Alkilinity Reading For Bromine Tub

[i_rock69]

Hi, I am getting a little confused reading here. I start a new fill with about 80 or 90 TA that always drops to 50 or 60 TA. I keep my bromine around 3 or so and do not usually have to chase my PH much . If i remember my Hardness is usually about 8o

To make it easy where should I be keeping the TA, and why if someone has the time. The stores give me all different numbers and state that if not there numbers then the heater etc will corrode quickly.

Thanks

Just an add on I use Muriatic acid to control ph so now i know why my TA lowers oops missed that so I guess i need to raise it with soda every second or third time I lower my PH

Arrrr this get confusing sometimes

[arches2]

In three months of my bromine fill, i haven't had to adjust the pH yet (since i added the borax). The only thing i have to do is occasionally (ever 2-3 weeks) add a little baking soda. I keep my TA around 60 and then add when it gets to 40ish. my pH is alwasy 7.6 to 7.8 unless the TA is around 40 then it drops a little to about 7.4.

I think where people have struggles with pH is they are trying to keep the TA to a specific number like 80 or 120 or something because the manual says so. The higher the TA the more the pH will rise in my experience. Just let the TA fall and you should not need to add any acid. Even when i shock with a lot of bleach my pH stays ok. I keep my bromine at 4 to 5 typically. CH is about 200 (i overshot on this fill, target is 150).

[chem geek]

If you are using bromine tabs, then they are net acidic so you don't need to keep the TA as low as with the Dichlor-then-bleach method. Basically, the rule for the TA level is that if the pH tends to rise over time, then lower the TA level (within reason, to not lower than 50 ppm or so), but if the pH tends to drop over time then you can raise the TA level (again, within reason, perhaps to 140 ppm but not if the CH is high or else you can get scaling), and if the pH is stable then don't worry about the TA.