Baking Soda VS PH Up and Dry Acid VS Ph Down

[Campsalot]

Because of today's excessive cost of EVERYTHING, I'm wondering how many of you use things like baking soda and dry acid to control PH and TA!  I have had a lot of success with both. Now if I could only figure out how to add positively charged ions on the cheap!

[windsurfdog]

Baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) affects total alkalinity (TA) more than it affects pH.  Soda ash (sodium carbonate), AKA pH up, affects pH more than it affects TA.  If you want to adjust TA up, use baking soda.  If you want to adjust pH up, use soda ash.

Dry acid (sodium bisulfate) is AKA pH down.

 8-)

[Vinny]

Baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) affects total alkalinity (TA) more than it affects pH.  Soda ash (sodium carbonate), AKA pH up, affects pH more than it affects TA.  If you want to adjust TA up, use baking soda.  If you want to adjust pH up, use soda ash.

Dry acid (sodium bisulfate) is AKA pH down.

 8-)

What windsurfdog said is true. Funny I found that my tub responds with both PH and alkalinity equally, my pool reacts exactly how windsurfdog said... go figure!

[In Canada eh]

Vinny,

  Its strange because our pool behaves very normally, as pH goes up so does Alkalinity and as you said it responds just as you and Windy said.  Our tub is weird, I constantly have low Alk and high pH, I can literally put a scoop of pH down in it every 3rd or 4th day and then adjust the Alk on the weekend.  I don't really get it, something about air injection.  I just go with it and add a little of whatever it needs