Redwagon240

I finally had pool pumps replaced, and worked on rebalancing using above method. Took 4 days, and I thought it was good. Amazing what a lot of patience and many, many, water tests will accomplish. Adding sanitizer hoping to stabilize, but ph and alk are both floating up. Yesterday I tested after a day of rest, pH at 8.1 alk 136. The pool calculator said to add 4oz mur acid, my retest lowered pH to 7.7 alk 110. Today I’m up to pH 8.3 alk 141, so I have room to adjust again. Calculator says 8oz mur acid will lower ph .87 and ta 14. I’m afraid to go over 4oz, might lower TA too much. Am I better off adding less, so I don’t lower too much? How long for water ph to somewhat stabilize? So close…. I don’t want to screw up now!

Thank you for all the information. I use a Lamotte ColorQ digital kit, but I do not have an acid demand test in my kit. My lowest ph reading was 7.0, but on day 1, I only tested ph before adding acid 5#, 7.2, and after on the following day 7.1. I learned early on the test strips were pretty useless. I understand now that the aerating between acid additions was necessary to lower alk, it was not just to keep ph in proper range. We are scheduled for repairs 2 weeks from today. By then my water should be back to square one, and I’ll only add sanitizer till repaired. Thank you again for your time and sharing your information. I know I’ll have success when I try again.

Yes, definitely leaking at two of my three pumps. What’s weird, we drained, cleaned the scaling, refilled, and I added 5lbs dry acid over the first day after filling. Barely lowered alkalinity into my testing range (250 and under). Next day, we added 2 cups muriatic acid. Then overnight, the water level is at the bottom of the skimmer when opening pool . We did not have that drop in water before, prior, we thought we were losing to evaporation. So we opened up panel, saw leaking. Maybe scale around seal dissolved from muriatic acid? Caused existing small leak to leak more? so now we are just going to try to keep things from going green, until we can get it serviced. my big question has been, pool site says add 4.5 lbs of dry acid to my 2200 gallons water, to correct my hi-alk. Add half recommended amount, But don’t add more than 1 cup at a time. And then I can’t make headway. I am having more success with muriatic acid, my ph is not dropping below 7.1, even after 2 cups added. My alk is dropping.. until I refill the pool! Adding more alkalinity! My well ph is 7.2, alk 250+. So now we plan to add acid, just to keep clear, sanitizer when using, until leak fixed. Then back to proper balancing attempts.

I added 2 cups muriatic acid, with pool shut down, waited one hour and restarted pool to circulation. This morning, ph up and alk up. But water level has dropped, found a leak at two of the pumps. So I’m adding some sanitizer, and we are going to enjoy the cool water this hot day. Will fix pool hopefully this week. would the muriatic acid and ph- dry acid dissolved some scale around the seals and caused/worsened leaks? We thought we were losing water to evaporation, but the leak definitely worsened last night.

Just refilled 2200 gallon swim spa with high alkaline well water. Had to drain and clean because of scaling. Using my spa calculator, I have added 5lbs of dry acid in 12 0z - 16 oz increments on day 1. Ph lowered from 7.2 to 7.1. Alk was above my test limit, so somewhere over 250, down to 229. Ran out of dry acid, purchased muriatic acid today. Day 2. Started with 8oz muriatic acid, tested after 1hour, ph up at 7.3, alk at 218. No sanitizer, or other chemical in pool. Not running jets, since ph bounces back.\ I am thinking of adding 2 cups mur acid and then retest tomorrow the morning. Should I add more? I can’t find a clear answer how much acid to add when starting this process. It seems I am too cautious, since I just don’t make headway. We have lived with hi alk and just once, I want it balanced.