High alk

[OKC]

I tested the water this morning and the alk was a little high.  How do I decrease the alkalinity and what causes the alk to rise in the first place.  Im 4 weeks into the new tub and the testing has all been good until today.  The water has been cloudy for about the past week.  Ive added the rainforest blue and shocked about 3 times in the last week.  It has been used everyday.  Any advice or comments?

K

[Soakin]

Sorry no one got back to you, but luckily high TA is not an urgent issue.  How high is the TA?

First of all, if the water has been testing fine until now, I'd double check the test to make sure the TA has really moved.   Second, if your pH is OK, I wouldn't worry too much about TA, other than making sure to use a stain/scale product.  The only way to lower TA is to use pH Down (sodium bisulfate/dry acid), which will lower your pH as well.  If your pH is OK, you will have to buffer the dry acid with an application of soda ash (sodium carbonate) which raises pH only.  Read the directions on the dry acid -- you should only add it with the pumps off.  You can use the blower to mix it, if you have one.

Before you start messing with the TA, you may want to search this site for "Chas' Law", which recommends that you change the water after the first month, anyway.