Rain caused cloudy water

Started my stain treatment yesterday morning. By mid-day today the water was clear, not crystal clear, but I could see the bottom of the 6 foot deep end. Added 2 lbs of Super Sequa Sol yesterday at 3 pm and today I started the process of raising my PH up to 7.2.

We just received about an inch of rain and now my water is all cloudy again.

What caused this?

Did the additional water volumne dilute the sequester and the metals are falling out of solution or is it something organic caused by the rain.

Prior to starting the stain removal I added a bottle of Poly 60, about twice the recommended rate two days before the start of treatment.

The pool surface looked pretty good with the only staining remaining was a small patch that was barely tinted by one of the returns where the stain was the worst. So, I wasn't going to begin adding chlorine until tommorrow am to let the acid work still on this spot overnight.

OK, what do I do now? Add more sequestor, begin adding chlorine at 16 oz at a time, more Poly 60? The chlorine is the 12% liquid bleach. I don't want to be in a situation where I'm going to need to shock the pool.

13500 fiberglass IG
SWG - not operational during stain treatment.
TC 0
PH 6.8
ALK 80
Temp 82
CYA 40

Thanks, Bob

If the water turns yellow (iron) or green (copper) - then I would be inclined to think it was a metals problem - but since it is cloudy and you have not added any additional sources of metals - I would not think it was metals

Now - you have NO chlorine - that WILL cause cloudy water. If you have successfully treated waters in your pool and have gotten rid of the stains - you can add more sequesterant if you want - it won't hurt to add a little extra - you really need to increase your chlorine.

You should keep a residual of 3-5ppm and shock at 15ppm. Wait for additional posts to see how long you wait between metal treatments and shocking. DO NOT add a clarifier - they are usually not needed and can cause additional problems.

I put in a few more ounces of sequestor for good measure and I started adding chlorine at about 16-20 ounces every two hours after testing. I'll try that throughout today and see if it starts clearing up.

Continuing to add Borax at 1/2 box at a time to get the PH back up.

You will probably find it hard to keep your chlorine up - just keep checking and add it as it goes down - get it up to the level for your cya - don't get it to shock, just keep it at a ppm a little higher everyday, keep the ph at 7.2 not higher. As you add the chlorine keep checking to see if the stains come back - if you see a stain start to form, make sure your ph is not higher than 7.2 and add more sequestereing agent, then keep slowly taking the chlorine up.

The PH is at 7.0 right now and I was going to hold it there until the water got clearer so I can observe any stain re-developing.

I'm telecommuting today and tommorrow so I'm able to check the chlorine every two hours. It's at .5 right now and I add about 20 oz every two hours, will continue with this until the reading gets to 5 or the water clears, whichever comes first. The water is a tad clearer than last nite but not by much.

Does anyone know why the rain clouded the water?

No improvement to water clarity this morning. Tested first thing and found FC = 1 CC = 6. Added a pound of Borax last nite and the PH is a tad below 7.2 so I'll guess it's at 7.1.

The question I have concerns not shocking the pool after the stain treatment.

Should I even be concerned about TC and CC at this point? Ignore those readings and just consider FC as a basis for shock levels and shoot for a FC level of 5?

No, I wouldn't be concerned yet - the reason your water is cloudy is that it is getting rid of the results of the stain treatment - that is why it is hard to keep your chlorine in the water. Just make sure you keep chlorine in the water, and leave your ph where it is. This will help keep stains from coming back as you raise your chlorine levels. Continue to raise your chlorine level slowly, this way you can see if any stain is starting to come back - if it does, add a little more sequesterer. If you have a sand or DE filter, you can put a thrichlor puck in the skimmer, which will help to let any metal that is left in the water stain onto the filter instead of the pool. DO NOT do this if you have a cartridge filter. Keep the filter running 24/7, and raise the chlorine only up to 5 for now. Don't shock for at least a week. You are not fighting algae, you are fighting the stuff that's left from the stain treatment.

Maybe the water is cloudy as a result of the stain treatment. The water clouded after adding Super Sequa Sol but it cleared up in 24 hours. At that point I started to slowly raise the PH and was going to begin chlorine at 48 hours after adding the sequester.

However, it rained about an inch after the water has cleared from the sequester - immediately after the rain I checked the pool out and it has been cloudy since.

Just tested it again the the FC = 5 and CC = 5 and that was two hours after adding about 30 ounces of chlorine. So, it looks like we're starting to make a little progress. It's pretty hard to tell but I would say the water is very slightly more clear than last nite.

Can't tell if any re-staining is going on yet - water isn't clear enough.

Thanks to all, Bob

There are two things going on here and you need to finish one before starting the other. You are really still finishing the metal treatment process - follow mbar's suggestions. Once you get that complete - then worry about the cloudy water.