Cloudy water

[wardenann]

Need advice what chemicals to add!!! Have a salt water pool which haD perfect pool chem when opened 9 days ago. Now it is cloudy, ph is 6.8, cya barely registering, and chlorine 0.5. All other readings in check. Pool store wants to sell me 5lbs stabilizer, cloudy blue, ph lower, and chlorine tabs. I think this sounds like way too much. I want to do the bbb method so tell me how to start. Do i need to at least buy the stabilizer at pool store? I ordered k-2006 test kit from amazon today to use for the rest of the season!!!

[Watermom]

If your pH is 6.8 and your pool store wants to sell you PH Lower, then you need to run from that pool store. That makes no sense.

If your pH is 6.8, that means it could be lower than that since most kits don't show values any lower. You can use 20 Mule Team Borax (laundry aisle at Walmart) to raise pH. While you are at Walmart, get several jugs of generic bleach --- plain, unscented.

You will need stabilizer (CYA). How much depends on the volume of the pool.

Repost with more info about your pool -- type, volume, type of filter, size of pump. (Actually, use the link in my signature below to put that info into your signature so that it will make it easier for people to help you.) Once we have some more details, we can better advise on amounts of things you should add.

Welcome to the Pool Forum!

[wardenann]

I have a 16x32 rectangular pool with 3 foot end that tapers to 9 foot diving board end. Have a salt water generator and not sure what size pump but i can try to find that out tomorrow.

So far I have added 4lbs stabilizer cuz pool store said 5 lbs. I thought better to add too little than too much. I also added (3) 96 oz bottles bleach and (3) 4 lb boxes of borax. Filter on 24 hrs and salt generator set on superchlorinate.

[wardenann]

Added 4lbs stabilizer, 3 bottles bleach, and 3 boxes borax and absolutely no change to cloudiness or pool chemistry this am. How does that not raise my ph? How long for stabilizer to work? I am not a patient person if you can tell!!!

[PoolDoc]

How does that not raise my ph? How long for stabilizer to work? I am not a patient person if you can tell!!!

It did.

But, when you get a result of "6.8" with most kits, that means 6.8 *OR* below, not 6.8 exactly. So, your pH may have moved from 5.0 to 5.2 (I hope it's not that low -- very hard on liners!) but you kit would still give EXACTLY the same result!

Keep adding borax, 2 boxes at a time (slowly, in the skimmer, pump on) every 4 hours, till you see a change in the pH results.

If you want to verify that the borax IS working, after you take a test (and get a yellow pH -- acidic -- pH sample) add a pinch of borax to the sample. It will turn purple, as the pH goes very high (in the sample, not the pool!)

Stabilizer typically takes 2 -3 days to dissolve on your filter -- if you don't clean the filter and IF you run your pump continuously.

About patience: we often caution people to get some P.O.P. when they are buying chemicals, because without it, most pool owners will mess up their pool. Pool stores LOVE it, when pool owners have no P.O.P. -- and they don't sell it -- because the lack of it helps them sell enormous quantities of unneeded chemicals that may even mess up the pool further.

This is all true -- but you can't actually buy P.O.P., since it's "Pool Owner Patience". ;)

[wardenann]

Pool store said my ph was 6.5. Pool calculator website says to add 6 boxes of Borax. I added 3 yesterday and tested 6.8 this am. I have added 2 more boxes and am waiting to test later this pm. Everyone says not to worry about the chlorine and cloudiness until the ph is 7.4 so I stopped adding bleach and waiting for stabilizer to increase. Should I leave my pool covered during this process? I have an automatic cover and have been keeping it closed but another thread on here said to open pool and try to aerate it. I have bought all Borax at our small town Walmart and I still need another box. I hope the pool stores ph test doesn't stop at 6.5 but when I used my test kit from walmart it looked closer to 6.8 at noon. I am waiting on my Taylor K-2006 kit to get here soon.

[PoolDoc]

Hi Ann;

1. Do NOT trust the pool calculator website on pH effects -- the pH calculations are often wrong, in ways that are difficult for me to explain.
2. Stick to the 2 boxes and test -- that will work.
3. The K-2006 will not test lower pH levels, but if you want to, you can do the "acid demand" test, which will allow us to determine if you are a little below 6.8, or a lot.
4. Unless you want your "cloudy blue" pool to turn "cloudy green" do NOT stop adding bleach daily. If it turns green, recovery will be MUCH harder!
5. If borax is not available, dose with ONE box of Washing soda at a time (instead of two boxes of borax).

You need to learn to distrust the pool store more . . . or you'll end up a victim again.

[aylad]

I have an automatic cover and have been keeping it closed but another thread on here said to open pool and try to aerate it.

As long as you can get chlorine in the pool, then I would open the cover. Aerating the pool will also help raise the pH.

[wardenann]

Just tested again with HTC chlorine/ph tester from walmart and the chlorine is now 1-2 and ph is not quite 7.2. I can now see the fourth step in my shallow end. Does this mean it is slowly clearing??? Thinking about adding 1 more box of Borax. Any advice?

[PoolDoc]

Just tested . . . ph is not quite 7.2. I can now see the fourth step in my shallow end. Does this mean it is slowly clearing??? Thinking about adding 1 more box of Borax. Any advice?

1. Yeah, add the box.
2. If you couldn't see the step before, then it's probably clearing.
3. Continue to maintain chlorine levels -- no matter what.
4. Once you have the K-2006, report test results.

[Watermom]

Since your pH is on the move, I'd add a half a box instead of a full box. Then see where that takes it and then you can decide if you want to add more.

[wardenann]

Today added 1 box borax at 1pm and by 5pm it had raised ph to 7.2 and chlorine is in 2-4 range. Backwashed twice today but pool still cloudy. Opened cover and created a way to aerate with garden hose!!! Now, how long til pool clears??? I have P.O.P. in an IV so I am much calmer today!!! Plus weather got colder here and my salt water pool friends all have cloudy water this year. Everyone is blaming it on the mild winter in the Midwest!!!

[Watermom]

Now, how long til pool clears???

OOPS! Our crystal balls are all broken today. Sorry! ;)

[BigDave]

Crystal ball is cloudy?

[wardenann]

Took water sample to 2 different pool stores today and got different results except for both agree no free chlorine in pool. Dumped 400 oz of bleach in pool last night and still no free chlorine!!! Both pool stores said I must shock the pool or it will continue to be cloudy. Bought $25 bucks of biogard smart shock but have not added it because it says to shock pool in the evening. I guess I will try this since adding our bleach is not working!!!

[Watermom]

Can you take the Bioguard back? Bleach will work. Do you have any idea what your CYA reading was upon closing in the fall? If you had some when you closed and now have none upon opening, then what you are experiencing is what happens to a lot of pools over the winter. We see this every spring. As Ben likes to explain it, bacteria "eat" the CYA and then "poop" out ammonia and it takes a LOT of chlorine to break down all the ammonia. We have lots of threads currently going where other people are dealing with this same problem.

If this is what happened, then you may have had an algae bloom in the works due to chlorine that was too low. Either way, the remedy is the same. Patience and a lot of bleach.

At any rate, I hope you get your kit soon so you can quit relying on pool stores who are there to make money. They love to sell impatient people products that they think will hurry the process along. It usually does nothing more than make the pool store cash register full, your wallet empty and often causes more problems in your pool.

Keep adding bleach. At some point, it will hold.