Is there a certain window of time

[Rangeball]

Got up early, grabbed my test kit and headed to the pool. It never did rain.

Pool had been aerating since noon yesterday.

Tested-

PH- 7.6, only dropped a bit.
Alk- 180, only dropped a bit.

I had expected a much bigger PH drop from the amount of acid I put in. I also expected the alk to be much lower.

I thought about this for awhile, and came up with a hypothesis.

In the "lower your alk" sticky thread, a poster asked if you could start aerating as soon as you add the acid. Ben responded stating it wouldn't work until the PH dropped but it probably wouldn't make a difference either way.

I'm wondering if thats correct.

If aeration increases PH while gassing off carbon dioxide to keep alk down, adding acid and immediately aerating seems counter-productive. My pool has been constantly aerated either by young swimmers or air in my return line. In looking back, the only time I got a good PH drop was when I had the air leak stopped and was getting good flow with no aeration and low swimming load.

I turned off the sump pump aeration, and added more acid, but didn't have enough to get PH as low as I need. I'll get more some time today, retest my PH and add more. I'll then try to hold the kids off from swimming tonight, retest tomorrow morning and hopefully begin aerating then.

Make any sense?

If this doesn't do it, I guess I'll be forced to live with high alkalinity and rapidly escalating PH levels

[Tredge]

Interesting thoughts.
Maybe your aeration isnt enough? Or maybe you are not maintaining the PH at a low enough level for long enough....since it tends to creep up so quickly maybe its demanding more attention?

My pool is filled and I have the High TA also so I begin my aeration process tonight.

I should also have good numbers today so we can compare notes.

[Rangeball]

Interesting thoughts.
Maybe your aeration isnt enough? Or maybe you are not maintaining the PH at a low enough level for long enough....since it tends to creep up so quickly maybe its demanding more attention?

How long is it recommended to let the water circulate before testing PH? I gave mine a good 19 hours of circulation before testing PH. The water probably turned over 3-4 times, so it should be plenty mixed. I'm thinking the PH was dropping but being offset by the aeration so it stayed more or less stable as the end result.

I added acid this morning. I'll test ph again at noon to see what it did. This will be 5 hours later. If PH is low enough, I'll check alk. If not, I'll add more acid. I'm starting to run low on my alk reagent, and although it only costs $1.69 for another bottle with free shipping, it's a flat $6.99 "handling" fee.

My pool is filled and I have the High TA also so I begin my aeration process tonight.

I should also have good numbers today so we can compare notes.

Sounds great