If your pool has good circulation, then 30 minutes would be more than adequate to be safe.
Switch on your pool's water pump and filter and let them run. Add borax to the skimmer and leave the pump to run for 24 hours.
Boric acid and sodium borates are commonly used as a pH buffer in swimming pools and spas, meaning they help increase the capacity of the water to resist changes in pH. However, they have other uses as well: Boric acid and sodium borates can inhibit algae growth and reduce corrosion.
Use 20 Mule Team Borax which is quality borate to raise the pH without affecting the TA and see if pH will be stable. If you get too much borate, drain and refill 1/3 to 1/4 of your Pool Water and use pH increaser instead of borate. You can lower both pH and TA using Muriatic acid If they get off the balance.
The amount to add depends on the initial TA and pH level of your pool. At around 100 TA and 7.5 pH, the amount is about 8 ounces, so 0.5 pounds of borax can raise pH in a 10,000 gallons pool. That same amount of borax can increase a pH of 7.0 by about 0.04 and a pH of 8.0 by about 0.14.
In the right amounts, borax will do a great job of increasing the pH of an unbalanced pool. Not only that, but it will do so without raising the total alkalinity in the process. Since borax is not a carbonate compound, its effects on the water's alkalinity will be negligible.
Cloudy Pool Water: Causes, Treatment, and Preventive Measures. Cloudy or milky swimming pool water is caused by seven main issues: improper levels of chlorine, imbalanced pH and alkalinity, very high calcium hardness (CH) levels, faulty or clogged filter, early stages of algae, ammonia, and debris.
Act as a pH buffer: Borax has a high pH of about 9.24. 2 When you add it to water, it changes the pH to around 8 (a neutral pH is 7). This slightly alkaline pH is ideal for cleaning. Since borax acts as a buffering agent, it helps to keep the water at this pH, even after detergent or other cleaners are added.
For a 20,000 gal pool, about 60 lbs of Borax, and 4 gallons of acid.
For the most part, yes. It can be unattractive and it should be addressed, but it is mostly safe to swim in cloudy water. The only exception would be if the pool is cloudy because there are too many chemicals in it. This pool water would be unsafe to swim in and should be avoided.
In theory, if you have a cloudy swimming pool, you can add chlorine to “shock it” and clear things up. Chlorine will get the job done. But, the amounts may vary and you may have to really pound the pool with chlorine to get the water totally clear.
8) How long after adding chemicals can I swim? Alkalinity Balance, pH up, pH down, Calcium Balance, Water Stabilizer, and clarifier are all swim-safe chemicals. Wait about 20 minutes, and you are free to swim.
Vinegar contains acetic acid which makes it a great disinfectant. It is also acidic in nature hence removes dirt, grease and mineral deposits. If used in the right amount, its acidic nature also plays a role in lowering the pH of pool water.
Chlorine. Chlorine is a slimy-feeling material when it gets wet. If you have chlorine dust or residue on your fingers and then touch the pool water, the pool water will feel slimy. Avoid this by wearing gloves when dealing with all pool chemicals, and never add water to chlorine; only add chlorine to the water.
Run your filtration system for eight hours every day over summer. Back-wash it if you have a sand filter and clean cartridges with Filtrite Filter Cleaner and Degreaser. Add 50 grams of Sanit-eezy Performance per 10,000 litres of pool water. No-one should swim for at least 30 minutes after this.
Pool clarifier uses your pool filter system to clear up the cloudy water. This is the easiest method for clearing cloudy pool water, but it takes a few days depending on your pool filter system's power. A pool clarifier works with any filter type and works best with milder cloudy water issues.
After you shock the pool — As soon as your chlorine levels reach 5 ppm or lower, it's officially safe to swim. Depending on the type of shock used, as well as the amount used, it can take anywhere from 24 hours or even up to a couple of days.
Chlorine issues often cause cloudy water. Adding a recommended dose of pool shock to your pool can clear it right up. Poor circulation or filtration can contribute to cloudy water. Make sure your pump and filter are working properly.
In most cases, a cloudy pool after shocking is only temporary and should clear up within 24 hours. Keep filtering your pool, add a little clarifier to help, and your pool should be clear in no time. If after 24 hours your pool is not clear, then you may need to look a little deeper for the solution.
It's usually just a temporary reaction as the sanitizer works its magic, and doesn't always indicate a problem. But if the cloudy water persists long after you've shocked the pool, you're likely having an issue with water balance, circulation, or filtration.
To raise the pH levels in your pool, try adding sodium carbonate (soda ash) or sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) until your pool's pH levels are between 7.2 and 7.8.
Using Borax
And once a pool's pH is brought back down below about 7.8, borax will serve as an effective pH stabilizer. After adding borax to a swimming pool, you won't need to raise or lower its pH as often. Using a chemical like borax to raise a swimming pool's pH comes with certain benefits.
Testing for Borate. You will need to buy some borate test strips. Over time with water loss from backwashing, filter cleaning, splash out, drag out and other water loss, (but not evaporation), you will need to bring the level back up to 50 ppm or more. The only way to do this is to know the borate level in the water.