Need help with cloudy water and chemistry
Ok...been reading threads and trying to decipher what I need to do. Second season with pool - first time problem.
18000 gallon vinyl pool
18'x40'x4' dimensions.
Sand filter running 24/7.
Had nasty rain for a few weeks and pool turned green. Added tons of Clorox, turned blue and stayed cloudy. Used shock granules (5 single serve bags, then 3 more 2 days later. No change in cloudiness. Still blue in color)
FC: .5 (have been adding 2-4 gallons clorox bleach nightly)
ph: 7.2 (had to add borax for the first time to raise it. 2 boxes over 4 days time and is hanging steady at 7.2)
TC: 2
TA: 130
Calcium Hardness: 120
CYA: slightly less than 30 - tube was filled to the top reading and not quite dissappearing black dot but almost.
Any suggestions? This forum is most appreciated!!!
Re: Need help with cloudy water and chemistry
Keep adding bleach and running the pump 24/7. Aim for shock level which, with cya of 30, would be around 15. Test 3x a day and each time add enough bleach to get back to 15. Also, no more granules. They are probably contributing to your cloudy water problem.
Re: Need help with cloudy water and chemistry
The fact that your FC won't go up and stay up even when you add lots of bleach is an indicator that you are still oxodizing what's left of the algae. It's one thing to kill it and get rid of the green. It's another thing altogether to oxodized the organics that are left behind. As watermom says, keep adding and keep adding until the FC goes up to 15. A good indicator that you're almost done is when you bring it to 15 late one day ( after sun is off the pool) and it is still nearly 15 the next morning. This means the chlorine is not being consumed any more and the organics have pretty much be oxodized. The hold it there for a couple days, brush the pool to expose any remaining algae, then let it drift down to you maintenance level which should be around 3 to 6 ppm FC.
I have had my pool go milky cloudy when I shocked. This, I think is a reaction to calcium when you shock. It will ( should ?? ) filter out and go away on its own when the process of getting rid of the algae is done.
