Soda Ash Overdose

by Wade

I overdid my 14 foot above-ground pool on soda ash to raise the pH and overall alkalinity, and now I can’t see anything beyond the top.

I treated it about 11 hours ago and no change. Any suggestions to clear it up, and is it safe to swim in? My numbers on the strip test are good except calcium is low, but I don’t plan to mess anymore with that until I can figure out what to do about the murkiness.

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Hi Wade. There's no chemical to get the soda ash out. Your pH will be high so it will need to be reduced using muriatic acid. There are some options. One is to keep filtering and keep it clean, but you must have your filter perfectly working to capture the smaller particles.

Next would be a partial water exchange.

It's good that you're not messing with the CH for now. CH is not a huge deal for vinyl pools.

The actual water is probably safe to swim in (your skin won't peel off), however, I would not allow anyone to swim for safety reasons. If you cannot see into the water, it's not safe.

Robert