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But by chucking a few tennis balls into the pool, they’ll soak up oils in the water. Keep in mind they’ll only soak up so much, so they’ll have to be replaced fairly regularly if you use this cleaning method. Of course this is normally used when cooking or making salads, but it’s also present in things like cosmetics and soaps. Since it’s also activated by water, you can use it to create a paste that works wonders for cleaning pool tiles, as well as removing grout and other gunk in and around your pool. Homemade pool cleaners can be just as effective as traditional pool cleaning products, and we’ll show you exactly what works and how to use them. Lastly, high alkalinity causes scale build-up, which will clog your filters and line the pool’s walls.
Another reason that causes people to mistake between basicity and total alkalinity is a similar scaling standard. That is, when a liquid is alkaline , its total alkalinity is also high. In a nutshell, lower alkalinity reading of your pool will harm your health and strain your wallet significantly in repairs of the damaged structure. To save yourself from all that pain and inconvenience, learn to raise the alkalinity in your pool.
How to Refill a Salt Water Pool
To avoid pH and TA issues, closely watch your alkalinity levels. You also have to be very careful when sanitizing your pool using granular chlorine to avoid pH and Calcium scaling. I highly recommend that you shock your pool using liquid chlorine. The second cause of high pH in a pool is using Calcium Hypochlorite pool shock to sanitize pool water.
The most common acids used are Muriatic Acid, also known as Hydrochloric Acid, and Sulphuric Acid. Other acids that can be used are Phosphoric Acid and Nitric Acid. Once you have raised the alkalinity to a stable level, you can then adjust the pH up or down to the desired level. A larger pool will take longer to adjust than a smaller one.
Testing and Lowering Total Alkalinity
To understand the difference between pH and total alkalinity, let’s compare their definitions. PH is the measure of how acidic or basic, also known as alkaline a liquid is. Simply put, having neutral waters with a pH value ranging between 7-7.8 in a pool is crucial for swimmers. The small bubbles that escape from the holes produce carbon dioxide, which is released to accelerate the aeration process. Using an air compressor at the surface of the water will add more disturbance and speed up the process. Take accurate readings of TA and pH using a reliable test kit.
Read the manufacturer’s instructions on the bottle to determine the amount of acid required to lower the alkalinity. The target should be under 120 ppm but you should aim for about 100 ppm. There are different varieties of test kits that you can use for this step. The most common ones are testing strips but we recommend the liquid types; they are more accurate. Additionally, by raising the pH, the water will become cloudy and this will reduce visibility when swimming.
Can You Safely Swim in a Pool With High Alkalinity?
If you already know you have low pool alkalinity but pH is OK, get some alkalinity increaser to bring it back up to the recommended levels, and do it fast to avoid corrosion. Alkalinity Increaser by Pool Mate is one of my best options, since it is effective and pocket friendly. I have used it ever since I started in the pool service business, and I have never changed to any other. TA should be kept between 80 and 120 ppm for pools with liners and between 100 and 125 ppm for pools made of plaster. You start by adding muriatic acid as needed in the pool. You must repeat this step until you get a perfect chemical balance.
You may be wondering if high alkalinity in pool water is bad. Yes, high alkalinity in your pool is bad for your pool and also for you. However, you need to dissolve the acid granules in water before adding them to the pool. Don’t forget to add the acid to the water to do that.
You can also try dilution as that will reduce the number of hydrogen ions in the water, shooting the pH value up. Basically, total alkalinity tips the pH scale towards high basicity, whereas the presence of hydrogen moves it towards acidity. Since a basic substance can be referred to as an alkaline substance, people confuse it with total alkalinity.
Before you head to balancing your pool’s alkalinity level, be sure you are aware of its dimension/capacity . After raising your pH, add Muriatic acid carefully as you test both pH and TA levels, don't let your pH go below 7.2 this time. Use a pool calculator to calculate the exact amount of muriatic acid you will need in order to achieve the target value of 100 ppm for TA, or whichever target value you have chosen. If pH levels are still too low after 48 hours, and you want to speed up the process, use an air compressor to accelerate the aeration process . Turn on the circulation pump and wait for about 6 hours before you retest the alkalinity level.
Total alkalinity in my example read 101 ppm, which is not bad at all. The occasional plugged filter and scaling on equipment surfaces? How about higher water pressure reading on your pool pump or sand filter even though you have backwashed? These are all symptoms of high swimming pool water alkalinity. Before start lowering the alkalinity of your pool water, you need to know the water capacity of your swimming pool.
Total Alkalinity should be between 80 to 120ppm and pH between 7.2 and 7.8. Use muriatic acid to lower both TA and pH between the the recommended range. Add muriatic acid slowly by slowly so that your pH doesn't go below 7.2. If the TA is still but pH has reached 7.2, use 20 Mule Team Borax to raise the pH to around 7.8 and add more Muriatic acid till both are balanced. As long as you have enough chlorine in your pool and the pH level is balanced (between 7.4 to 7.8), then a pool with high total alkalinity is still safe to swim in. You should, however, balance TA as soon as possible because it can lead to calcium scaling and cloudy water—a breeding ground for bacteria.
After 60 to 90 seconds, rinse the acid solution off the walls using a garden hose and repeat the process around the pool and floor. While baking soda is less expensive than borax, the latter is still considerably cheaper than most of the specialty pool cleaning chemicals. Borax is mainly used as an additive when cleaning laundry. It’s highly alkaline with a pH level of 9.5, and helps remove acidic stains like tomato and mustard.
Much like all great duos, Batman and Robin, Bert and Ernie, and to a lesser extent John and Yoko, total alkalinity is forever tied to the pH level of the water. Since it is a little bit acidic, it indicates that rainwater can help to lower the alkalinity of your pool. Baking soda is used to increase the alkalinity of a pool. So, you can only use it when your pool’s alkalinity is low. Then, you need to test the pool to be sure that the alkalinity level has truly gone high.
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