pH Level Won't Increase My My Pool
by Brenda McGee
I have brushed the algae and used pH increaser. Hasn't worked. I keep trying. Tried baking soda. Still not successful. Do I need to drain my pool so much and fill up again? Thanks for the question Brenda First, I'd like to have your complete chemicals readings: Chlorine CYA (cyanuric acid/stabilizer) pH Alkalinity Calcium Hardness Metals (iron and copper) Total Dissolved Solids It makes troubleshooting much easier and the process of clearing up your pool will go much faster. Without these numbers I'm just guessing at what the problem is. I need to know: Your current pH level Your target pH level The size of your pool How much bicarb. you put in The question also says the pool has algae. Have you taken any measures to correct this? If so, exactly what have you done? And what was the outcome? I need to know so I can have the information to best help your situation. It's just very difficult to diagnose a problem when the information I have is incomplete. You may not have any stabilizer in the pool which will cause you to lose chlorine which will turn your pool green. Or you may have too much stabilizer which will cause your chlorine to be rendered ineffective. Or the pH might be too high which will also render the chlorine ineffective. A pH level over 8.2ppm and you're only using about 25% of the available chlorine. If you could give me the chemical readings and answer the above questions I'm sure I can help. To post a reply, or if you have a similar question, you can see your post on the Q&A page in the "Swimming Pool pH" category. Swimming Pool Questions and Answers Check back to this post for answers. Hope this helps and have a great Summer. Robert Comment: pH Bounce By: Haus Date: July 7, 2011 Check the alkalinity of the water (not Ph). If it is low it affects the Ph and will continue until balanced with an alkalinity booster. The algae is probably from the chlorine not being effective as it is Ph specific and works best in the 7.2-7.6 range. Sort out alkalinity, then Ph, then shock treat the pool. Comment By: Robert Date: July 7, 2011 That's why I want a complete chemical reading. It will give the alkalinity and pH level, and everything else. What does she mean by "trouble raising the pH"? What has she done? Maybe her pool is 55,000 gallons and she only used 1 lb. of pH increaser. We don't know unless the numbers are given. We can't assume anything. I've had questions about chlorine and how to lower it because it was at 4ppm. This is not high, by any stretch of the imagination, but the visitor who asked the question thought it was. I run the Y pool between 3.5 - 4.5ppm and everything is perfect. I told the visitor to leave the chlorine alone and maybe take out the chlorine tabs. The sun and heat will decrease the chlorine level without having to drain and refill or using Thiosulfate. Concerning this post, her pH might be at 7.4ppm already. Who knows? Yes, you want to balance out the alkalinity, but it can be presumptuous to say "sort out the alkalinity" when we don't know what the alkalinity is. You're correct in saying that chlorine is more active at a lesser pH level, but first we need to establish what that level is before we give her advice. A nurse would never give a doctor a patient's vital signs by writing or saying "pulse is good, blood pressure is fine, and temperature is o.k." The doctor would say he needs actual numbers. We'll just need wait for the visitor's chemical readings. Comment By Phil Date: May 19, 2012 One of the main problems for keeping algae from growing is the the grout in your tiles. If it has washed away it will need to be re-done, otherwise algea gets in and is an impossible task to keep it from coming back again. If you can get the edge of a screwdriver between the tiles then it needs doing. I had this problem last year but since re-grouting it's been great. |
