Blue Cloudy Water

I have a 30,000 gal concrete & fiberglass pool. Did the usual this spring & went to pool dealer the last week of April (pool was dark green). They gave me a list of chemicals which we added. Water turned muddy water brown in color. Went back to pool store. More chemicals. Added. Not a whole lot of change. Tried Wal-Mart brands to help on costs. Little change. My husband found poolsolutions. For about 2-3 weeks now we've been using bleach, borax, & baking soda. Since the start of poolsolutions, our water a been very good looking but very clody(can't see the second step in shallow end). I'm currently waiting my test kit from Ben. I can smell cholrine and am worried about CC's. Also we added atleast 5 lbs of calcium cholrite(calcium increaser) and 10 lbs of baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) which on the site is a set up for a big mess (a milky looking pool that is slow to clean up). Levels from poolstore are CYA 30, TC 10, FC10, pH 7.5, TAlk 158, THardness 277. Any suggestions on how to clear this up?

Your numbers look ok. What kind of filter do you have? Are you running it 24/7?

We have a sand filter - bought new last year. We have run it 24/7 for two months now! Whater looks a test good just real cloudy. Think I should change the sand?

No. You don't need new sand. You might want to try adding a little DE to your filter. Several people (Al and Carl both) have done that with good success. I'll ask one of them to give you more info about that.

Not sure DE will work but it's a cheap try and you lose nothing but a little time. Check Carl's and my posts in this thread:
http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?t=465
Al

I'm fishing here, but I do have an idea. Your T/A is a tad high for a concrete pool, though not for a F/G pool.

I would suggest adding enough muriatic acid (not dry acid) to bring your pH down to 7.0, which should bring your T/A down too. Then aerate the water to raise it. Sometimes a dose of muriatic acid can clear white cloudy water (but not green cloudy water--that's algae).

But this is a guess as to what may work. As I said, I'm fishing. In any case, your T/A will be lowered a bit, which isn't bad.

We will try the muratic acid today. Any idea how much to add? What is DE?

not sure on the amount of Muriatic--but I would start with a pint (you have a big pool), wait a couple of hours, with the pump running full steam, then test again, then add some more. If you've had a lot of movement on the pH, but aren't "there" yet, next add a cup. If you haven't moved much, go with another pint. The object is not to overshoot your target.

DE: Diatomaceous Earth (probably spelled it wrong), the active component in DE filters. It's a very fine white powder only a little coarser than powdered sugar. It's the skeletons of little, long dead critters. DE filters have a reputation for being the finest (as in smallest particles) filtering medium.

Crystol,

If you can smell chlorine, you need more chlorine. That's not a typo. Test your water CAREFULLY, get an FAS-DPD kit that will test for CC. If your unable, take it to a pool store that will use that test....not strips.

If you have CC of .5 or greater, you need to bring your Cl up to 15-17 range and KEEP IT THERE 'til your water clears. Probably will only take 24-48 hours but you should lose the Chlorine smell and your water should clear.

Run your pump 24/7 and backwash if your pressure rises say 6-8lbs. :)