Water Care: Taking Care of a High pH
It’s important to maintain the balance in your swimming pool. Chemical balance is key to a healthy, clean pool. Chlorine keeps algae and bacteria at bay, while other chemicals keep the pH levels of your pool’s water balanced.
Let’s look at water care and taking care of a high pH.
If your water isn’t balanced and your pH is too high, you may find the following problems:
- Calcium buildup on pool surfaces, waterline and accessories
- Dull or cloudy pool water
- Clogged filter medium or elements
- Drop in chlorine’s disinfection potential resulting in algae growth
- Chlorine generated by salt generators
- Burning eyes and nose
- Dry, itchy skin and scalp
Chlorine cannot kill bacteria efficiently when pH rises above 7.6. In addition to effecting chlorine’s rate of kill, it also causes scale formation, cloudy water, clogged filters and skin and eye irritation. Maintaining pH between 7.4 – 7.6 is extremely important no matter what sanitizer system you use – whether it is a salt or ozone system, Bromine, Ionizer or UV.
Common reasons it’s too high:
1. Excessive total alkalinity or calcium hardness
2. Excessive shocking with high pH chemicals such as liquid chlorine, calcium hypochlorite or lithium hypochlorite
3. Adding too much Balance pak 200 (pH UP) to the pool
4. Warmer water temperatures
5. Using fill water with a high pH
6. Products swimmers introduce to the water
7.Chemical additives that wind and air introduce to the water
Solution for a High pH:
Stop by and bring a water sample for your water analysis. BioGuard’s computerized water analysis takes into consideration the pH of other BioGuard products recommended, and the computer analyzes all types of sanitizing systems.
Follow the computer’s recommendation for correcting pH. Do not add more than 1.5 pounds of Lo’n Slo or pH Down per 10,000 gallons of water at one time. Space applications at least one hour apart and check pH in between applications. Circulate the water for six hours and recheck pH. If you still have a high pH, add another application of Lo’n Slo.
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