getting hazy/cloudy

have 21,000 gallon inground with vinyl liner. not had any problems with the clarity of the water until this afternoon. i had to add water yesterday and this afternoon, which i do so with well water. I had a light brown ring, so i assumed metals were present as i have to battle that sometimes on filling.

my numbers are CL 1.0, PH 7.6, CYA 10, TA 150, hardness 50.

since my chlorine level was low, i went ahead and used one quart of metal out which took the brown ring out and hopefully any metals present. water still looks a little hazy. i can see the bottom fine, but the water seems dull. i am afraid i am going to have cloudy water and i need your help in knowing what i should do. i have been having to add at least 1 to 2 of jugs of bleach each day as the chlorine seems to not hold as well as it did last year. (last year i would use one jug every other day)

please advise me as to what could be going on with my water and what i should do before it is too late. thanks!

Your cya is low - this will let the sun eat up the chlorine very quickly. You should bring your cya (also known as stabilizer or conditioner) up to at least 30, and then keep your chlorine level at 3ppms. With the cya low, your chlorine probably went too low at some point and started some algae. You probably need to shock your water, because there is probably some algae getting started, causing the water to become cloudy, but not green yet. With a cya of 10 shock level would be 12ppms of chlorine. Here is the best guess chart:


Stabilizer . . . . . . Min. FC . . . . Max FC . . . 'Shock' FC
=> 0 ppm . . . . . . . 1 ppm . . . . . 3 ppm . . . . 10 ppm
=> 10 - 20 ppm . . . . 2 ppm . . . . . 5 ppm . . . . 12 ppm
=> 30 - 50 ppm . . . . 3 ppm . . . . . 6 ppm . . . . 15 ppm
=> 60 - 90 ppm . . . . 5 ppm . . . . . 10 ppm . . .. 20 ppm
=> 100 - 200 ppm . . . 8 ppm . . . . . 15 ppm . . .. 25 ppm

is it okay to shock now since i put one quart of the metal out in or do i have to wait?
i have 21,000 gallons of water.
how do you increase cya? i have forgotten how.
thanks!

You have to add CYA--WalMart, Home Depot, Lowe's, etc. sell it--it's often labeled as balancer or conditioner....but if you look at the ingredient label, cyanuric or isocyanuric acid is what you want. Follow label directions to raise your pool up to 30, but don't broadcast it---instead, put it in a sock or knee hi hose and put it in the skimmer or hang in front of the return...or slowly pour it into the skimmer with the pump running and don't backwash it for about a week.

Janet

It is ok to add bleach soon after the metal out. I usually wait about 1/2 hour.