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Balancing Ph (Too High) And Alkalinity (Too Low)


nmwolfy

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While you could add a combination of 20 Mule Team Borax and acid, that's more complicated than just adding boric acid. You can use PoolMath. As it says when you put in 1100 liters (setting Units to Metric), you add 485 g of Borax (assuming it's sodium tetraborate decahydrate -- double check the ingredients on what you have) and 245 ml of full-strength Muriatic Acid (31.45% Hydrochloric Acid). You would split this up into smaller alternating doses. That's why using 315 g (about 353 ml) of boric acid is much easier. In the U.S. one can get boric acid at DudaDiesel or at The Chemistry Store. You should check with pharmacies to see if they carry boric acid. There are swimming pool products such as Proteam Supreme Plus and BioGuard Optimizer Plus that use Borax or boric acid or combination and there are spa products like ProTeam Gentle Spa that do the same, but they are more expensive and not as pH neutral (only slightly acidic) as pure boric acid.

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Thanks for the reply, this is getting a bit more complex now.

The Borates I have is Di-Sodium Tetraborate, is that the same as the "sodium tetraborate decahydrate" you mention above?

I don't have a way of testing the Borates level at the moment, do I need to address this before using Borates? The test strips for Borate appear to be very challenging to locate in Australia. I am waiting to hear back from 1 possible supplier so far.

I do not have any muriatic acid at the moment as I use sodium bisulphate to reduce pH, do I have to use muriatic acid with borates as per the poolmath calculation or can I use what I have somehow?

I will try and locate some boric acid as this looks easier to work with, I think I have found somewhere nearby me in Melbourne, Australia that has it.

I am also wondering if I replaced some of the spa water (a third or half) that this may help me better balance the water to achieve a TA 60, pH 7.7 balance as I have been able to achieve in the past before introducing other chemicals as into the mix.

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The disodium tetraborate MIGHT be the same as the decahydrate found in 20 Mule Team Borax, but it could be pentahydrate which is found in some of the other products I listed. The difference would just change your dosage amount some -- PoolMath lists both so you can select each and see the difference.

If you use tetraborate, then you have to add acid as well. Again, PoolMath will tell you how much, but you need to split up your dosages adding some acid, then some tetraborate, then more acid, then more tetraborate, etc. You can use the sodium bisulfate as your acid if you like. It's not good for plaster pools, but spas are usually acrylic. The quantity of sodium bisulfate in volume is roughly the same as that as the full-strength Muriatic Acid (31.45% HCl).

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