Can't Raise My Pool Alkalinity Using Aqua Chem Alkalinity Increaser
by Mary Clark
What am I doing wrong? The pump is running and I have no other chemicals in the pool. I'm waiting approx 2 hours to test. I'm very confused. I thought Baking Soda was a decreaser? I'm using store chemicals and it's not increasing at all, I don't think. Thanks for the question Mary Baking soda is the perfect alkalinity increaser. Only acid is used to decrease your pool alkalinity and pH. I've used baking soda for years and have never had a problem with it. Our fill water is 8.2pH and alkalinity is 30ppm. I use about 400oz. of baking soda to raise the YMCA pool 10ppm. First, I would like to see what you're readings are. If you can go back to this page and post them in the comment section, it would help. You'll find your question in the pool Q&A page. It will be at the top of the "Alkalinity" category under the title "Can't Raise My Pool Alkalinity Using Aqua Chem Alkalinity Increaser". Post your alkalinity readings, then check back every so often to see what my response is. I usually check them several times throughout the day, so you should have an answer fairly quickly. Be sure you keep the pump motor off when increasing the alkalinity. Let it sit for about 3 hours, then turn the pump motor back on and allow for 1 complete turnover of the water, then retest. Your pool pump is probably going at around 30 GPM (gallons per minute). That would be 1800 gallons per hour. It would take 3.5 hours to do a complete turnover of the water. You may want to wait 4 hours to retest. Regardless of what anyone says, you MUST wait for a complete turnover of the water to have an accurate reading. To raise the alkalinity 10ppm for a 10,000 gallon pool, you would use about 1.5 lbs. of baking soda. In your case, you'd use about 1 lb. to raise it 10ppm. Here's a chart you can look over: Pool Alkalinity Start low and work your way up, retesting after each adjustment. This is when you need to have patience, but raising your alkalinity using the above technique will work. I've been doing it this way since 1999 for hundreds of pools and it's always worked. Hope this helps and let me know the readings. Robert |
