How to and why to Adjust Alkalinity in Swimming Pool Water
Why is your pool water dull or cloudy? Is your chlorine doing a good job or not?
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Instructions
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There is an underlying problem at the base of many water ailments in swimming pools and that is, the lack of alkalinity in the water. Sounds too simple to be true, but that could be the problem.
Municipal water suppliers are required to provide a finished product to their customers that follows strict guidlines as to the quality and composition of their drinking water.
One facet of these water guidlines is the amount of alkalinity it contains. -
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The alkalinity level of your pool water should be tested weekly with a water testing kit equipped to check alkalinity.
Test kits that use drops are more accurate than test strips. The amount of drops that you use can give you a closer to true reading than trying to match a color on a bottle. -
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Alkalinity is the first thing that needs to be adjusted. Chlorine users need to have an alkalinity level in their pool of between 80 Parts Per Million (ppm) and 120 ppm. If your alkalinity is too low, you'll need to follow the instructions on a bucket of Alkalinity Increaser and add the correct amount in stages. You must be sure of the size of your pool and the number of gallons it holds. Guessing is not going to get you crystal clear pool water.
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Retest the water and if the alkalinity is correct then it's time to fine tune your pH. Alkalinity is like the nail that can hold the pH in place. Without it, your pH will be too low.
But I just tested and it said that my pH was fine? That's probably because you added municipal water to your pool and the pH reads about 8.1 instead of 7.2 to 7.6 where it needs to be. Just give it a few days without that alkalinity and it will slide right off into the abyss of the 6.8 and lower range.
So to treat the problem, most people simply add pH Increaser to boost it back up, and you know what, it worked!!! Here again, just give it a few days and it will slide back down. Your pool is experiencing what experts call pH Bounce. -
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Understand something, chlorine , in order for it to sanitize your pool as it is supposed to, needs an alkalinity range of between 80ppm to 120ppm and a pH level of between 7.2 and 7.6. The only time that your chlorine is actually doing what you think its supposed to be doing is when those two conditions are right! If your doing the pH Bounce dance, then your chlorine only gets to work for a brief time as the pH level slides by the ideal range on its way to the acidic end of the pH scale.
The rest of the time that cloudiness that your water is experiencing could be the chlorine itself trying to operate in a hostile environment and not being too successful.
So, alkalinity, pH and then chlorine, that's the order that you need to stick to so that you can at least combat this area of possible pool water problems. There are many other ways that water can become dull or cloudy, but a lot of people find that this first step takes care of most of their problem.
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Tips & Warnings
Always add chemicals slowly or in stages. Test between stages so that you don't overshoot your mark and have to use the opposite chemical to readjust the mistake.
There is no Alkalinity Decreaser. If you add too much alkalinity to your water you would have to use huge amounts of pH Decreaser to get your level back down to where it needs to be, so be careful. The alternative would be to drain off a percentage of your water and add fresh water with a low alkalinity level to try to rebalance the level.
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Comments
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There are a couple of inaccuracies here. First, while Total Alkalinity can have a strong impact on pH, chlorine's effectiveness is unrelated to the actual TA of water. Chlorine disassociates toward hypochlorous acid (the 'good' killing form) as pH drops. As pH rises, it shifts to hypochlorite ion, an ineffective killer that is obnoxious to the eyes and nose. Actually, chlorine becomes a more and more efficient oxidizer and sanitizer as the pH drops below 7.2 and lower into the acidic range. We can't utilize that fact, as running pool water pH that low would destroy any metallic or cementious materials in the system. Secondly there IS a Total Alkalinity decreaser, the same thing we use to decrease pH...muriatic acid. The difference is in how it's added to the pool. To lower strictly pH, broadcast the acid over a moving pool and brush to mix the acid with ALL the pool water ASAP. If TA lowering is needed, it can ONLY be done when the pH has also drifted up. (Don't worry, with a high TA, pH reductions will be a regularly necessary adjustment.) Take the amount of acid needed to adjust the pH and gently apply it in numerous, half-pint "pockets" around the deep end of a still pool. (Stay 3-4 feet away from any metal like light rings or hand rails!) After 30-45 minutes, turn on the pump and brush to mix the zero TA pockets with the rest of the pool,.. this will pull down the pool's overall TA by 5-10ppm. Next time the pH drifts up, do it again. Once desired TA is achieved, add acid by broadcasting over a moving pool to lower pH only.
