Total Alkalinity (TA) helps your pool’s pH perform a balancing act. Imagine a boy and a girl of the same weight on a seesaw. The boy represents “Acid”, and the girl represents “Base”. The seesaw is the pH indicator. In this case, the see-saw balances, so that’s fine.

But it also means the total alkalinity is low. If the girl were to suddenly jump off the seesaw, there would be a drastic swing in the pH level, and the other side of the seesaw would crash to the ground. Not so good.

Now picture the same seesaw with 10 equally weighted people on either side. Again, the seesaw balances, but in this case, the TA is high because if one person were to get off of the seesaw, the balance would not change as drastically due to the 9 remaining people acting as a counterweight.

So, you need to keep your alkalinity high enough, so that you can stabilise, or balance, your pH levels. Here are some general pointers.

If the TA is too low:

• • pH will be unstable and difficult to maintain.
  • pH changes rapidly when chemicals or impurities enter the water.
  • pH may drop rapidly causing etching and corrosion.

If the TA is too high:

• • The pH will be difficult to adjust.
  • A high pH level often occurs.
  • This causes cloudy water, decreased disinfectant effectiveness, scale formation, and filter problems.