Dealing with scale problem

[PoolDoc]

I'm not sure how many gallons you have, but 1/2 gallon is a lot for most pools.

I don't care what your dealer told you; do NOT dose by "X amount on Y interval"! Test your pH, and hold it to 6.8 - 7.0 by adding acid AS NEEDED!

Low pH (<6.0) will damage ALL types of pools.

[beaverplt]

My pool is 25,000 gallons. Since I started aerating, my PH has stayed around 6.8 as I've added acid. I've been adding 1/2 gallon at a time twice a day for 2 days for two gallons total. This morning my PH is at 6.8 and my TA is still around 240. With the TA so high I'm hesitant to shock the pool or add any algaecide. The algae in the pool is clinging to the vinyl so tightly that no amount of scrubbing or my pool cleaner is removing it. I live in Wisconsin where the cold weather has not really relaxed it's grip. Could the cold temps be part of my issue?

[BigDave]

The pH may be quite lower than 6.8 if 6.8 is the lowest on the comparator. Does your test kit have a base demand test? We seldom recommend using Acid / Base demand tests but in this case I'd like you to be sure it's safe for the pool.

[PoolDoc]

What Dave said. NOW!

STOP ADDING ACID!

If you don't have immediate access to a acid demand kit, go to Walmart and buy out their borax (up to 20 boxes). Turn your pump on high speed, and leave it on. Add 2 boxes of borax every hour -- slowly, to the skimmer -- till you have a pH ABOVE 6.8. It doesn't have to be much above, but enough so you can tell a difference.

THIS IS URGENT! YOU MAY BE DESTROYING YOUR LINER AS I TYPE!

Given the way you are dosing, and testing, your actual pH may be 5.0 or even 3.0. If it is, it won't take long to do PERMANENT damage to your liner. And unlike liners bleached by high chlorine, the damage done by low pH is MORE than just cosmetic.

HURRY!

[beaverplt]

Finally got a testing kit to use instead of the strips. My PH tested at 7.2 today using the kit. Yesterday, a test strip read 6.8. Considering I am aggressively aerating the pool, that makes sense to me. BUT, My TA tested at 80 using the kit. The strip showed 240 yesterday. My hardness tested at 210. The strip yesterday; 400. WOW! That kind of difference makes me understand why so many of you in this forum dislike the strips. How can they be that far off? Needless to say, I'm never, ever, going to test with anything but a kit again.

[PoolDoc]

What kit?

Taylor or Lamotte titration kits (drops) are OK. Some of the others -- not so much.

What you have to understand is that pool industry chemical sales DEPEND -- to the tune of $100,000,000's annually -- on inaccurate testing. And I mean that literally, not figuratively. If every pool owner had, and used, a K2006 appropriately, it would cost the pool chemical industry more than $500,000,000 each year. And again, I mean that literally; that is not an exaggerated number.

I'm not saying that everyone who contributes to bad testing is doing so maliciously, though some are. What I am saying is that accurate and valid water testing would seriously hurt EVERY pool chemical company and EVERY swimming pool dealer in the country. That kind of cuts down on their incentive to provide accurate testing, wouldn't you think?

When you add the fact that pool owners want, and ask for, easier testing methods, and the fact that they will spend money on 'cooler' test methods, like the expensive AND inaccurate electronic test strip readers, it's easy to see how the current situation developed.

NOBODY would prefer the K2006 to test strips IF the test strips were adequate. For a new pool owner, the K2006 is confusing and intimidating.

But, as Albert Einstein is reported to have said, we "try to make things as easy as possible . . . but no easier!".

The K2006 is not as easy as 90% of pool owners would like, but it IS as "easy as possible", given the need for relatively accurate testing.

[beaverplt]

I bought a HTH 6 test kit at Walmart. They did not have a K2006. I should have mentioned earlier that I have issues with my local pool stores. Both of them have always steered me to the highest price solutions to any problems I've had. For example, I used their acid reducer for the first few years of pool ownership, until one year, they were out of it. As I left the store, one of their techs caught me and told me to go to my local Ace to get a gallon of muriatic acid. I was so upset by this deception that now I only will go to them as a last resort. Anyway, I've used HTH products in the past with no problems, so I have faith this is also a good product. I'm guessing someone makes it for HTH.

I tested again this morning with the same results; PH at 7.2, TA of 80, hardness of 210. Bad news is my CA is almost 0. I added the recommended amount of stabilizer and will test that again tomorrow. My pool water is crystal clear, very cold, and has some very stubborn green and black algae clinging to the vinyl.