Cloudy Water

[ComeShareACupofTea]

Hello,
We have an 18' round 48" high above ground pool and are located in central CT, we are not rural, and while we don't have a lot of trees, our neighbor does. We are trying the BBB method this summer. We opened the pool late due to a cool rainy June and when we did we had tadpoles in the cover...as well as two frogs. There was a fair amount of debris on the cover that got dumped into the pool when we opened it. We have vacuumed and scrubbed the walls which were covered with green algae. We have been adding 32 ounces of bleach at a time, and we never seem to get a reading of and free chlorine. Our daughter has sensitive skin so we're hoping to be able to manage the chlorine on the low side. Any suggestions on how to clear up the water? From a distance it looks clean and clear, but when you get up close you can't see through the cloudy water to the bottom. We have a sand filter that is large enough for a 24' oval pool, and we continue to run it and backwash to keep it clean.

Suggestions welcome!
Jean

[Watermom]

Hi Jean and welcome to the Pool Forum!

The first thing we need you to do is to post some current water testing results taken with a drops-based kit. Then we'll better be able to advise you.

I'm estimating your volume to be around 7200 gallons. In this size pool, each quart (32-oz.) of bleach will only raise the chlorine level to about 2ppm which is not nearly high enough to kill algae. Without knowing your readings, I'm going to suggest that you add 1-1/2 gallons of plain, household 6% bleach slowly into the skimmer. That should take your chlorine up to around 12.

Do you have a test kit? If not you need one. The one we recommend is the Taylor K-2006 or 2006C (same kit, larger bottle of some reagents). If you buy it through the Amazon link in my signature, the Pool Forum makes a little money on the sale which helps us keep this form online. Only buy if the seller is Amato Industries, however. Some other sellers are substituting the K-2005 which you do NOT want. If Amato isn't listed, wait a day or two and try again. They seem to restock pretty quickly when they sell out.

In the meantime, do two things. First of all, go to a reputable pool store and let them test your water for you. Make sure that the CYA test is one of the tests they run. Post your results here. (Do not buy all the things they are going to tell you that you need!)

Also, go to Walmart and pick up a cheap OTO/Phenol Red kit (yellow and red drops). Until you can get a better kit, use the OTO kit to test the water as many times per day as you can --- minimum of morning and evening and more often than that is even better -- and each time, add enough bleach to get the chlorine level back up to about 12. Use the one quart = 2ppm as a reference to help you figure out how much bleach to add each time you test. Continue to shock the pool to 12ppm until you can go from sundown one evening until sunup the next morning without losing more than 1ppm of chlorine. Then you'll be able to let the cl drift down. Once we get your CYA reading, we can tell you where to let it drift down to for maintenance chlorine levels.

Your OTO kit will only be able to test to 5ppm but you can force it to go higher by using a dilution method explained here:

Testing Without a Good Kit (http://poolsolutions.com/gd/how-to-test-your-pool-without-a-good-testkit.html )

Run your pump 24/7 and backwash whenever the pressure goes up 5-10psi over your clean filter pressure.

For now, do not add anything other than bleach to your pool.

(While you are at Walmart getting the OTO kit, go ahead and get a bunch of bleach, some distilled water and also a couple boxes of 20 Mule Team Borax (in the laundry aisle). Don't add any Borax until you find out a current pH reading and post it here.

Repost with testing results and somebody here can help you go from there. Hope this helps!

BTW -- The only algaecide we recommend is Polyquat 60%. Algaecide is a pretty good preventative, but not so great at getting rid of algae once you get it. Chlorine is the thing that kills algae.

[ComeShareACupofTea]

Thanks so much!
We went to Leslie's and had it tested:
Free available chlorine 2
Total available chlorine 2
Ph 7.5
Total alkalinity 80
CYA 0
Calcium hardness 180
Total dissolved.solids 600
Phospahtes 200

They recommended adding CYA, otherwise said all else was fine. Though he did say we should run the filter 24/7...we usually run four hours at night. He said since its new sand it may take a few days for the water to clear up. We bought some bleach, will add it when we get home.

Anything else?

[aylad]

You need to shock the pool, as Watermom posted above, and keep it at shock level (12 ppm for your pool with no CYA) until the pool clears up, with pump/filter running 24/7. Your other numbers all look pretty good, except for the CYA, which you need to add, if you haven't already. Follow the label directions to target about 40 ppm of CYA, and either add it slowly through the skimmer (but you can't clean/backwash the filter for several days after the addition because it takes awhile to dissolve) or put it in an old sock and tie it in front of the return until it dissolves. Since you're going to be filtering out what is probably algae and needing to clean your filter, I would go with the old sock method.

[ComeShareACupofTea]

Isn't 12 ppm a little high? I'm worried about my daughter's skin...last year she was raw from swimming 3 days in a row...2 to 3 hours a day with friends.

[Watermom]

Yes, it is but it isn't the permanent level. It is only while you are trying to clear up the pool. Take a look at the Best Guess chart in my signature below. Once your pool gets cleared up, you'll run it at a lower level based on your CYA level.

[ComeShareACupofTea]

Oh! Ok, thanks so much! So...can we swim in it at 12 ppm?

[Watermom]

Since you stated that your kids were sensitive in the past you might decide to wait until it comes down some, but actually, it is fine to swim for most people. I'd suggest wearing old swimsuits, though.