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Adjusting your pool’s pH is critical to ensure that your facility remains clean. Chlorine works effectively when the pH is low, but extremely low pH can result in irritation and ruin the equipment. 

If you want to adjust the pH, there are a few products you can use, such as dry acid, muriatic acid, or C0₂. This article looks at dry acid vs. muriatic acid to highlight the things you should know.

What is Dry Acid?

Dry acid is also referred to as sodium bisulfate. It is safer to use compared to muriatic acid and is found in granular forms. 

Also, dry acid for pools is more expensive compared to muriatic acid. However, the ease of use and the safety it brings is worth the extra dollars.

When you visit a pool store, you should ask for pH minus or pH down – its common names.

What is Muriatic Acid?

Muriatic acid is readily available in pool stores and hardware outlets, and its common name is Hydrochloric acid. Previously, it was known as “spirits of salt” since it comes from salts.

However, if want it for your swimming pool, it goes by the name of muriatic acid. It is cheaper when you get it from your local hardware, but it comes in various concentrations.

Pool stores sell a high concentration of this product (30%) while the hardware stores sell a level of about 15%. 

How to Add Dry Acid

How can you use pH minus in your pool? 

• You can use this acid to reduce the TA and pH in your spa and pools. It is easier and safer to use than muriatic acid. The required amount of pH should be between 7.0-7.6 while the TA should be between 80-120 ppm.
• Pre-dissolve the acid in the water inside a plastic bucket and then add the solution to the deepest part of your facility. Avoid adding it near the fixture or skimmer. Add it when the pool’s pump is operating and leave it to circulate for about four hours. 
• Don’t add over 150g of sodium bisulfate per 10K liters of water at a go. Also, do not add it more than 3x per day.

How to Add Muriatic Acid

You can pour muriatic acid straight into the pool if you are in a hurry, but it is easier to handle if you dilute it first. Besides, it becomes less dangerous if it splashes around.

The right ratio of this acid to water should be 10:1. Thus, add the right amount of acid into a bucket and then stir it with a wooden or plastic stick. 

Now you can pour the solution to the pool.

A Side Note: Always add acid to the water, not water to the acid. 

Dry Acid vs. Muriatic Acid: Which One to Use?

You can either use dry acid or muriatic acid to lower the pH of your swimming pool and the alkalinity level. However, some people use dry acid because it is easier to add to the pool and is less corrosive – it won’t damage pool surfaces or burn them in case it is spilled accidentally. 

It is also straightforward to store dry acid, although you need to handle it with care.

Final Thoughts

Whether you choose to use dry acid or muriatic acid, you can rest assured that the products will work. Choose the one that meets your needs in terms of budget.

Filling your pool with water from the well requires a lot of testing and treating to ensure that the filter can clean your facility properly. Well water is not the same as that from the municipality.

It contains more metals and ions, making filters and pumps work harder when cleaning your pool. That’s why you need to know how to fill your pool with well water the right way.   

Two Filling Options

You can decide to fill this water from two main options.

• Direct water from the well – Homes without municipal water can quickly fill their pool from the well. That is very easy if the water has no issues – meaning it is not discolored, cloudy, or smelly. Because of that, you might need to treat the pool after filling it using chemicals.   
• Well water coming via a softener system – You can decide to attach a water softener to clean the water before it reaches your pool. 

Testing Your Well Water

You might need to check the water to find out how you will treat it. Below are the things that you will need and the step to follow.

Items Required 

• Garden hose
• Biocide 
• 5-gallon bucket

Steps to Follow

1. Fill the bucket with water from the well and add biocide. You can buy this product from your local store and follow the instructions on the packaging. 
2. Wait for five to ten minutes. The water contains a lot of ions if it turns brown or green. Using a cartridge filter won’t remove this metal – you will need a sand filter.
3. Connect the hose to the tap nearest to the well pump. You can also connect to a faucet inside your house.
4. Place the open end of the hose inside your pool. Turn the water on and make sure that it remains in the pool. 
5. A small pool will take about 24-hour to fill while a large one will take 48-hour. 
6. Now your pool is filled with well water.

If possible, take a sample of the water from the well to your local pool supply center to be tested. That will get the doubt out about how sufficient the water is for your pool.

Treating Your Pool

The right chemical can purify your pool once it gets filled with well water. Here are some of the things that you should do:

• Test pH and Chlorine – Use a 4-way test strip that shows alkalinity, free chlorine, and pH.
• Adjust pH – Use muriatic acid to decrease pH or soda ash to increase it.
• Adjust alkalinity – Add sodium bicarbonate to increase it or baking soda or add muriatic acid to decrease it.
• Adjust free chlorine – Add liquid chlorine to raise it or sprinkle granular chlorine neutralizer to reduce it.
• Remove metals – You should add a sequestering (chelating) agent to your facility to help dissolve the ion and other metals. Then vacuum the rust from your pool.

Final Words

It is more affordable to fill your pool with well water than using the municipal one. However, you will need to test and treat the pool afterward.

Is it even possible to raise the total alkalinity in a pool without raising the pH? Yes, you can easily do this but it will need to take practice to master the art of how to raise alkalinity in the pool without raising pH.

Causes of Low Levels of Alkalinity

Your swimming pool ( in-ground pool or above ground pools ) might have low levels of alkalinity because of the following reasons:

Read More: what is the best robotic pool cleaner on the market today 2019

• You might have lowered it yourself using alkalinity reducers like dry acid or muriatic acid. Here, you will need to add just the right portion to restore it to the right level.
• You might have backwashed your pool or drained part or all water and then added more water with low alkalinity.
• It might have rained or flooded. This will also lower the alkalinity levels.

Raising Alkalinity Levels

You can follow the following steps when raising the total alkalinity.

1. Test total alkalinity – The first step is to test the water alkalinity level in order to know how high or low the alkalinity is. You need to raise it if it is less than 80 ppm.
2. Buy sodium bicarbonate – Ensure that you buy enough to ensure that you effectively raise the alkalinity. You will need more than 5 pounds if the alkalinity level is extremely low.
3. Know the amount to add – Find out how much baking soda you will need to add to your swimming pool ” above ground pools or in-ground pools . Simply add one-half of the recommended amounts to avoid adding too much chemical in your pool.
4. Dilute – You might be required to dilute the baking soda (follow the instructions on the product label).
5. Add to your pool – You can add sodium bicarbonate in the powdered form without causing any harm. However, ensure that you avoid the wind when adding it.

Raising Alkalinity without Raising the pH through Aeration

Your pool total alkalinity and pH levels are opposite south and north. What you do to alkalinity will have an effect on the pH.

So, what can you do to raise the alkalinity without raising the pH or vice versa? There is a process called aeration that you can use – many pool experts recommend it and pool owners have tried and tested it.

Aeration simply means that you need to circulate the air in your pool every time you raise the total alkalinity level in your pool. Not only air but also introduce some form of movements inside your swimming pool.

You can easily release this by turning on your swimming pool motor, using different water features as waterfalls, slides, or even hiring an air pump and inserting the hose into your pool to add air into the water.

In Conclusion

It might take time before you learn how to raise the total alkalinity without raising the pH levels. Thus, you need to keep on practising until you know how to do it effectively.

There are also professionals who can help you to achieve this but this means spending more. Of important, know that if you raise the alkalinity level you will also raise the pH.

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