Battling high alkalinity in new pool

[Watermom]

First of all, welcome to the forum! Second of all, just to let you know --- I deleted the link to the URL you had so I could mod your post in faster for you.

Looks like you have been doing your homework and doing a lot of reading. Also, if you haven't already done so, go and read at our sister website www.poolsolutions.com.

The answers to your questions are pretty easy ones!

#1. ON. Always have the pump on when adding muriatic acid slowly in front of the return jet.

#2. NO. Instead of using Borax, just aerate the pH back up. Just point the return jet upward to let it make as much bubbling on the pool's surface as possible. Maybe borrow a gang of neighborhood 10 year old boys and tell them to splash away. Get in the pool (when the 10 year old boys go home) with your fiance and splash each other and make waves, etc. Lowering alk is a gradual process. It will take time, but it will work.

#3. You're welcome!

By the way, with a CC reading of 1ppm, that is a sign that you are still fighting something in the water and need to shock the pool back up again. The cloudiness is most likely dead and dying algae. Continue shocking the pool until you can go from sundown one evening until within 2 hours of sunup the next day without losing more than 1ppm of cl overnight. Then, in my opinion, shock for one more day for added insurance. Then let the cl drift down and keep it between 3-6 all the time -- based on the Best Guess table in my signature below which I'm assuming you are already familiar with.

I know you are just using bleach but just want to caution you that I would not use cal-hypo in this pool since your hardness reading is already 275. Vinyl liners don't need calcium. High pH + high calcium hardness + high TA = cloudy water.

Hope this helps. Keep us posted how things are going!

[MadCrammer]

Wow quick reply and thanks!

I'll certainly keep posting updates. I can only assume that the old owners shocked using cal-hypo exclusively as there is substantial calcium buildup on the liner. The poolsolutions site is how I found this forum, so it is already bookmarked and heavily trafficked! In regards to using a fountain to aerate, do you have any suggestions on a money savvy way to use this method or if it is even worth my time? (The pool is a bit cold as the heater is defunct and it's been a crappy summer temp-wise so getting in and splashing isn't as fun as I'd like it to be). Here's hoping for warmer weather.

[PoolDoc]

There are numerous 'fountain' attachments that you can use to replace one of your eyeballs. Maybe some of the other users can tell you what they've done.

But, given your high incoming TA, this is going to be a long term issue for you. There's no rush (except to keep chlorine in your pool!) but you probably should look for some permanent method of aeration on your pool

Welcome to the Forum!

[waldreps]

Madcrammer, the high TA issue must be a Minnesota thing. I live in Lake Park, MN and am opening my pool for the first time in several years. It sounds like mine was as bad if not worse than yours. I ended up draining the whole thing, scooping out all the leaves and muck, and am now refilling. I tested my fill water which is from my well and the TA is 370 and my calcium is 400. I have an odd inground pool construction of hard fiberglass panels for the 3' side walls and then floor and entire deep end are concrete. I'm not sure if I should even attempt the TA fight.

[PoolDoc]

You don't have to 'fight' it. All you have to do -- if you are not having scaling or cloudiness problems you need to resolve immediately -- is lower your pH to just below 7.0, let it rise to 7.2, and then do it again.

Well, and you need to avoid using cal hypo, which usually increases TA, though it depends on how you add it.

[waldreps]

I use bleach or 12.5% liquid chlorine if it's on sale so I don't have to worry about the cal hypo thing. Do you think I should try to keep the ph low while I'm filling the pool or just wait till it's filled?

[PoolDoc]

Actually, if you lower it AS you fill it, and arrange for your fill water to 'splash' into the pool (aerating it) you will strip quite a bit of carbonate alkalinity before you even get it full!

By the way, you do want to follow the "lower it to 7.0, and then add one more dose of acid" method. You test kit almost certainly can't distinguish 5.0 from 6.8, and a pH of 5.0 will damage things. However, if you lower it to the lowest distinguishable level (just above 6.8) you can add one more dose of acid and be pretty sure you haven't gone lower than 6.5.

Ben