Help! Added too much Sodium Bicarb to spa

What is floc, clarifier, stabilizer, cyanuric acid,
algaecide, brightener, dichlor, sodium hypo,
sodium bisulfate, ....??
guy7878
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Help! Added too much Sodium Bicarb to spa

Postby guy7878 » Wed 27 Feb, 2019 21:08

I made a mistake and added acid to the spa before I checked my alkalinity. I knew last week that the alkalinity was barely at 80. So when I added the acid I freaked out. Then I did something else and checked the Alkilinity afterwards and it was down to 20. I didn't know that it would read low if I checked it too soon after adding acid. So I added bicarb and ended up adding way too much. Now I have Alk. way above 200 or 300 and cloudy spa. What do I do? I added acid today b/c my ph was high.

I won't be back at my spa until next week. I'm slightly freaking out.


Denniswiseman
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My Pool: 10k inground fibreglass, Telescopic Cover, Hayward Powerline pump, Quality filter with glass media, 27kw output heat pump, K-2006C test kit
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Re: Help! Added too much Sodium Bicarb to spa

Postby Denniswiseman » Thu 28 Feb, 2019 03:50

Get yourself a decent FAS/DPD test kit (Taylor K2006c or TF Testkits TF100 in the states)
Check your numbers and use Pool Maths to work out just what to put in
FC:
TC:
pH:
TA:
CH:
CYA:
It's no good just guessing what to put in as you will be Yo-Yoing up and down
If it's just the spa you may as well just dump what water you have and start again
guy7878
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Re: Help! Added too much Sodium Bicarb to spa

Postby guy7878 » Thu 28 Feb, 2019 06:50

I’m not guessing. I have a Taylor kit. I misread it and put pounds instead of ounces in the spa. Yesterday I added the correct amount of acid to lower PH and start lowering alkalinity. But I’m not sure it’ll do it or if the filter will be able to filter it out.
Teapot
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Re: Help! Added too much Sodium Bicarb to spa

Postby Teapot » Thu 28 Feb, 2019 07:44

Spa, is it plastic or tiled? Alkalinity doesn't matter in plastic spa's
Spa being small is easier and cheaper to dump the water than waste more time and money adjusting.
Denniswiseman
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Posts: 2592
Joined: Tue 06 Sep, 2011 05:48
My Pool: 10k inground fibreglass, Telescopic Cover, Hayward Powerline pump, Quality filter with glass media, 27kw output heat pump, K-2006C test kit
Location: United Kingdom

Re: Help! Added too much Sodium Bicarb to spa

Postby Denniswiseman » Thu 28 Feb, 2019 14:46

guy7878 wrote:I’m not guessing. I have a Taylor kit. I misread it and put pounds instead of ounces in the spa. Yesterday I added the correct amount of acid to lower PH and start lowering alkalinity. But I’m not sure it’ll do it or if the filter will be able to filter it out.

Great then you are basicly OK
The filter won't filter out any chemicals only dirt, algae and other dead insects that get through the skimmer bowl
Make sure you work on your pH and then your TA

Liquid chlorine (sodium hypochlorite or plain bleach)
Muriatic acid (hydrochloric acid) to lower pH and TA
Bicarbonate of soda to raise TA
Aeration will raise pH only
Soda ash will raise pH and TA
Teapot
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My Pool: 12 x 24 (45m3) liner pool, Triton TR60 filter with AFM glass media (Activate) and variable speed pump running 0.08HP
Location: UK

Re: Help! Added too much Sodium Bicarb to spa

Postby Teapot » Thu 28 Feb, 2019 15:28

If you are using cyanuric acid (chlorine stabiliser) in your spa you won't have to worry about pH either as the most dominant chemical cyanuric acid makes pH less of interest. PH can be anywhere from 7.2 to 9.0 for almost the same active chlorine level. That means you can run with a lower alkalinity and not have the pH rises which you'll have in a spa with aeration normally.
Because pH has a larger effect on the aggressive nature of the water than bicarbonate does its two things you'll not have to worry about saving you the issues of adding either as the water would not go much above pH 8.3.

This only applies to pools and spas using cyanuric acid stabiliser (packaged tablets, shock etc)

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