PH Balance products
- Thread starter Spiderman
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If you are talking about products like pH Perfect, that are supposed to maintain pH without having to balance the water, I am told not to use them with smaller circulation pumps. They will gum up the works, so i have been told.
Spiderman
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My question to you is what problems are you having balancing your PH?
Personally, I'm not a fan of "locking" products. Then again I'm not a fan of a lot of products! :
I'm not having any problems, but I do have to up the PH every week or so. It seems to drop to around 7.0 so I add some to get it back up. I was browsing around today and saw the PH Balance product from Leisure Time, I think, and was curious about it. It seems like a good idea, but I'm always a little skeptical.
Do you know your alkalinity? Maybe its too low. What products do you use that has a low PH? When you up the PH what do you up it to?
I tend not to worry about alkalinity but I also know my PH and alkalinity rise and fall together. I use one product - baking soda and it adjusts both to the proper levels. What I have found is that with higher alkalinity PH tends to be locked in, as alkalinity drops PH drifts down.
If you're using PH up, give baking soda a try. I usually wait until the tub is at 7.2 or so add about 4 oz and that'll bring it up to 7.8. I can go about a month or so before the PH drifts down where I have to adjust it. The only low PH item I use is MPS which has a PH of about 4.
Spiderman
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I'm using baking soda to up the PH/ALK. I also use HotSpring's dichlor as my daily sanitizer and weekly shock. The only other product I use is Rendevous stain and scale. My ALK always seems to be the bare minimum when I check it, which isn't too often.
Garyjr
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I am not trying to step on ANY toes, and Vinny, you have ALWAYS provided me and many others with GREAT advise, but I have been using Ph Balance for the past several months, and swear by it. Unlike many others, I tend to fight high Ph and low Alk, and since I started using Ph Balance, except to get my initial settings right, I never have to balance Ph or Alk. Before, I was using between 2-3 bottles of Spa Down and about the same amount of Alk up between changes, so the price ($12.95 around here) for Ph balance is a non factor. I change my water about every 90 days, so I cannot say how much longer the stuff will keep things balanced, but I can attest that it will maintain for at least 3 months.
As for long term effects to the circ pump, I cannot speak, however, my spa tech was fixing a leak for me back in December, and said his parents have used the stuff for years.
I am not promoting, nor do I sell spa products, but I can say the stuff works as advertised.
Jr
PS Vinny, you are still the best...
As for long term effects to the circ pump, I cannot speak, however, my spa tech was fixing a leak for me back in December, and said his parents have used the stuff for years.
I am not promoting, nor do I sell spa products, but I can say the stuff works as advertised.
Jr
PS Vinny, you are still the best...
Chas
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I have replaced several heaters and many many circ pumps for customers who used these balancers incorrectly.
The label specifies a limited range of hardness, pH and TA. All of the folks who cost themselves all of that money had not read the label and/or had not measured all three of these parameters.
I stopped selling it.
The label specifies a limited range of hardness, pH and TA. All of the folks who cost themselves all of that money had not read the label and/or had not measured all three of these parameters.
I stopped selling it.
I have been thinking of using these products also. I have been having issues with my pH and Alk. When I have my pH in line (7.4-7.6) my alk runs around 60. If I add alk up to to get the alk to 100-120 my pH is 8.0+. I then have to add pH down and then my alk goes right back down to where it started...60. Hey Chas, is this normal? Should I worry about the alk if my pH is staying in line? Or should I attempt to use a pH balancer and increase my alk after I have the pH locked. I just changed the water last week and I am having the same issues with my alk.
Garyjr
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Chas,
Question for you. Is it better for the tub and components to add 1 bottle of whatever products go into making up PH Balance, or several bottles of Ph Up and/or Down along with Alk adjusters over a 3-4 month period of time? As I said in an earlier post, I was adding no less than 2-3 full bottles of Spa Down and approximately the same amount of Alk increaser between water changes before discovering Ph Balance.
I am not questioning your knowledge, but it would seem logical that the less product you have to add, the less gunk you have to contend with down the road.
Thanks,
Jr
Question for you. Is it better for the tub and components to add 1 bottle of whatever products go into making up PH Balance, or several bottles of Ph Up and/or Down along with Alk adjusters over a 3-4 month period of time? As I said in an earlier post, I was adding no less than 2-3 full bottles of Spa Down and approximately the same amount of Alk increaser between water changes before discovering Ph Balance.
I am not questioning your knowledge, but it would seem logical that the less product you have to add, the less gunk you have to contend with down the road.
Thanks,
Jr
Gary,
I would think that if you're following directions and not winging it then adding less is better. I think that some people will have a PH of say 8.4 and think it'll correct this high PH.
Having water that's ready to be easily balanced out of the tap makes me not need it but I probably would try a different approach if I had difficult water.
As far as disagreeing with me ... I really don't know everything, I just act like I do!
Vinny
I would think that if you're following directions and not winging it then adding less is better. I think that some people will have a PH of say 8.4 and think it'll correct this high PH.
Having water that's ready to be easily balanced out of the tap makes me not need it but I probably would try a different approach if I had difficult water.
As far as disagreeing with me ... I really don't know everything, I just act like I do!
Vinny
Gary, two questions for you:
1. Did you focus on the pH, and only add Alk up when the pH dropped -- or did you try to build alkalinity and then have to add more acid to get the pH back down, which then required more Alk up, etc?
2. What range do you have to get pH, Alk and Hardness to before adding the pH Balance?
Garyjr
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Reese,
1. Before trying the Ph Balance, I would 1st get Ph set as close to 7.2 as possible, then adjust Alk. I have played with leaving Alk everywhere between 50-150 but regardless where my Alk came out, my Ph would continue to rise until it leveled off around 8.2. So to answer your question, yes, I would drop Ph (using Spa Down) and then raise Alk with Alk increaser.
2. I allow my Ph to stabilize between 7-7.2, Alk between 80-120 and Hardness at 150 for 24 hours and then dump the bottle of Ph Balance in the tub.
Jr
1. Before trying the Ph Balance, I would 1st get Ph set as close to 7.2 as possible, then adjust Alk. I have played with leaving Alk everywhere between 50-150 but regardless where my Alk came out, my Ph would continue to rise until it leveled off around 8.2. So to answer your question, yes, I would drop Ph (using Spa Down) and then raise Alk with Alk increaser.
2. I allow my Ph to stabilize between 7-7.2, Alk between 80-120 and Hardness at 150 for 24 hours and then dump the bottle of Ph Balance in the tub.
Jr
