Also have cloudy water (with a story)

Hello I'm new to this forum and very new to pools.

We have a cheapy vinyl above ground pool (we decided to try it before we invested in an inground). This pool hold roughly 5500 gallons of water (15' X 4' round). Some explanaition of my house water needs to be told also, we have well water that has high calcium and high iron. Last week the pool was crystal clear and everything was great (the pool has been filled for 2 months now). I noticed the pool was about 3" low and we live in South Florida so I figure the water has evaporated. I decide to top it of, I put the hose in and forgot to shut the water off. I came outside and the pool had over flowed (my guess is that is had been overflowing for 20-30 mins. I drained some of the water off and all was fine for about 1 day and then I got some slight cloudyness to it. I added about 4 oz of clarifier to it. It then started clouding over worse, 3 days later and you can't even see the bottom. I tested the clorine with a drop kit and it showed NONE so I added about 1 quart of liquid shock and refilled my tablet floater (with stabilized tablets)

Today I tested with my 6 way test strips and here are the results

Total Hardness between 100-250
Total Clorine 1
Free Clorine 0
PH 7.8
Total Alkalinity over 180 (actually off the chart, color is dark blue and the chart goes to green)
Stabilizer between 50-100

Now I do also have the elaborate drop test kit so I retested using it, here are those results

Free Clorine between 1.0-1.5
PH 7.8
Alkaline 370ppm

The alkaline test said to keep adding certain drops till a color change took pace so I did.... 37 drops. The test then said I had to multiply that number by 10 and that was my PPM reading.

I refered to the chart that is in the tester to lower the PH and it recomended 1 1/2 cups of Muratic Acid so I put that in the pool.

My question is:
Am I on the right track? I was not a very good chemist in high school.

With only 5500 gallons, my first thought was drain the pool and refill it but your fill water may also have very high alkalinity. If it does then you may want to follow Ben's proceedure for lower alkalinity:

http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?t=191

250 ppm is a long way to go so you will need to be patient. Also, check your total chlorine aganst your free chlorine, you may need to shock the pool.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mas985

With only 5500 gallons, my first thought was drain the pool and refill it but your fill water may also have very high alkalinity. If it does then you may want to follow Ben's proceedure for lower alkalinity:

http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?t=191

250 ppm is a long way to go so you will need to be patient. Also, check your total chlorine aganst your free chlorine, you may need to shock the pool.

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I read that before I posted this thread and I'm embarrased to say, I was totally confused. I think I am starting to understand a little now. It appears that my PH and Alk are linked somehow, so If I aerate the pool and add acid slowly and in small doses it may help? The question is how long might I have to wait till I see changes?

Here is a pic of the pool this morning

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...dnck/pool3.jpg

This is what it looked like 30 days ago (ignore my floating wine glass)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...wineglass2.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mas985

With only 5500 gallons, my first thought was drain the pool and refill it but your fill water may also have very high alkalinity..

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it took almost a month to get the iron out of the water when I filled it, I don't know if I wanna go through that again

Yes, PH and alkalinity are linked. When you lower PH, alkalinity lowers with it. The trick is to keep the alkalinity low while raising the PH. This is where aeration comes in. Follow Ben's instructions to the letter and you will see the alkalinity lower slowly. For 250 ppm, I am not sure how long it will take but I suspect longer than a week or even two.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Justardnck

...so If I aerate the pool and add acid slowly and in small doses it may help...

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Justa, No, that's not what Ben's TA-lowering-procedure post says.

In a nutshell: You lower the pH first (using small doses of acid to ensure you don't undershoot your target); then you aerate to remove CO2; you add acid as needed to keep the pH down as you aerate; and you stop aerating when the TA has reached your target level (for which you'll need a good drop-based test kit for TA).

I recommend you read the whole thing again before trying it: http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?t=191

Thank you all, I will try your advise and keep you posted

I really think you need to add chlorine - your cya test doesn't give enough info - but even if it is at 50, you need to have your chorine higher. Your fc in one test was 0, and in the other 1.5. Either way you probably have algae which is why your pool is cloudy. If you added a quart of shock, and have tablets in your floater, then something is eating the chlorine. Using stabalized tablets is what is raising your cya - You need to add chlorine in the form of bleach - what kind of liquid shock did you add? Was it a peroxide shock?

And at the very least, spend $15 and get an Aqua Chem test kit from Walmart or something. Do away with those test strips. They're not very accurate.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by littleHeidi

And at the very least, spend $15 and get an Aqua Chem test kit from Walmart or something. Do away with those test strips. They're not very accurate.

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I have one with 5 solutions in it and I have the strips.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mbar

I really think you need to add chlorine - your cya test doesn't give enough info - but even if it is at 50, you need to have your chorine higher. Your fc in one test was 0, and in the other 1.5. Either way you probably have algae which is why your pool is cloudy. If you added a quart of shock, and have tablets in your floater, then something is eating the chlorine. Using stabalized tablets is what is raising your cya - You need to add chlorine in the form of bleach - what kind of liquid shock did you add?

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The brand is "smart" it's from Home Depot
10% Sodium Hypoclorite
90% Inert Ingredients

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mbar

Was it a peroxide shock?

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?? What is that? I have never heard of that before, where do you get it?

peroxide shock is for pools with baquacil or softswim instead of chlorine.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by fullhouse

peroxide shock is for pools with baquacil or softswim instead of chlorine.

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Ahh, ok. I don't have a soft swim pool.

*UPDATE*

Saturday evening my brother recomended I shock the pool which is also what one or two of the members here have recomended so I did. I added 1 gallon of liquid shock to 5500 gallons Sat evening and 1 gallon this evening. The pool showed a 50% improvement Sunday morning. I assume by Monday morning I will have it reletively clear.

I was maintaining the pool incorrectly all along (this is my first pool) I was under the impression that a pool only needed to be shocked when there was a problem but my brother informed me that in South Florida I need to shock the pool once every two weeks in the evening. I kept testing the water and it tested fine cause I have the floater with stablized tablets to I always thought I was ok... I guess I was wrong.

I still have a high TA of 260 but that is coming down with small amounts of Muratic Acid. I also added a small fountain pump so that the water aerates itself.

Thanks for all the help folks and I will keep you posted.

I don't know much about pools but I service and install Access Control equipment by trade so if anybody needs some advise on repairing your gate operator or telephone entry system please don't hesitate to ask:)

redneck,
You should only need to shock when you get combined chlorine (chloramines) above 0.5 ppm. That will probably happen more easily in your locale than farther north, but if you're maintaining your water chemistry correctly, you shouldn't need to do it on any kind of a schedule just because you live in Florida.

The amount of chlorine you need to keep in your water is a function of the amount of stabiliser you have in it. Use Ben's Best Guess Table (http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?t=365) to find the minimum and shock levels you need for your CYA level (you'll need to determine that a little closer than 50-100ppm). Again, you should only need to shock when your combined chlorine gets to 0.5 ppm. To know that, you'll have to test your water regularly with a good test kit.

Lowering your pH will have only a temporary effect on your alkalinity. If you want to lower it permanently you'll have to follow Ben's procedures to the letter.

I'm so glad yor pool is clearing up - the best advice I could give you is to invest in a good test kit (the one sold on this site is great) this way you can take care of your pool yourself. You will save a lot of money, and your pool will be easy to maintain. When you have time, you can go on the "Pool Soutions" page and read up on pool tips. You can also find answers to many questions on this forum. here is a link to the kit that is sold here, the one most of us use:

http://www.poolsolutions.com/cart/kits.php

*UPDATE*

The pool has been clear for a few days now inspite of all the rain whe have had. I have been testing the water daily and have been keeping the clorine levels and PH levels right but the Alkaline is still 280 PPM :eek: I have been aerating the pool with a fountain pump (which we actually like the sound of... or so I've been told)

Any ideas or is this just gonna take time to heal?


*edit* I also added 1 cup of acid today due to what my "acid Demand" test requested

What levels are you keeping your chlorine and pH at?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by KurtV

What levels are you keeping your chlorine and pH at?

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Todays numbers are

CL 1.5
PH 7.6
TA 220

According to Ben's alkalinity lowering procedures, you need to keep the pH at or below 7.2 while you're aerating. Aerating at your current pH of 7.6 probably isn't going to do much for you.

Your chlorine is still way too low, with a cya of 50 - 100 you need to bring it up to at least 10 ppms. If you want to keep it at shock to kill any remaining algae you have to bring it up to 20. This is "Ben's 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

You will continue to have problems with algae if your don't keep your chlorine levels high enough for the amount of cya in your water.