Tag Archives: algae

Pool Chemicals High Ph

pool chemicals high ph
how do i balance my pool chemicals?

my chlorine level is very high but my ph and alkanlinity are much below the normal range. my pool water is clear and clean. how do i bring the latter two levels up to where they need to be?

You need a few basic things to sort out your pool. Sounds like you already have a test kit for pH and chlorine so this is/was step 1. If chlorine is high, just stop adding any more until it is low again. pH and alkalinity are 2 different things but often confused. You can typically buy a number of chemicals at the pool store. First work out what you need to buy. If pH is low then you need some stuff often called “pH +”. Follow the instructions on the pack and dissolve the stuff first in a bucket of pool water if it is in crystals. Add half what you think you might need and keep the pool pump running for quite a few hours and check the pH again next day. Try not to overshoot but persevere to get pH right before anything else. If you do get too high then you may need some “pH -“. If you end up with algae or cloudy water then you may need algicide for former or flocculant for latter but dont buy unless you need. I had to add 2 litres of “pH+” to my pool this spring to bring it up to the correct 7.2. Dont worry about alkalinity because that strictly is a measure of something else and if the pH is right then you have a result you want.

Nitrogen Triiodide: The Complete Synthesis

Pool Chemicals Low Alkalinity

[mage lang=”en|fr|de|en” source=”flickr”]pool chemicals low alkalinity[/mage]
High Total Alkalinity and Low Ph problem?

My TA was reading at 200 and my ph at 7.8. The pool shop told me to add acid to decrease my TA. I did this last night (16hrs ago) and let the pump run for 4 hours. This morning I have tested the water and the ph is down to 7.0 and the TA down to only 180. Do I need to give it longer to have affect on my TA? Should I be worried that my ph is so low? Have only just installed my pool this year, so am new to all this chemical stuff! Please help

Your ph at 7.0 right now isn’t an issue. It’s only a tad out of whack. That TA still needs to come down though. Where did you put that acid in the pool? You ought to have put it in the deep end and away from any skimmer or pool return and if you have a main drain suction, it should be off. That’s called “slugging”. The acid drops to the bottom of the hopper and changes your TA with little effect on your Ph.
On the flip side, putting acid in the shallow end or in front of a pool return will drop Ph and do next to nothing to your TA since the acid gets diluted right in front of the jet.
The time frame of 16 hours, if you added enough acid ( I wouldn’t have added more than 1 gallon at a time for a say, 16×32 pool) in the right place in the pool (deep end) would have dropped the TA to probably just above ideal at 130-140. Something you did wasn’t right. Either the dosage or the location. Why aren’t you running your pump for more than 4 hours per day? The equipment for any pool is sized that it has a turnover rate of 1.5. That means that in 24 hours, 1.5 times the pool volume gets filtered and sanitized. Less than 18 means that you’ll eventually have a water clarity issue since your turnover then is only 1 at 18 hours run.

FROG Pool and Spa Test Strips