raising a stubbornly low pH

[wilcfr]

New readings as of this morning
pH 7.06
TA 136
FC 1.7
TC 2.6

Actually our CYA is low, below 20, thanks for asking. We have not aerated yet this season. Last summer we bought a hokey little float around fountain that hooked up to our inlets that did a fair job of that(sadly we don't have any 10 y/o boys at our disposal, just an 8 y/o Springer).

About Chlorine. We have an auto chlorinator that uses the 3 inch tabs of trichlor. It would seem that is not considered a good way to go. We have also used granulated dichlor in the past when our auto was broken. I know that dichlor is also stabilized, but don't know its affect on pH. Obviously liquid bleach is cheap and has a high pH (around 12 if I remember correctly) and is easy to use, but is it stable enough if our CYA is low? What about just throwing in a 1 lbs bag of Cal Hypo( another high pH product) every 2-3 days, accepting days of heavy party use, which is maybe twice a year? For the most part the pool is used daily, weather permitting, be my wife, me and our aforementioned Springer who actually enjoys it more than we do.

Thanks for the reply. We will try to find some 10 y/o boys or hook up the fountain again.

[aylad]

The trichlor isn't necessarily "not a good way to go", unless it is causing you problems. For most people, that problem would be a huge rise in CYA levels. For you, it appears the problem is consistently having to battle low pH. If you would aerate your water and stop using the trichlor, I bet your pH problem will clear up quickly. You could switch to cal-hypo or bleach either one in the meantime.

Janet

[duraleigh]

You're getting very accurate advice from some sharp cookies.

You might consider shocking your pool. I notice some CC in your results and it might be a good idea to clear it up.

I LOVE Cal Hypo....only drawback is it will slowly increase your CH, which looks high enough already.

Your CYA level will have the same affect on bleach as it does Cal Hypo....you'll lose some of it. I lose about 2-3ppm per day running CYA of 35 or so. I'm upping mine to 50 to try and retain a little more chlorine during the day.

I'll bet Janet's right on the money. If you don't use trichlor, your pH issue will soon be obsolete.

[wilcfr]

Thanks for all the advice. We were not able to find any 10 y/o boys, but were able to play with the direction of the inlet discharge to get a nice little aeration going. Over the course of the last 24 hours our TA has dropped to 102 and our pH is up to 7.38. I added 2 lbs of Cal-hypo this moring because our FC to TC was still a little off. I will probably continue to use the Trichlor in the auto chlorinator on a low setting to help stabilize the granular and liquid Cl and augment with the CH granules or SH liquid to keep the chlorine level where it should be.

I have to say that the internet is a wonderful thing. I am a member of probably 15 forums some as an "expert", a few as a "little knowledge is a dangerous thing member" and a few more as a "newbie", but it is a wonderful vehicle for sharing info and experiences. Thanks again for the advice.