Total Alkalinity

Total alkalinity and weekly pool water maintenance. Simply add sodium bicarbonate or pool acid to make adjustments and common mistakes to avoid.

They're not difficult steps but they do require a bit of patience.

Your total alkalinity (TA) is just that, how much alkaline substance is in the water. Too high or low and your pool water quality will be compromised.

When it's in check, everything else (chlorine, pool pH, calcium hardness) works better and is easier to maintain.

If the TA is high, your pool will experience an increased demand for muriatic acid or you'll experience a cloudy swimming pool.

Too low will cause problems with pH “bounce” and possible green pool water.

I recommend testing your water alkalinity levels at least once per week, but when your pool is properly balanced it will change very little.

If and/or when you do need to make any adjustments to your TA you can go to this page to learn how to make the proper adjustments.

Problems With An Unbalanced Pool

1. Lessens the effectiveness of your sanitizer
2. Swimming pool stains
3. Scaling or etching of your pool plaster
4. Swimming pool pH bounce
5. Calcium deposits on the water line
6. Staining of the pool and Hot Tub walls
7. Eye and skin irritation
8. Unusual wear on filtration components
9. Increase demand for pool acid or Sodium Bicarbonate
10. Wasted money and time
11. Wasted pool test strips

When a pool is unbalanced and out of control, it can be the most frustrating time for a pool owner.

Take the time to educate yourself on the proper way to balance your pool. You need to have both the knowledge and understanding of how all the elements work together to give you the spa and pool perfect for you.

Swimming Pool Test Kit - FAS-DPD K-2006 Taylor Test Kit

Ideal Range

The ideal range of your TA for plaster pools is between 80-100ppm and for all others 95-105ppm, not up to 120ppm. At the proper level, people will find the swimming pool chlorine will continue to sanitize properly, the pool pH will be stable, and less need for a calcium hardness increaser.

If you have contaminated well water it will make this process a little more difficult.

Please remember these are ideal ranges, but we don’t live in an ideal world. If you have a plaster pool (including salt water swimming pools) and the total alkalinity is 110ppm or 75ppm, don’t sweat it.

Allow yourself and your pool a little grace.

Go To:

Swimming Pool Chemistry From Total Alkalinity
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Have A Story, Question, Or Comment?

If you have a chemical related issue, please give the chemicals readings, type of filtration system, what you've done or are trying to do, etc..

Chlorine
pH
Alkalinity
Hardness
Cyanuric Acid
Sand, Cartridge, DE Filter

Please explain your issue thoughtfully. By giving me all the details, it makes it much easier to answer your question and helps others that may have similar issues.

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