Stay On Top Of Maintenance
Regular testing allows you to figure out whats going on with your water and your pool ahead of time. Regular pool maintenance prevents any anomalies from turning into potential problems.
In terms of water chemistry, this applies to everything we mentioned above, adding the necessary chemicals to keep them within the stated ranges.
Heres how to adjust if needed:
- Water pH can be lowered by adding muriatic acid or sodium bisulfate to your pool. pH can also be raised by adding sodium bicarbonate or sodium carbonate .
- Total alkalinity can be lowered by lowering pH , and raised by adding sodium bicarbonate which raises alkalinity more than it does pH.
- Sanitizer level, assuming youre using chlorine, the chlorine level can be lowered numerous ways but the easiest is waiting for the sun to burn it off. It can be raised by adding more chlorine, obviously.
- Pool stabilizer can be lowered by draining or diluting your water, and raised by simply adding more cyanuric acid. Keep in mind that most slow-release chlorine, like chlorine tablets, are already stabilized.
- Calcium hardness can be lowered by draining or diluting your water or using a pool clarifier or flocculant to clump excess calcium. It can be raised by adding calcium chloride or using a calcium based chlorine, like cal hypo.
In terms of surfaces and pool equipment, regular maintenance encompasses everything from cleaning and backwashing filters, to vacuuming and scrubbing surfaces.
Lowering Your Pool Ph With Sodium Bisulfate :
How To Lower Ph Balance In Your Swimming Pool
Balance in all things. Its as important in life as it is for your swimming pool. A perfect example is your pools pH.
As a rule, you want to maintain a range of 7.4 to 7.8. In a;previous article, we talked about how to raise the pool pH level if its too low. In this post, well show you how to lower pH if it becomes too high.
Lets dive in!
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How To Lower High Ph And Total Alkalinity
If both pH and TA levels are high in your pool, you will need to add;muriatic acid;slowly by slowly while testing your pH and TA levels so that you don’t get low levels.
1). Lowering TA Using Muriatic Acid: 0.8 qts of muriatic acid reduces TA by 10ppm in a 10,000 gallons pool.
2). Lowering pH Using Muriatic Acid: 1 qt of muriatic reduces your pH by around 10ppm in a 10,000 gallons pool.
; ; ; ;2. Borax Dosage:
20 ounces of Borax increase pH in a 5000 gallons pool by 0.5.;
How To Lower Pool Alkalinity
Pool supply stores carry a product called pH Decreaser, which is mostly Sodium Bisulphate. This product will lower both pH and total alkalinity, but you can use muriatic acid instead. Because you may already have it on hand, and its cheaper than pH Decreaser, its worth knowing the right way to use muriatic acid to lower your pools alkalinity.
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It Can Damage Your Pool
If your pH level gets too high , youre looking at potential calcium scaling issues, which is a buildup of white scale or stains on your pool surfaces and even in your pipes.
Not only is scaling on your pool plaster a serious eye sore, but a buildup of scale in your pools plumbing will put strain on your filter system and other equipment, leading to circulation issues and even potential equipment failure.
On the flip side, if your pH level gets too low , the water can become corrosive, eating away at the plaster, metals, grout, and even pool tiles. This can also lead to some stubborn pool stains.
Not even pool vinyl liners are safe, as they begin to lose color, become weakened and prone to tearing, and ultimately cause your pool liner to fall apart if left unchecked.
Factors That Raise Ph In A Swimming Pool
So why does the pH tend to climb in swimming pools? You may notice pH almost never naturally drops over time…so there must be something going on. It turns out, while pH is controlled by the concentration of Hydrogen ions, practically speaking, pH is also determined by the amount of carbon dioxide in the water. And there are several factors that affect CO2 levels in pools, and cause a pool’s pH to lower or rise. So let’s talk about some of them.
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What Is Ph And What Should It Be
pH simply means the waters total acid-alkalinity balance.
Pool experts suggest that the ideal pH reading of pool or spa water needs to be between 7.2 7.8.
If the balance is off, problems can and probably will occur in your pool or spa.
Any element added to the water, be it sweat, sunscreen or leaves or bugs will cause the pH to change.
If the water becomes too alkaline , the water can become cloudy or it can cause scaling on the plumbing equipment and on the pool lining; something that can be costly to fix.
If the water is too acidic , it can cause etching or corrode the metallic equipment. In the worst-case scenario, highly-acidic water can give you and your guests skin rashes or irritations.
For these reasons, its important to monitor pH levels closely.;
Its also important to note that the water will need to be tested more frequently during periods of high usage due to an increase in by-products from swimmers or simply from dirt that gets tracked into the pool.;
What Causes High Ph Levels
The normal pH of pool water is between 7.2 and 7.6. We consider 7.4 as the optimum pH. However, you shouldnt be worried if this value isnt exactly 7.4. Its perfectly normal for your pools pH to occasionally fluctuate.
You should be concerned if the value frequently goes beyond 7.8. High pH levels mean your pools water is very alkaline.
Water pH is extremely unstable, and many factors contribute to its surge. Below are the most common causes.
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Natural Ways To Lower Pool Ph
There are a couple of natural household products that could potentially be used to lower your pools pH.
Vinegar: Wondering how to lower pool pH with vinegar? Ordinary household vinegar could in theory be used to lower the pH of your pool. The pH of vinegar is about 2.5, which is quite acidic when compared to your pool water.
Household vinegar is very weak though , so you would need quite a bit to lower pH.
And in addition, using vinegar would cause a reaction leaving acetates in the pool water, which is not desirable. Its generally not desirable to add extras to your pools water.
Muriatic or Hydrochloric acid is a far better choice for lowering pH and alkalinity.
Baking Soda: Baking soda differs from the previous two natural remedies in that it has a higher pH of 8.3. If your pools pH is above 8.3, baking soda will bring it down to approximately the same value.
However, its more beneficial to use baking soda when looking to raise pool pH and alkalinity levels. You need approximately 1.5 lbs per 10,000 gallons of water to raise the alkalinity by 10 ppm.
What Happens In A Low Ph Swimming Pool
On the other hand, swimming pool water with low pH levels is acidic this you can actually feel the difference as you take a dip and swim. If you swim in an acidic pool, expect skin irritation and burning eyes the moment you open them underwater.
Just like in an alkaline pool, chlorine and other chemicals may not be effective in pool water with low pH. Metal parts of your pool can also corrode, and vinyl linings may wrinkle if the water is too acidic.
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Heat The Swimming Pool Water Up:
Temperature can affect the levels of chlorine in the water because it can affect the way that chlorine behaves.
If you heat up the water, you will cause more bacteria to proliferate, which means that chlorine will be used up a lot faster in order to eliminate them all.;
So if you want a quick method of reducing the chlorine, simply heat up the pool water between 90 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit above its normal temperature levels, and chlorine will be used up a lot faster.;
Can You Swim In A Pool With High Ph
by Team Regal | Jan 21, 2020 | Swimming Pools
Having a swimming pool at home means summer is just a few steps away, no matter the weather. However, you should remember that pool maintenance is no joke. You need to keep it safe for swimming, and this means you must regularly monitor the level of chemicals in it, such as its pH. Water pH is a measure of the acidity of water. The question is can you swim in a pool with high pH?
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Guide To Raise The Ph Level In Your Pool Safely
If you have a swimming pool at home, youll need a pool testing kit to ensure that the water levels are all properly balanced.
If the water in your pool is too acidic, this will corrode your equipment, and its likely to bring about etching on surface materials. Beyond this, acidic water will irritate your eyes, nose, and skin.
If, on the other hand, your pool water is too alkaline, this can cause scale to develop on the surface as well as all over your pool plumbing gear.
Neither of these scenarios is ideal. Excessive acidity or alkalinity both impact the efficiency of the chlorine in your pool, and resultantly impede the process of disinfection.
When youre checking the pH level in your pool, you should aim for somewhere between 7.2 and 7.8. On the pH scale, 0 is extreme acidity, with 14 representing extreme alkalinity. 7 is neutral, so youre shooting for just the alkaline side of neutral.
Now, before we show you how to raise the pH level in your pool, a few more basics so you can proceed better informed
Contents
How Is It Corrected
The simple answer is that, when the pool is too alkaline, the thing to do is add something to lower the pH. Hydrochloric acid is usually used for this purpose. Test the water to measure the pH and to calculate the amount of acid you will need to lower it appropriately. Its all about maintaining balance. Pool water should be tested every day and, if necessary, corrective action taken.
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Maintaining Balanced Ph Levels
Maintaining the pH can be tricky, considering the different factors that could affect it. Nevertheless, there are things pool owners can do to maintain a balanced pH level.
The first and easiest thing to do is to check the pool’s chemistry at least twice a week. That way, you don’t end up with uncontrollable and whack levels in the long run.
Another easy thing to do is to clean your pool often. Don’t allow leaves to linger for too long, and make sure to keep them clean from dirt and debris.
One way you can clean your pool is by frequently adding chlorine stabilizer. The addition of this can help raise the pH to the normal range when it drops.
How To Lower Ph In A Saltwater Pool
pH refers to the acidity of a pool on a scale of 0 14. The pH in your salt water pool should be between 7.2 and 7.8. A pH within this range is considered ideal for proper water chemistry. At opposite ends of the spectrum, a pH of 0 indicates extreme acidity and 14 indicates extreme alkalinity.
You lower the pH in your salt water pool by using a product like pH Down to quickly bring the level down so that its within range. You raise the pH in your salt water pool by using a product like pH Up to quickly raise the level so that its within range. pH and alkalinity have a relationship and can move together. Thus total alkalinity affects and stabilizes pH levels and the higher the alkalinity, the harder it is to change pH.The ideal alkalinity level in a pool is 80 to 120 ppm .When you change pH or alkalinity, both might be affected so its important to monitor each and keep both in check and within the proper range.
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How To Safely Raise Pool Ph Levels
Now, well assume that youve got a suspicion your pool waters pH levels are out of whack.
If you suspect this, it could be that you noticed something looking wrong with the water. Or, maybe you ran a test and it came up reading low pH.
Luckily, raising pH levels is not hard and requires no specialist knowledge. Follow these simple steps and youll increase those pH levels in no time.
- Check the reagents
- Check the total alkalinity then add some baking soda
- Aerate the pool water
Household Items To Lower Ph
People have been using household products in their pools for years and they definitely work. However, they are meant for tradition chlorine-based pool systems only.
Also, pool experts will tell you that household products do not work as well as those formulated specifically for pool use. Still, if you are on a budget these products will make great alternatives and can help you save quite a bit of cash.
Sodium bicarbonate, more popularly known as baking soda, will raise the alkalinity of pool water. It is the same or similar to the sodium hydrogen carbonate that you will find in a pool store. You have to add 1.5 lbs of baking soda to 10,000 gallons to total alkalinity by 10 ppm. Remember however that while you can use baking soda in a pool you should never use the pool version for cooking or baking.
Not only can household bleach, such as Clorox, be used to shock a pool just like pool shock, but if you have hard water issues, it can also help reduce calcium in the water. This may seem obvious, but please make sure to use the unscented brand of bleach. If you add a half gallon of bleach to the water you can raise the chlorine level in a 10,000-gallon pool by 5 ppm.
Although most experts do not suggest using anything other than products approved for pools, these items can work in a pinch. Alternatively, you can use these methods if you are trying to stay within a budget or if you want to try a more natural approach to pool maintenance.
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What Are The Effects Of Raised Ph Level In The Pool
A rise in the pH level can create a lot of effects and problems, which are as follows:
- High pH level can make chlorine in-effective which in turn promotes the growth of algae and bacteria.
- Alkaline pH can make water hard, which further results in the formation of scales of calcium deposits. The scale build-up can result in the clogging of the pipes and filters. The clogged pipes can create the problem of motor failure and leakage.
- It can irritate the eyes and make skin dry.
- The rise in pH can also result in the cloudy and hazy pool, making it unfit for swimming.
Check Total Alkalinity And Make Appropriate Adjustments
Total alkalinity is the sum of all basic materials in the water. Low total alkalinity can cause significant and random fluctuations in pH levels. If you are still having trouble with low pH readings after adding the appropriate amount of soda ash, check your total alkalinity.
Sodium Bicarbonate is similar to soda ash and is used in swimming pools to raise the total alkalinity . Add 1.4 pounds of sodium bicarbonate per 10,000 gallons of water and allow the pool to circulate before testing again. Use our total alkalinity calculator to figure out the exact amount.
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