robquick Posted November 6, 2015 Report Share Posted November 6, 2015 Hi, I've used this method for some time and had no issues however, I have one question if someone is able to answer it ? I do not use Boric acid which means my PH tends to rise however, I'm able to control the PH with reducer. Is there a down side to not using Boric acid (other than having to keep reducing PH) ? Will the high level of PH reducer being used have any adverse effect on the water over time ? Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chem geek Posted November 7, 2015 Report Share Posted November 7, 2015 The only downside is that you need to lower your pH more frequently. If for some reason you don't stay on top of keeping the pH in range, then a high pH could lead to calcium carbonate scaling, especially in the heater. This is more likely to happen if your Calcium Hardness (CH) and/or Total Alkalinity (TA) are higher. Before I recommended using 50 ppm Borates, there was one person on this forum who didn't keep their pH lower and got bad scaling in their spa and I was chewed out terribly by a spa professional for that (see this post). That's why I now say it's required and not optional, but technically that's just to help prevent user-error from not properly maintaining the spa. One can still get the pH too high even with the borates -- it just takes longer. Note that your addition of pH reducer will lower the TA level over time so you need to check that and increase it with baking soda if it gets too low (generally if it gets below 50 ppm). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robquick Posted November 7, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 7, 2015 Thanks Chem, When you say 'higher' TA and CH do you mean outside of the following range ? TA 50-80ppm CH - 100-150ppm I could be wrong however, I do recall you suggesting I ran my TA at 30ppm (I think this was for a particular reason but I can't remember why) ?! Would you physically see Calcium carbonate scaling ? Thanks again Rob. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chem geek Posted November 8, 2015 Report Share Posted November 8, 2015 You can calculate the Calcite Saturation Index (CSI) using PoolMath. Use a temperature of 104ºF. If the CSI is above 0, then you can have risk of calcium carbonate scaling in the heater since that's around 30ºF hotter and around 0.3 higher in CSI. With your low TA you are probably OK. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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