White Cloudy Pool For Over A Week
by Wayne
I shocked Thursday and added 32 ounces of 60% algaecide 2 hours later. NO change, probably a bit more cloudy. Pump has run non-stop. Water test results from Mon June 27: FC 6.3 alkalinity 44 PH 7.6 calcium hardness 23 CYA 26 saturation index -1.27 The pool store is recommending I had half a bottle of flocculent, run pump 2 hours then shut off and let sit overnight, vacuum several times next morning. I'm skeptical. Suggest solutions. Your help greatly appreciated. I really enjoy your webpage, it is informative. I especially like your About Me page. Thanks for the question and complement Wayne Your chlorine and pH are fine, so don't touch those. Chlorine is a bit high but will come down because of the sun and heat. The question didn't mention the kind of pool you have, whether an inground or above ground, or if has a vinyl liner. The reason is for the calcium. It seems a bit low, but if you do have a vinyl liner, don't worry about it too much. Plaster pools need the calcium to be between 150 - 250ppm or else you'll get pitting or scaling. It's the alkalinity (TA/total alkalinity)) and CYA we need to deal with. The TA could be part of the problem for your cloudy water. The TA needs to be 80 - 100ppm. 120ppm is fine, but not any higher, and the CYA between 30 - 50ppm. You can use sodium bicarb. (baking soda) to bring the TA up. Do this with the pump motor off. You can go to these links to learn how to do that. They have charts for your size pool: Pool Alkalinity Total Alkalinity You can also go to the Q&A page in the alkalinity category for lots more information about other people having the same issues: Swimming Pool Questions and Answers You'll want to raise the TA in a few application, not all at once. Make the adjustment in the evening then test in the morning. Allow for one full turnover of the water before test. This is where many pool owners fall short. They adjust, then test an hour or two later. The chemical, regardless of what it is, needs to go through the entire system. If it doesn't you may hit a spot that hasn't gotten anything yet and you'll get a false reading. Then you'll make another adjustment. You've just overdosed the pool and now have another problem. Floccs are really over stated. It doesn't address why the pool is cloudy in the first place. Go to these links: Can Super Floc Remove Pool Algae? The next one is how to you save money and help balance your pool with items from the grocery store. Do You Really Need All These Chemicals For A Pool Or Are They Just Trying To Get Your Money? You can use a PolyQuat 60 algaecide, but if your chlorine is 6.3 you don't need it. The chlorine kills the algae. If you keep that level between 1.5 - 3.5ppm, you won't get any algae and an algaecide won't be necessary. Here's a similar post about adding a phosphate remover: Total Chlorine & Phosphate Problems...What Should I Do? There are a couple of exceptions on when to use an algaecide, but that's for another time. The CYA is just a bit low so you can use granular Dichlor to raise it. For every 10ppm of chlorine with Dichlor, you'll raise the CYA by 9ppm. Be careful with this because constant use of Dichlor will cause your CYA go keep going up and the only way to reduce it is to do a partial drain and refill. Use Trichlor tabs for weekly maintenance of CYA. For every 10ppm chlorine added with Trichlor, it will raise the CYA 6ppm. Using the saturation wheel from my DPD K-2006 kit, I estimated that your saturation index is about -1.5, which is right near what you have. That's assuming your water temp. is about 80 degrees. If you get the alkalinity to 100ppm, calcium to 200ppm, and water temp. at 80 degrees, you should have an SI level of about -0.2. This is in line where you should be. Anywhere between -0.5 through + 0.5 is good. Keep filtering 24/7. If you have hard water be sure your using liquid chlorine, not granular. This is for weekly maintenance. Still use Dichlor to get the CYA in range then switch to liquid. You can go here for cloudy pool water: Cloudy Pool Water Hope this helps and let me know how it turns out for you. Have a great Summer Robert Comment By: Wayne Date: June 27, 2011 Thank you for your fast response. I will begin with the baking soda this evening when the sun goes down. I really appreciate your advice on this! Wayne Comment: Added Baking Soda By: Wayne Date: June 28, 2011 Want to pick your brain one more time. I added 8 pounds of baking soda last night, pump off for 2 hours, then on all night. NO change in the cloudiness of the water this morning. Again I have a vinyl pool, 16 x 32, 22,000 gallons, sand filter (new sand and multi-port valve June 5) and Uniclor chlorine generator. Numbers for comparison: Monday morning Free Chlorine - 6.3 total chlorine - 6.3 total alkalinity - 44 pH - 7.6 calcium hardness - 23 CYA - 26 dissolved solids - 500 Saturation index - -1.27 Tuesday Morning Free Chlorine - 3.3 total chlorine - 3.3 total alkalinity - 94 pH - 7.7 calcium hardness - 51 CYA - 48 dissolved solids - 600 Saturation index - -0.50 I have never been more lost than i am right now. This pool has been largely trouble free for many years. Any suggestions greatly appreciated. Thank you for the additional info. I have been considering a floc since it did not clear overnight, but I like to go slow I used the donation button on your site and sent a $25 donation via paypal. I got a verification email. My hope was that the money would go directly to you. Please let me know. Regards, Wayne Comment: Gave Up And Used A Floc By: Wayne Date: July 1, 2011 I finally gave in and used a floc. Mixed with 2 gallons of water, poured as evenly around pool as possible, ran pump 2 hours on recirculate, powered down, let water sit for 24 full hours. Quite a bit of sand colored sediment around the perimeter, especially in the corners and a fine layer across the entire bottom. Very tricky to vacuum, like dealing with a ghost. Let is sit an hour after vacuuming and decided to floc one more time. Same process, sit 24 hours, vacuumed 4 times after this, with one hour between each. It is clear now, all numbers good on 2 consecutive tests. My only problem is I don't know where all that stuff came from or even what it was. I'm hoping it does not come back. Thanks again for your help and enjoy a wonderful Independence weekend. Regards, Wayne Comment By: Robert Date: July 2, 2011 Thanks for the update Wayne Be sure to keep an eye on the chlorine level. Your Tuesday morning readings seem to be right in line. Don't allow the CYA to get too high. It needs to be 7.5% of your chlorine level. 2.5ppm chlorine X 7.5% = 33. You want to keep your CYA between 30 - 50ppm. The CYA can go up, but you'll need to increase the chlorine in proportion to the CYA. If you still have cloudy or slightly green water, you can shock with liquid chlorine in the evening, keep the pump going, and retest in the morning. Manually dose your pool with chlorine to keep the level up over 12ppm for a few days. This will kill the algae. Be sure to back wash once per day to get rid of the dead algae and keep the water level up 1/3 - 1/2 from the bottom of the skimmer. Keep me informed as you progress along. Have a great, safe, and happy July 4th. |
