Cloudy water??

[Rosie700]

6/28/2012 CH 2 PH 7.2+ AL 230 Hardness 400 CYA 60

What is making the pool cloudy? I am still working on getting the AL down, was 300 when I filled the pool.
What can I do to make the water clear? You can hardly see the bottom of the pool and it is only 42" deep!!

[aylad]

Hi Rosie,

Two major possibilities that I see are your calcium level and the fact that you aren't keeping your chlorine levels high enough for your CYA. With a CYA of 60, you should be keeping your chlorine above 5 ppm at all times. I would turn the SWCG off, shock the pool to 20 ppm, and hold it there until you can go from sundown one night til just before sunup the next day without losing more than 1 ppm of chlorine, then you can let your chlorine drift back down to the 5-10 range. Keep your filter running and clean your filter as indicated by your pressure.

It's also possible that with your hardness that high, combined with high alk, that you're getting calcium precipitated out of the water and creating the clouds. Is your fill water that high in calcium, or have you been using calcium-based shock products?

[Rosie700]

I have not used shock in the pool since the 14th. It does have calcium in it. I guess I don't know what the calcium level is. I have the CH 5 PH 7.5 on the reading this AM. I put in 26.5 oz of acid since the 26th and the pool is finally clear today!!! I have not added any CH for the last week or so. I did need to add a second filter pump because the SWAG would keep showing low flow and it made it thru the last running without turning off!!! I am really just playing hit and miss on the pool stuff. It is a good thing that my kids are loving the pool for the time I have in it. :)

[aylad]

Playing hit and miss on the pool stuff can get dangerous, if you miss and let something bad grow in your pool. I would absolutely not use any other form of calcium or cal-hypo products in this pool, because it likely will get milky every time--plus, you'll start building calcium scale on your SWCG, and it won't work efficiently (if at all). You also need to keep the chlorine levels up a little higher than you were. You don't have to keep them as high with a SWCG as you do without one, but with an SWCG you still need to keep your chlorine levels at 5% of your CYA levels, which for a CYA of 60 would be a chlorine of at least 3 ppm.

Janet

[Rosie700]

could the cloudy water change the CYA numbers??? I just checked the CYA and it is around 30 and the water is really clear. as of the AM the CH is 3 and PH is 7.5. the water is really clear. Do I need to get the CYA numbers up higher?

[aylad]

The CYA test, if you're using the disappearing black dot test, could be lower in clear water than in cloudy water, since the test relies on turbidity (cloudiness) of the water to obscure the dot.

Check the manual for your SWCG--each unit specifies what the CYA levels should be. If you don't have the correct CYA levels, the unit has to work harder to maintain the chlorine in the pool, and that will cause your cell life to be shortened, so you'll have to replace it sooner. Also, it makes it very difficult for the unit to keep a consistent level of chlorine in the pool, leaving you more susceptible to algae outbreaks.

Janet

[Rosie700]

the unit calls for 40-50 CYA level. So I should add conditioner until I get it up that high and don't read it when the water is cloudy?
PS Thanks for your help. By the end of summer I will not be a newby and understand this water stuff better.

[aylad]

Right--add conditioner until you get it up to the 40-50 ppm level. Remember that the conditioner is slow to dissolve, though--so once you've added it, either through your skimmer or in an old sock tied in front of a return, don't test for it or add more for at least 4-5 days to give it all time to dissolve and register in the water.

Don't worry about being a newby--that's what we're here for!! ;)

Janet