Borax acts as an effective pH buffer and helps prevent algae growth in swimming pools. Plus, it will leave your water looking sparkly and feeling soft.
It's advisable to add about 20 ounces of borax for every 5,000 gallons of water in your pool. This amount will help increase the pH by approximately 0.5.
chiefwej. Those that borate the pool, (including me) run at a level of about 50 ppm. That would be about 14 pounds of Twenty Mule Team Borax, given you pool volume. You would have to get much, much higher than that before getting into any toxicity problems.
If your pool has good circulation, then 30 minutes would be more than adequate to be safe. You can use The Pool Calculator to estimate. 4 boxes of 20 Mule Team Borax with your numbers should raise the pH to around 7.1 to 7.2.
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.
To bring down pH, use a made-for-pools chemical additive called pH reducer (or pH minus). The main active ingredients in pH reducers are either muriatic acid or sodium bisulfate (also called dry acid). Reducers are readily available at pool supply stores, home improvement centers and online.
The simple answer is No. Baking soda cannot be used to clear up a cloudy pool because it is a base. Bases raise PH levels, which causes the water to turn cloudy. Some people suggest using baking soda as a quick fix to high alkalinity levels, but it's not reliable as a pool chemical.
Baking soda, also known as sodium bicarbonate is naturally alkaline, with a pH of 8. When you add baking soda to your pool water, you will raise both the pH and the alkalinity, improving stability and clarity.
Once dissolved, borax remains in the water permanently and does not evaporate. This ensures sparkling, soft water to swim (plus, chloramine does not form as quickly). You'll be using less chlorine, which means increased savings.
A pool turns green when there is algae in the water. There are several reasons why algae could grow, but it is most commonly caused by prolonged exposure to the sun, rain and temperature spikes. These factors affect the chemical balance of the pool and result in the pool turning cloudy and/or green.
The most common reason for a consistently high pH level in pools is the use of liquid chlorine or a saltwater system as the primary sanitizer. Sodium hydroxide is produced, which has a pH of around 13. New pool plaster or pebble finishes will also raise pH in pools for about a year after installation.
High doses of chlorine, like pool shock, can cause temporary cloudiness as it kills contaminants. High levels of pH, alkalinity, and calcium hardness are more likely to cause cloudy water.
Rainwater can make your swimming pool cloudy in a hurry.
Can you swim in a pool with high pH? Definitely, but know that chlorine in the water may not be as effective as it normally would and you may be exposing yourself to harmful microorganisms. Besides, the water can also turn cloudy and your pool sides may scale due to alkaline water.
Rainfall dilutes pool chemistry levels and lowers the readings for pH, alkalinity, hardness, stabilizer, and chlorine.
When you shock a pool, you test and adjust the pH level for a reason. With that said, if you shock a pool outside of the 7.2 to 7.4 pH range, not only will you waste a significant amount of the chlorine used, you will also end up with cloudy water.
You cannot overshock a swimming pool or add too much. Adding too much shock or overshocking your pool will kill off algae. The negative of adding too much shock is it will upset the chemical balance of your pool.
Cloudy water may still be safe to swim in, but if the chemicals are not balanced, then swimmers can experience red eyes, irritated skin, and rashes. If the cause is environmental factors, it can usually be cleared up with a clarifier and regular cleaning.
When the pH levels are imbalanced, it renders the free chlorine ineffective and the levels decrease. Too little free chlorine forms chloramine and it is this combined chlorine that results in your pool's cloudy appearance.
1. Shock the pool with chlorine every day until all the green is gone (possibly 3 to 4 days). 2. Run the filter 24 hours a day and backwash every day until the green and then cloudiness is gone (usually up to 7 days, sometimes as long as 2 weeks depending on the filter).