It's not the colour or clarity of your water and has nothing to do with how it looks, but about protecting swimmers, preventing equipment damage and keeping your pool water safe from unwanted fluctuations down the track. With a too low pH and high TA, your water chemistry gets overall out of balance. It can cause you eye irritation, damage the surfaces of your equipment as well scale on your pool and leaves it cloudy if you don't correct it promptly.

In this article, I will detail why that imbalance occurs and offer you a simple method to remedy the situation and stop it from happening in an ongoing manner.

What Low pH and High Alkalinity Mean for Your Pool

pH measures the acidity or basicity of water on a scale of 0 to 14. A pH below 7.2 means the water is acidic. This can:

• Cause skin, eye, and throat irritation for swimmers.

• Corrode ladders, rails, heaters, and metal parts.

• Wear down pool liners, grout, and plaster.

Total alkalinity (TA) is the water’s ability to resist changes in pH. The ideal range is 80–120 ppm. If TA is too high—over 120 ppm—it can:

• Make pH extremely difficult to adjust.

• Lead to cloudy water and stubborn calcium scaling.

• Cause uneven chlorine effectiveness, leaving you with sanitation problems.

In the case that low pH have the same high alkaline, that's just any kind of chemicals that are out of sync--often because of specific treatments with wrong pH water, high alkalizing fill water, or even improper pH other times.

SEE ALSO Why pH in Pool Water Is So Important

Why This Imbalance Happens

This combination isn’t as common as low pH with low alkalinity, but it can happen for a few key reasons:

Overuse of acidic chemicals – If you add too much muriatic acid or dry Acid in order to lower TA subtitles the pH but doesn't really solve the problem of carbonates Adding too much of these chemicals may lower by far without getting rid them entirely.

High alkalinity fill water – If your source water (especially well water) contains a lot of carbonate minerals, it can drive TA up even when pH stays low.

Uneven chemical distribution – Poor circulation can lead to “hot spots” of acidity in certain areas, lowering pH locally without fixing TA.

Chemical stacking errors – Adding products like baking soda too frequently can raise TA significantly, and then trying to correct pH separately can cause imbalance.

Balancing pH and alkalinity is much easier when your pool stays clean and debris-free. The Beabot pool cordless pool cleaner moves across the floor and walls, picking up dirt, leaves, and fine particles that can block circulation or trap chemicals in one area. Its cordless design eliminates cable tangles, and it operates quietly so you can run it while the pump is off. Clean surfaces help water flow evenly, which makes chemical adjustments work faster and last longer.

How to Fix Low pH and High Alkalinity

Step 1: Test the Water Accurately

Skip the quick paper strips—they’re too imprecise for this situation. Use a liquid drop test kit or a digital pool tester to check both pH and TA.

• Ideal pH: 7.4–7.6

• Ideal TA: 80–120 ppm

If your pH is below 7.2 and TA is above 120 ppm, you’ll need to bring TA down first before fixing pH.

Step 2: Lower Total Alkalinity First

The key: You can’t fix both at once. You need to target alkalinity without worrying about the fact that pH will temporarily drop even further.

Here’s how to do it:

Turn off the pump so the water is still. This prevents acid from dispersing too quickly.

Add muriatic acid (liquid hydrochloric acid) or dry acid (sodium bisulfate) in one spot in the deep end. This “acid column” method reduces TA more than it affects pH stability.

Wait 30 minutes before turning the pump back on to allow the acid to work in the concentrated area.

Run the pump for several hours to mix the water thoroughly.

💡 Tip: Always wear protective gloves and goggles when handling acids. Add acid to water—never water to acid—to avoid dangerous splashing.

After 24 hours, retest the water. If TA is still high, repeat the process until it’s in the 80–120 ppm range.

Step 3: Aerate to Raise pH Without Affecting TA

Once TA is in range, it’s time to raise pH—but you want to do it without raising alkalinity. The safest way is aeration.

How to aerate your pool water:

• Run water features like waterfalls, deck jets, or fountains.

• Angle return jets upward so they break the surface.

• Use air injection by running an air compressor or even using a leaf blower aimed at the surface.

Aeration works because it speeds up the natural off-gassing of carbon dioxide in the water, which causes pH to rise gradually without adding chemicals that also boost TA.

Step 4: Fine-Tune the pH

If pH is still low after several days of aeration, add a small dose of soda ash (sodium carbonate). This will raise pH more quickly, but use caution—too much will also raise alkalinity.

• Dissolve the soda ash in a bucket of pool water before adding it.

• Add in small amounts, testing between doses.

Step 5: Retest and Keep Adjusting

Pool chemistry doesn’t lock in after one treatment. Test your water daily during the correction process. The moment both readings stay in range for at least 48 hours, you’ve stabilized the pool.

Extra Tips to Avoid Future Imbalances

1. Balance chemicals in the right order – Always adjust TA first, then pH.

2. Be careful with shock treatments – Some chlorine shocks (like cal-hypo) can raise pH, while others (like dichlor) lower it. Choose based on your pool’s current state.

3. Check fill water chemistry – If your source water has high alkalinity, pre-treat it before adding it to the pool or expect to make regular TA adjustments.

4. Maintain steady circulation – Dead zones in your pool can cause uneven chemical distribution and recurring imbalance.

5. Avoid chemical overdosing – Adding large amounts of baking soda or acid “just to be safe” will only create bigger swings.

Signs You’ve Fixed the Problem

When the pH is between 7.4 and 7.6 and TA is between 80–120 ppm for several days, you’ll notice:

• Crystal-clear water.

• Softer feel on skin with no irritation.

• Stronger and more consistent chlorine performance.

• No new scale or cloudy buildup.

Conclusion

Keeping the pH low and the alkalinity high is one of the more difficult parts, but with these methods it should not feel so bad. First, drop the pH to bring down the alkalinity, then concentrate on raising up the pH again. Slow down, regularly test the water and change it slowly to prevent sudden swings that can through everything off again. When it is balanced, your water will be softer, clearer and more inviting. More importantly, your pool will be easier to take care of week in and week out so you can spend less time fixing things that were preventable if done correctly in the first place.

FAQs

Can I use baking soda to raise pH instead of soda ash?

Not if TA is already high. Baking soda raises alkalinity more than pH, which would undo your earlier work.

How long should I wait between chemical adjustments?

At least 24 hours, with full circulation, before retesting and making another change.

Will high alkalinity damage my pool?

Yes, over time it can lead to cloudy water, scaling, and even reduced chlorine effectiveness, making sanitation harder to maintain.

What’s the fastest way to raise pH without affecting alkalinity?

Aerating the water—using fountains, waterfalls, or aiming return jets at the surface—will raise pH gradually without changing TA levels.

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