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Baking Soda Issue


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I was told that I had 0 alkalinity in my pool, so I went out and got 2, 12 lb bags of A&H baking soda for pools. The lowest reading said to put both bags in the pool. Now the next day it looks like the pool is all cloudy and there is baking soda lining the bottom of my pool. The pool is 21K gallon above ground. The filter has been running all night. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

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24 pounds of baking soda in 21,000 gallons would raise the TA by 82 ppm. If your TA was truly zero, then that might have been OK though you usually add half of such chemicals and retest to be sure. I suspect that your initial reading may have been wrong or you may have a higher pH or CH. The cloudiness might be temporary and will clear as the chemicals more thoroughly get mixed. You really can't know what to do without getting accurate readings for FC, CC, pH, TA, CH and CYA. Get yourself a good Taylor K-2006 test kit here or the TF-100 kit here.

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I was told that I had 0 alkalinity in my pool, so I went out and got 2, 12 lb bags of A&H baking soda for pools. The lowest reading said to put both bags in the pool. Now the next day it looks like the pool is all cloudy and there is baking soda lining the bottom of my pool. The pool is 21K gallon above ground. The filter has been running all night. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

DId you pre-dissolve the baking soda in a bucket of water first, or did you add it directly to your pool? It's a always good idea to try to add the baking soda/water solution to your pool instead of directly putting the powder in there. See if you can find out what your TA is now.

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most important is the pH. If you had really low pH I would have added some borates first and that would also increase the TA a little bit. basically taking advatage of low TA and low pH to add borates to the pool. then I would add baking soda daily just a little each time until TA was around 60-80. of course you might need a little acid to keep pH down while adding the baking soda but dont add them together...I usually wait 30 minutes between adding different chemicals like those and add them in opposite areas of the pool from each other.

hard to believe TA was 0.

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Thank you for your replies! I have my pool water tested by my local pool supply store. Not sure what system it is, but they put samples of my water in sealed vials, then inster the vials into a machine connected to their pc which prints out my chemical readings. The last one was yesterday and showed low chlorine (1.5 I think), some phosphates (200 I think), 52 alkalinity, 6.8 pH. The said the phosphates should go down over time with the rain and weather we're having. If the baking soda hasn't fully dissolved then it would make sense to not adjust the alkalinity or pH until it has. I did a chlorine shock last night and when I woke up this morning the particles that made up the cloudiness in the pool had sank to the bottom. It looked like clusters of shredded cotton on the bottom of my pool. I remember seeing something similar last year usually after I shocked the pool, but there was never cloudiness associated with it. If it's not undissolved baking soda, then I don't know what it is. I vacuumed and the pool just became cloudy again. Perhaps my sand filter is no longer working?

Thanks!

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Thank you for your replies! I have my pool water tested by my local pool supply store. Not sure what system it is, but they put samples of my water in sealed vials, then inster the vials into a machine connected to their pc which prints out my chemical readings. The last one was yesterday and showed low chlorine (1.5 I think), some phosphates (200 I think), 52 alkalinity, 6.8 pH. The said the phosphates should go down over time with the rain and weather we're having. If the baking soda hasn't fully dissolved then it would make sense to not adjust the alkalinity or pH until it has. I did a chlorine shock last night and when I woke up this morning the particles that made up the cloudiness in the pool had sank to the bottom. It looked like clusters of shredded cotton on the bottom of my pool. I remember seeing something similar last year usually after I shocked the pool, but there was never cloudiness associated with it. If it's not undissolved baking soda, then I don't know what it is. I vacuumed and the pool just became cloudy again. Perhaps my sand filter is no longer working?

Thanks!

Nevermind the phosphates. 200 ppm is quite low -- but even with a much higher level this shouldn't be a problem unless chlorine is not maintained... Speaking of which, a Free Chlorine level of 1.5 ppm is probably too low. The determining factor here is cyanuric acid (know variously as CYA, conditioner, stablizer). See the chlorine / cya relationship in one of the following links:

http://www.poolforum...hread.php?t=365

http://www.troublefr...cya_chart_shock

If you spread the baking soda around it has surely dissolved by now. There may be something else going on. As has been reitereated in many threads on this forum and others, it's always a step forward when you perform your own pool water testing. Invest $50 or $60 in a good test kit (Taylor K-2006 or equivalent) and you'll save multiples of that over time (from chemicals that you don't purchase at the pool store).

Here's an entertaining thread that might lead you to resolve the current issue:

100 Reasons for Cloudy Swimming Pool Water!

Best of luck

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Now the next day it looks like the pool is all cloudy and there is baking soda lining the bottom of my pool.

Thanks!

Do you have any idea what the calcium hardness was when you added that large amount of baking soda? I am going to make an educated guess and say it was on the high side and you have inadvertently precipitated out calcium carbonate and that is what is clouding your pool and sitting on the bottom. Bad new, if this happened you have dropped your calcium and did not raise your TA as high as you expected. You said you used to see something similar on the bottom when you shocked your pool. I am going to make another educated guess and say that you shock with cal hypo (calcium hypochlorite, usually sold in 1 lb bags as shock). Right? Once again, cal hypo can cause calcium carbonate to precipitate from the water, expecially if the TA is on the high side!

Get a GOOD test kit (Taylor K-2006, NOT K-2005), test your water, post the results, and we can take it from there.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot, stay away from the pool store! (I have worked in them and know a thing or two about them!)

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