Cloudy Pool

by Tammie Harper
(Fayetteville , AR)

chlorine-1.3, ph-7.5 alkalinity-105 hardness/calcium-450 stabilizer-20 salt-3360 The pool store did these readings Saturday morning, May 31.

Readings are good, but they do not know why water is still cloudy. Suggested sand change, pool is 10 years old and never done a sand change. Price was $300, used a $10 bottle of sand filter cleaner instead at 11 am. Then I vacuumed, added 16 oz of enzyme cleaner, and 4 tsps of dry clarifier.

I've had the pool running 24/7 since Wednesday, May 28. I do not want to do a sand change unless this is definitely my problem.

But what is my cloudy problem? I know that I need to give chemicals time to work, but good grief. So what now?

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Thanks for the question Tammie

It doesn't surprise me that it's $300 for changing the sand out. You can get #20 silica sand for around $10 per 50 lbs. Many filters require around 200 - 300 lbs. Total would be about $50 - $60, the rest is labor.

It could be that the sand is old and in need of replacement. 10 years is a good time, especially if the pool runs year round. The filter may not be filtering properly.

You need to take control of the pool readings and get a Taylor K-2006 test kit. Here's a link to my YouTube chlorine video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZwZEGCMaZg

Pool stores are notorious for giving out wrong readings.

As for the readings, they look pretty good. The CYA is a bit low at 20ppm. The range is 30 - 50ppm. You can add 1 lb. to raise the CYA 10ppm per 10,000 gallons.

Before changing the sand out I'd suggest getting the CYA to 30ppm, then shock the pool with liquid chlorine. Don't use granular because you don't want to add anymore hardness to the pool.

Many times a cloudy pool is the first sign of low chlorine and an algae bloom. Getting the CYA to 30ppm then shocking the pool a couple of times could solve this issue.

Shock the pool, allow to filter for 10 hours, retest and make another adjustment. 3.5 qrts of chlorine will raise the level up to 10ppm per 10,000 gallons. You can round it to 1 gallon.

I hope this has answered your question to your satisfaction.

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Have a great Summer.

Robert