A: pH enhancers and increasers often start working within 20 minutes. Add a tiny quantity of the increaser into your pool, leave the cover off, activate the pumps, and let the water circulate. Test the pH level after 20 minutes.
After adding pH increaser or decreaser you'll want to wait about two to four hours, although some chemical manufacturers suggest a full turnover cycle, before retesting. The smaller the increments you need to adjust for pH, the less time you'll need to wait for the results to become stable.
A rule of thumb is 1.5 lbs. of baking soda per 10,000 gallons of water will raise alkalinity by about 10 ppm. If your pool's pH tested below 7.2, add 3-4 pounds of baking soda. If you're new to adding pool chemicals, start by adding only one-half or three-fourths of the recommended amount.
pH changes will happen naturally. Simply swimming and splashing around in your pool will break up the CO2 and cause the pH to rise. This is why it's so important to check the pH levels of your pool regularly. pH may also increase when chemicals are introduced into your pool.
Add Baking Soda or Soda Ash
Baking soda and soda ash are two solutions you can add to water to raise a pool's pH. You can add either one directly to the pool. For the best results, walk around the edge while you dump the chemicals to distribute them evenly. Add 1.5 pounds of baking soda per 10,000 gallons of water.
Remember that a low pH level is crucial to successfully shocking a pool. At a pH level of 8.0, over half of your shock is ineffective and wasted. At a pH level of 7.2, however, over 90% of your shock will become active algae and bacteria killers.
Rain is initially neutral in pH, a perfect 7.0 – but very quickly absorbs low pH contaminants as it falls through the sky. The effect of low pH rain on your pool pH level is usually small, except for heavy rains over a period of days, which can require a need to raise your pH.
When chlorine levels are too high, the water's pH will start to decrease, which can eventually lead to corrosion. However, liquid chlorine has a pH of 13 and can cause the water's pH to increase.
Algae can raise the pH. Adding strong liquid chlorine, calcium or lithium hypochlorite chlorine may raise it. Suddenly heating the water, whether from a pool heater or a string of sunny days, could up the pH. Saltwater pools tend to be alkaline.
A: pH enhancers and increasers often start working within 20 minutes. Add a tiny quantity of the increaser into your pool, leave the cover off, activate the pumps, and let the water circulate. Test the pH level after 20 minutes.
The best chemical to raise pH while minimally raising alkalinity is borax. Because borax is not a carbonate, the effect on alkalinity will be negligible.
Shocking the pool will lower the pH, whether you use chlorine-based shock (calcium hypochlorite), or the non-chlorine kind (potassium peroxymonosulfate).
Too low a pH has a significant influence on the effect of the chlorine. If the pH level is too low, you will have to add a large amount of chlorine to ensure proper disinfection of the water. A good pH level will therefore also benefit your wallet.
Will shocking pool lower pH? Adding shock can actually raise your pH levels. If you use a calcium hypochlorite (cal-hypo) shock, this can raise your pH levels temporarily. So test your chemical levels regularly, especially after shocking.
The chemicals used to sanitize the pool also affect the pH of the water. Granulated or liquid chlorine is alkaline and, therefore, tends to raise the pH level. Bromine is more neutral and has a minimal effect on pH, while chlorine gas is acidic and lowers pH.
With a pH level of 6.0 your chlorine will be highly effective with 97% of your chlorine available to kill bacteria and algae. However, at 6.0 your pool water would be extremely acidic and unsafe to swim in. On the flip side, if you pH is at 8.5 only 9% of your chlorine will be available to kill bacteria and algae.
After a hard rain or stormy weather, it's important to shock your pool with a chlorinated shock, such as Leslie's Power Powder Plus or Leslie's Chlor Brite.
In most cases, it is fine to run your pool pump during the rain. In fact, this will help rapidly circulate and filter out any impurities the rain has added to your water.
Test the Water
Complete a pool water test to check the chlorine, pH, and alkalinity levels. To make the shock treatment more effective, balance your pH so that it's between 7.4-7.6 and your alkalinity is 100-150 ppm.
You need to wait for at least 8 hours and up to 24 hours after using a chlorine-based shock before you can swim.
Start with pH. Inexperienced pool owners often think that all you have to do is shock your swimming pool with chlorine, but the truth is that pH is the key. If your pH is not balanced, any other chemicals that you add will be ineffective.
Most Algae Grows in High-pH Environments
Most types of algae typically enjoy higher pH levels, ranging from 8.2 to 8.7. Once algae starts growing, it can further raise the pH level in your pool and cause more algae growth.
Likewise, a low pH can also cause cloudy water due to increased bacteria and algae. In this case you'll want to use a pH increaser to raise the level to at least 7.4. It's also important to keep an eye on total alkalinity.
Lower numbers are more acidic, and higher numbers are more alkaline. Proper pool pH is right in the middle — pool pros recommend that the pH should be between 7.3 and 7.6 for optimum performance and the cleanest water. If the pH gets higher than 7.8, the water is becoming too alkaline.