Cloudy Water...Please Help! Here are my readings!

Good Morning All...

I have an inground 18X36 pool and my water has been cloudy since I opened it this season. My PH is 7.4, my chlorine is 3ppm. My ORP (I don't even know what ORP is but that's one of the readings on my pool monitor) shows 600MV and my alkalinity shows 40 and my CYA looks like it's at about 20. I have never had cloudy water before and I'm completely baffled by this. I did put in some clarifier to see if that would make my water clear and it had no effect. I even tried some algaceide with no effect. Any and all feedback would be most appreciated. Thank you in advance to all who can respond with advice.

John from Boston

Hi, John,

Your user name is apt....your test results and pool water are an enigma.

Your Alk is way low but I don't believe that contributes to cloudiness. It will allow your pH to fluctuate pretty easily so I'd get some baking soda and get that up. Fifteen lbs and then retest after 1/2 day or so....you may well need more than that.

Keep running the pump 24/7 and get the baking soda in there. I don't feel good about it helping your issue but it may head off another one.

Are you testing with a drops kit? Doesn't sound like it. If not, I'd get a 5-way test kit from Lowe's or Walmart and verify your current results. My next best guess is that you're getting some erroneous test results.

Dave's advice to get a drop-based kit and re-test for accurate numbers is good advice. I'll also add that it's a bad idea to just buy stuff and throw it in the pool hoping it'll help--usually it won't, and lots of times it'll create new problems for you to fix. I would shock the pool, take the Cl up to about 12 ppm, keep your filter running, and see if that improves. In the meantime, take Dave's advice, get some good test numbers, and post them, and I'm sure somebody will be able to help you go from there.

Janet