Cloudy Water!!!!

[micah]

Opened my pool it was green and slimey!!! Cleaned the pool and shocked it and now it's cloudy blue. Reading some posts and it say's to keep the chlorine and whatever the CYA PPM is. I'm at 30 to 50 PPM and my Chlorine is around 15? Do I keep it there until it starts to clear? I have a 33 Round. I have the HTH 6 test and my 2006 test kit should be coming. The test shows FC at 10/20 Bromine but it doesn't register higher How do I know that I'm high enough. By the way I'm using the bleach now.

[Watermom]

Yes. Keep the chlorine at about 15 as consistently as you can. Until your K-2006 arrives, you can use a dilution method to force your kit to read higher. It's not super accurate and not meant to replace having the good kit, but better than nothing for now. Testing Without a Good Kit (http://poolsolutions.com/gd/how-to-test-your-pool-without-a-good-testkit.html )

What kind of filter do you have and what size of pump? By the way, ignore the bromine reading since you have a chlorine pool. Hope this helps.

Welcome to the Pool Forum!

[micah]

received my test kit my numbers are fc=15.6 to 20(this morning) I added gallon of shock just using what i have left last night.
c.c-.5
ta=170
ca=280
ph=7.5
cya=45 ppm
Sand filter = swim pro model #sw256t pump 1081 sp151521bc ? motor 1.5 hp
Its still cloudy how long do i keep it at the levels? Do I still run the filter non=stop Pressure is good should I vacuum the pool? If I should do I set it at filter or waster I think filter because waste would mess my reading? How much bleach do you normally ad to a 33 round? 1 gallon equals what?
thanks for your help!!!!!!!

[Watermom]

I'm guessing your volume is about 26,000 gallons, so each gallon of 6% bleach would add about 2.3ppm of chlorine. Use that as a reference to help you figure out doses.

Since it is still cloudy, I'd continue to keep the chlorine high (around 15) and continue to run your pump and filter. Is your filter pressure rising?

Is there anything to vacuum up? If so, then go ahead and vac. I'd vac to the filter so you don't waste so much water. Then, you can backwash your filter if needed.

(I would not use any more cal-hypo since your calcium hardness reading is already at 280.)

[micah]

o.k i'll do that. Yes my filter is rising and I backwash. What do you mean by cal-hypo?

[Watermom]

Cal-hypo is a form of chlorine often sold as bags of "shock." Since your CH (calcium hardness -- I think that is what you meant by CA) is 280, I assume that you have used some.

While you are battling cloudy water, you need to be maintaining your chlorine level at 15 as consistently as you can. And, you need to do so until you have clear water, you are losing no more than 1ppm of chlorine from sundown one evening until within two hours of sunrise the next day and you have a CC reading no higher than 0.5. At that time, I'd suggest keeping the chlorine high for one more day for additional insurance and then you need to make sure that you ALWAYS keep your chlorine level between 3-6 ALL the time. If you let it drop below that, you risk an algae bloom. If you haven't already done so, take a look at the Best Guess Chlorine Chart in my signature below for the connection between CYA levels and needed chlorine levels.

[micah]

sorry, ca was meant to be ch-I haven't used bags of shock. The only things I have used is liquid shock, bleach and a chlorinator but not using chlorinator now. It's clearing up a little but I will maintain FC at shock level and yes I am going by best guess guide. Also when I back flush how much water is suppose to come out? It seems very little and wondering if it's working but I am getting good pressure when it's filtering. Could there be channeling going on?

[Watermom]

Backwash whenever your filter pressure rises 8-10psi over clean filter pressure. I typically backwash for a minute and a half or two minutes. Watch the discharge water; you can tell when it is getting clearer. Then, put it on rinse for about 30 seconds before back to filter. (Always turn the pump off before turning the multiport valve.)

How long have you had your sand filter? Have you ever added any sand? Sand doesn't need to be replaced but sometimes needs to be topped off if it is getting low.

[micah]

what's the correct level of sand in the sand filter? I opened up the filter to take a look and it's over half way to the top.

[Watermom]

Check your manual. What model is it?

[micah]

Thanks I looked it up and the level is fine. Still have cloudy pool. Super shocked it Monday evening after I vacuumed to waste bottom was pretty dirty. I put in 9 bottles of shock and after about 3 hours I took a reading with the Taylor 2006 kit. Reading are FC - 19
CC - .5
TA - 170
CH - 250
PH - 7.2
CYA - 45
since then I been keeping up with the shock. This morning Still at shock level. Still seems to be no improvement. IS there something I'm doing wrong.? Filter running 24/7 back washed once which was yesterday. Is there something else I could try. Seems like there's alot of stuff floating in the water. When I vacuumed on Monday - Alot of white and brown slimey stuff in the strainer. Thanks for your help!!!!

[micah]

i checked and the level is fine. I still have cloudy water. Monday evening I vaccumed the pool to waste was pretty dirty my strainer plugged a few times but cleaned it pretty good. then I refilled and put in 9 gallons of shock tested after 4 hours and my readings were FC - 19.5 CC - .5 ta - 170 Ch - 140 ph 7.2 and cya 45. When i was cleaning the pool the strainer had white stringy and tan stringy stuff plugging the strainer more tan stuff than white. My pool looks like particles are floating in water? my filter is running 24/7 could my filter be messing up? should i try the D.E. filter test? also when I back wash very little water comes out what could be the problem there?

[PoolDoc]

I'm not sure what you are dealing with. Could you fill out the pool info chart:

Pool Chart Entry Form (http://goo.gl/cNPUO)
Pool Chart Results (http://goo.gl/PXaLu)
and, list all the chemicals AND filter additives used since January?

I don't recognize "white stringy and tan stringy stuff" as characteristic of anything. The only thing that comes to mind as even a possibility would be some of the alternative filter media, but I don't see how that would be IN your pool, rather than your filter.

Could you take pictures (in focus, please - I've got a bunch of pictures to sift through that people have sent in, but they are out of focus and mostly useless) and send them to poolforum@gmail.com, or else post them using Photobucket, Flickr, or Picasa?

[Watermom]

White stringy and tan stringy stuff --- Does that sound like water mold that we have had some people write in about in the past?