Is Total Alkalinity Important For Pool Water Balancing?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 16 ต.ค. 2024
- From www.swimmingpo... this video talks about the importance of total alkalinity in your swimming pool water and what would happen if you have a low level of alkalinity (or zero alkalinity) in your pool. Alkalinity is the buffer which helps to prevent movement in the pH (which is the measurement between acids and bases in the water). When set at the ideal range of 80 to 120 ppm the total alkalinity will help to prevent the movement of the pH values. The higher your alkalinity the more buffering effect it provides against movement of the pH.
#poolchemistry #swimmingpoolsteve #alkalinity
* I am watching Steve while my swimming pool is closed in February because Steve is a reminder of future sunshine and happiness.
Yup above freezing here which is unusual but it’s making me want to open even more. Mid April is when I open in lower Michigan.
Thanks again Steve for helping us novice pool guys 🙏
I just adjusted my alkalinity to the perfect level and now increasing ph is causing my alkalinity to spike back up! ph is currently very low. Is it correct that I need to do alkalinity first ?? Confused.
TA does matter, but more so for pools that are running Trichlor tabs and plaster pools.
Just use an LSI calculator and delete the mystery.
Salt pools naturally move up in pH b/c saltwater is quite alkaline. The best LSI for salt pools is high calcium hardness (300ppm plus) and lower TA (70 minus in low temp water and 80 plus in higher temp water).
Trichlor pools have CYA being added. CYA is an acid and so it’ll reduce the pH and carbonate alkalinity. Adding bicarb each week is a must to prevent low pH issues.
I’ve never actually seen “wild” pH swings as is normally stated with low TA. That’s a textbook explanation. The reason is b/c pool water constantly has stuff going into it and that’s means the pH will trend in either a high or a low direction (but not “wild” and it’s easily predictable).
TA really allows for the pH to remain relatively static when stuff is added to the water.
However, it’s more for the carbonates to protect plaster from the water.
An LSI balanced with water temp over 80°F, TA over 80ppm and CH over 300ppm is a recipe for salt cells spitting calcium carbonate into the pool. Produces white sediment all over the pool floor.
I just let the pH go to 8.0 and balance TA, CH, TDS and CYA according to LSI within 0.25.
TA will never control pH. There are feeder systems out there that run thousands of dollars to manage pH.
Use TA to protect your plaster by running LSI/CSI balance.
What about real high alkalinity as 200 or more? My pool alkalinity keeps rising on its own. Real hard to get it to lower. My fill water is 90ppm. I don’t have to fill it often.
When I was using trichlor those TA numbers were fine but last year I decided to go with liquid chlorine and rising oh was driving me nuts until I let my TA get to 60 and everything stabilized.
What if the water is crystal clear, but some of the numbers aren’t balanced?
Manage the pH and let the TA settle where it's happy. A non-trichlor pool will almost never need baking soda. LC and SWCG pools with a TA of 50-60 and pH in the high 7s works great.
I have been told that the higher the cyanuric acid level is in the water, the higher the total alkalinity needs to be. Is this true? I live in Texas and use tabs. My cyanuric levels get high fast and I have to drain the pool occasionally. I keep my total alkalinity between 80-120.
I can't say for sure because I don't endorse high CYA. I endorse using unstabilized chlorine and avoiding the CYA problem entirely. I set my CYA between 30 to 50ppm and that is where is stays ( for the most part)
I looked into that but it seems the unstablized chlorine increases total solids and that requires pool draining occasionally. I used liquid chlorine for a few years until it got as expensive (or more) than the tabs.
CYA contributes to total alkalinity, but it’s not carbonate alkalinity.
Pool chemistry assumes carbonate alkalinity, so I’m assuming that folks are saying to increase your alkalinity when CYA is present b/c of the add on effect.
The best idea is to use an LSI calculator like the one that comes with a Taylor DPD test kit or the Orenda pool chemistry app.
@@SwimmingpoolsteveI’ll second that! High CYA is not a good idea. I get anxious at anything over 60ppm.
How do adjust the alkalinity?
Up with baking soda and then it goes down when you adjust pH down with acid