How much baking soda to add to your pool
To raise total alkalinity (TA) from 60 to 90 ppm in a 15,000-gallon pool, add about 6.3 lb of baking soda (sodium bicarbonate).
Always follow your product’s label directions. Pool and spa chlorine, bromine, shock and algaecides are EPA-registered pesticides: use products labeled for pool or spa use, and don’t swim or soak until levels are within the limit on your product’s label. If this page and a label disagree, the label wins.
On this page (7 sections)
The rule for any pool: 1.4 lb of baking soda raises TA by 10 ppm in 10,000 gallons.
Calculator: gallons, current and target TA
Enter your pool volume, your TA from a fresh test, and the TA you want. Most pools do well at 80–120 ppm. Pools on liquid chlorine or a salt water generator, where pH tends to climb, often run lower on purpose, around 60–90 ppm. The alkalinity levels guide explains how to choose.
The calculator gives the whole amount and splits it into steps of up to 30 ppm. Baking soda is gentle. But a big dose all at once makes it harder to see where you ended up, and a wrong starting reading can push TA well past your target. Spread it over the deep end with the pump running. Unlike acid or calcium chloride, it is not corrosive and does not heat up the water it touches.
If your real goal is "raise alkalinity" and you want the full plan (order of chemicals, what if pH is already high, how long it takes), go to how to raise alkalinity in a pool. This page is about the product.
Chart: lb per 10 ppm for 500–40,000 gallons
Pounds of baking soda to raise TA by 10 ppm and by 30 ppm (one full step), by pool size. For other amounts, scale the 10 ppm column: 20 ppm is twice as much.
| Pool size | Raise TA by 10 ppm | Raise TA by 30 ppm |
|---|---|---|
| 500 gal | 1.1 oz | 3.4 oz |
| 1,000 gal | 2.2 oz | 6.7 oz |
| 2,000 gal | 4.5 oz | 13.4 oz |
| 3,000 gal | 6.7 oz | 1.25 lb |
| 4,000 gal | 9.0 oz | 1.7 lb |
| 5,000 gal | 11.2 oz | 2.1 lb |
| 6,000 gal | 13.4 oz | 2.5 lb |
| 7,000 gal | 15.7 oz | 2.95 lb |
| 8,000 gal | 1.1 lb | 3.35 lb |
| 10,000 gal | 1.4 lb | 4.2 lb |
| 12,000 gal | 1.7 lb | 5.05 lb |
| 15,000 gal | 2.1 lb | 6.3 lb |
| 20,000 gal | 2.8 lb | 8.4 lb |
| 25,000 gal | 3.5 lb | 10.5 lb |
| 30,000 gal | 4.2 lb | 12.6 lb |
| 40,000 gal | 5.6 lb | 16.8 lb |
Each size links to its full dose chart.
Check against a known reference: Taylor's K-1005 treatment table lists 1.4 lb of sodium bicarbonate for +10 ppm in 10,000 gallons, and our engine gives 1.40 lb.
Baking soda vs "alkalinity increaser" (same chemical)
Bags sold as "alkalinity increaser" or "alkalinity up" are sodium bicarbonate, the same compound as grocery-store baking soda. Check the label: it should list sodium bicarbonate as the active ingredient, at 99% or more. If it does, the dose is the same and the only difference is price per pound. Big bags of plain baking soda from a warehouse store are often cheaper; our chemical cost calculator helps you compare.
Don't confuse it with soda ash (sodium carbonate, sold as "pH increaser" or "pH up"). Soda ash raises alkalinity too, but it also raises pH sharply. Washing soda is soda ash. Baking powder is not baking soda: it contains acids and starch, so don't use it in a pool.
Does baking soda raise pH? A little: see the numbers
Yes, but much less than most people expect. Baking soda's own pH is about 8.3, so it pulls pool water toward that value, but slowly. Here is what our pH model predicts right after adding enough baking soda to raise TA from 60 to 90 ppm, with stabilizer (CYA) at 30 ppm:
| pH before | pH after (model) | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 7.2 | 7.34 | +0.14 |
| 7.4 | 7.54 | +0.14 |
| 7.6 | 7.73 | +0.13 |
| 7.8 | 7.91 | +0.11 |
Closed-system carbonate model (the same one our acid calculators use), TDS 1,000 ppm. Test kits read in 0.1–0.2 steps, so you may not see the change at all.
Two practical takeaways. If pH is low and TA is low, baking soda helps both, but pH will still need soda ash or aeration afterward: see how to raise pH. If pH is already high, adding baking soda raises it slightly, and the extra alkalinity makes pH rise faster in the following days. In that case lower pH with acid first, then add baking soda.
pH keeps changing after that. Higher alkalinity holds more carbon dioxide, which escapes over time, and that slow loss is what raises pH over the next days and weeks. That is why pools with high TA struggle with rising pH all season.
Max per dose and wait time
- Up to 30 ppm per step. In 10,000 gallons that is about 4.2 lb; in 20,000 gallons about 8.4 lb. This is our own limit, chosen so a mistake stays small.
- Spread it out. Scatter it over a wide area in the deep end, or dissolve it in a bucket of pool water first if your pool has a vinyl liner and you want to avoid a pile on the floor. Brush any that settles.
- Wait before retesting. Let the pump run for several hours so the water turns over at least once, then retest TA. Six hours is a common guideline; for a small pump or a large pool, wait longer.
- One product at a time. Give it about 30 minutes of circulation before adding anything else. The order that works for most tests is chlorine (if low), then alkalinity, then pH.
Always follow the product label.
FAQ
Is baking soda better than alkalinity increaser?
Neither is better: both are sodium bicarbonate. If the label says sodium bicarbonate 99% or more, the dose is identical, so buy whichever costs less per pound.
Will baking soda clear up a cloudy pool?
Not directly. Cloudy water usually comes from low chlorine, a filter that can't keep up, or high pH with high calcium. Raising alkalinity doesn't fix any of those, and in hard water with high pH it can make cloudiness worse. Test free chlorine first and see the cloudy pool guide.
Does baking soda raise calcium hardness?
No. Sodium bicarbonate contains no calcium, so it does not change calcium hardness. It raises total alkalinity and, slightly, pH. It does add a little sodium, a negligible amount at pool doses.
Sources
- Taylor Technologies, K-1005 treatment tables (sodium bicarbonate for alkalinity): PDF
- Taylor Technologies, Watergram on water balance: PDF
- Our pH model and constants: methodology