added sodium bicarbonate / baking soda / Alkalinity Up as one of the things added upon a fresh fill of your pool.

By the way, is your pool vinyl or is it plaster/gunite?

Finally, get yourself a good test kit, the Taylor K-2006.

[Woods]

We have a vinly pool.
What is a good range for TA and pH?

[chem geek]

So with vinyl, you don't need calcium hardness (assuming you don't have any tile with grout exposed to the water). You should run with the lowest TA you need to avoid the rising pH issue. With your CYA of 50, you could go as low as around 60 and still be OK, but may only need to get to 80 -- I would try 80 and see how things go. As for pH, a higher target of 7.7 instead of 7.5 would help reduce the rising pH, but again see how things go.

So, follow the procedure to lower your TA to 80. Then see how frequently you need to add acid and how much acid you need to add and let us know.

[Guest]

I refilled half my pool and its way off chemically I went to test at the store and I just discovered I need to moniter the alkalinity, I have a salt water system with a chemtrol to monitor it I also test regularly to adjust controller. also have ion generator that is the only one that is workingright at the moment. 0 clorine, ph 6.8 calcium 170, alkalinity 180
I did the miradic acid add for the alkalinity if I adjust the ph now will it be off tomorrow when I need to use the pool or do I wait to adjust ph water is really cloudy

[chem geek]

The water is probably cloudy because you have no chlorine (that's what you reported) and an algae bloom is starting. You won't be able to conquer this with your SWG or ionizer alone. You will need to add more chlorine manually and how much depends on your CYA level (which you did not report). You should add unscented bleach or chlorinating liquid to get up to a Free Chlorine (FC) level that is 40% of your CYA level. With a really high CYA level, perhaps you can get away with less FC, but it will take longer to clear the algae. At least 20% of the CYA level will be needed, but more is better (up to 40%).

After the algae is clear, you need to figure out how you got into this situation in the first place. It sounds like your SWG system isn't working properly. Is your salt level too low? SWG systems will shut down if the salt level is out of range (usually too low).

Richard