cloudy blue water

So I have a problem with my pool. It's been almost a week and my pool is extremely cloudy. My father usually takes care of the pool but since I was having a party coming up, I decided to take care of the pool myself.

The pool was opened a month ago and no chemicals were added except shock since the pool was opened. So I knew something needed to be added so I took a water sample to my local pool store and have them help me with what my pool needed, which was basically everything. The pool store told me I needed almost everything. They told me what to add and how much to add. They said to add a new chemical every 45 min from each other to prevent cloudiness. My filter was running the entire time. I put the chemicals directly into the pool without diluting it.

I added
+ 50 lbs of calcium.
+ 5 lbs of pH,
+ 8lbs of stabilizer
+18 lbs of alkalinity. B
+ 4 gallons of liquid shock l

I backwashed the pool. It was still cloudy so the next day, I backwashed the pool again like they said then added 1lb of powder shock(without diluting it) because the instructions said DO NOT ADD WATER.Its been almost a week and the pool is still cloudy. I cannot see the bottom. That is when I noticed tons of chemicals at the bottom and moving it around made it even more cloudier. I put my robot in there and it has been picking up alot of the chemicals at the bottom but I know for sure there's more. Today I tried to take the net and pick some up but now its rough and seems like it is stuck to the pool. I just got this pool liner last summer and I know it is discolored for sure which is pretty upsetting.

Sorry for the long post, but I wanted to make sure I covered the basics of what actually happened. I cannot see the bottom so I am not sure how much is still down there. BTW I have a 30k gallon pool and it is 9 feet deep. I cannot drain it because it vinyl.

What should I do?
Chlorine 0
Cya 100
Ph 78
Alk 120

Tried brushing it and the bottom feels rough and there's sand on the stairs

Cya is t probably too high I would start lowering that down by doing water changes. what kind of liner do you have? You probably are fine for for calcium. - I suspect it's really high. I would go get liquid chlorine - - or unscented bleach and use that as my chlorine method as most people powder shock contain calcium or stabilizer in them wich you have too much stabilizer and calcium already. at this point you need chlorine..Lots of it. to help clear you pool. Why did you alkalinity? Although 120 is ok, and it's at the high end a good target is 70–80.

First thing is to get chlorine in there. and start doing water changes so you can get the Cya level down to at least 50ppm - - you may be well over 100 as most tests stop at 100.

You can do some water changes if you want but that is a lot of wasted water since you have such a big pool. You certainly can do that if you want but depending on how high over 100 your CYA actually is, it may still be pretty high even if you drain half. Another option is to run higher than normal chlorine levels per the Best Guess Chlorine Chart in my signature below.

If you decide not to do any partial drains, go ahead and shock your pool. (Even if you do drain some, you still need to get some chlorine in their ASAP before your pool turns green). Again, per the Best Guess chart, your shock level is going to be 25ppm. You do not want to use any more dichlor which is what many powdered shock products have. Also, no calhypo since you are already having cloudy water issues.

Liquid chlorine is your best bet. You can use plain, unscented bleach but with a large volume pool, it might be more convenient to buy liquid pool store chlorine. Both that and bleach are sodium hypochlorite but the pool store will sell a higher concentration of it and thus it won't require as many bottles. However, if you do just want to use bleach, each gallon of 6% bleach is going to add about 2ppm of chlorine. Each gallon of 8.25% will add just under 3ppm. Use that as a reference to help you figure out how much to add to get to shock level. If you buy pool store liquid chlorine and will tell us what percentage of sodium hypochlorite it is, we can help you figure out doses of that to use.

Keep your pump running 24/7 and clean your filter whenever the pressure rises 8-10psi.

You are going to have to have kit that can measure high chlorine levels. Do yourself a favor and order a Taylor K-2006 or 2006C from the link in my signature.

Stay away from that pool store's advice. Pool stores typically have people having any and everything they think they can sell to them. Many times, as you have discovered, it just makes things worse.

Thanks for the advice. I am not sure what kind of liner but I know its not the thickest. I was thinking about buying a clarifier. Will that work? I only have powder shock and chlorine tablets. If I use the tablets and not the shock since you said might make it worse, woukd that help it? My test for cya goes to 300 so it should really be at 100. If so, would the water changes still work?

You don't want to use the tabs since it will cause your CYA to rise. What kind of test kit do you have that will test CYA up to 300? We have never seen that before.

The strips

Test strips give lousy readings especially on CYA levels. You cannot assume that your CYA is 100. You need to get a good kit.

I got a liquid test but it didn't test for cya. Ill buy the other one and hopefully it comes in the mail soon. Thanks for your help. Ill post results when the test comes

So, its been 9 days and still extremely cloudy. The robot has been picking up chemicals and now lots of sand. I decided to open the filter and see if there was any dissolved chemicals that the filter couldn't handle. When we opened it, it was filled with water with a white layer over the sand. Once we got past that, the sand looks exactly like what the robot is picking up. Is this normal? I would post pics but it doesnt allow me.

my pool went from a green swamp (matched my grass) to a crystal clear pool in less than a week. I used nothing but liquid chlorine. I kept my chlorine at the the shock level using bens best guess chart. (as well as I could) and kept my filter running 24/7. you can do it. just follow the instructions.
i had to put in over 50ltrs. of 12% sodium hypoclorite (not sure how many gallons that is). and backwashed almost every day as my filter was picking up LOTS of dead algae due to the vacumming and constant filtration. I would post before and after pics, but I cant attach pics yet :(
just follow the instruction watermom has been giving you and your pool will sparkle in no time!

-cheers
topher

Thanks will do

So finally my pool is Crystal clear. I can see the bottom perfectly so thanks for your help with that. The water is nice and blue. However, there is a bunch of sand at the bottom. I put my robot in and it picks up nothing. I tried vacuuming it but its not picking up. When you touch it with something it just moves around in the water. I tried brushing it but it made the pool cloudy again for a few days then when it cleared, it was still there. What to do?

Good job on clearing it up!

The behavior of the sediment in your pool doesn't sound like sand. Are you sure that's what it is? Check your free chlorine level in the evening, and then again early morning. Is it dropping or is it stable? Go ahead and check CC, too.

I would check it tonight. What else could it be?

There are lots of things it could be. I'm thinking it may be dead algae. One thing I learned here is to keep it at shock level until all 3 of these conditions are met:
- the water is crystal clear (you have a checkmark on this one)
- the free chlorine (FC) does not drop by more than 1 ppm overnight. This must be tested around dusk and then dawn because UV from the sun will cause FC loss.
- the combined chlorine (CC) is less than 0.5

And then, shock one more day just to be sure :)

If you already meet these criteria, then the cloudiness is caused by something that's not organic and isn't oxidizing.

I googled dead algae and show come pics. It looks like my pool. It could well be that. Thanks I would of never thought of that. I checked the chlorine and its zero. I don't understand why when I I keep putting chlorine tablets.

I keep hearing put bleach. Are they talking about actual bleach like Clorox? I know this might sound like a stupid question but I'm curious on what they mean by bleach.

Btw what else can I do to get rid of it? Shocking? Or vacuuming?

Yes, when folks say put bleach, they're talking about bleach like Clorox. It's cheap, but the bottles are bulky, and you have to poor it slowly at one of the return jets so it gets mixed quickly and doesn't splash on you or your clothes.

the reason the chlorine is going down to zero is because it's getting used up--probably getting rid of the dead algae. Just keep it at shock level until it meets those 3 criteria above. Test every evening and morning, and eventually, it will start holding its level over night. The crystal clear water is a really good sign; you're definitely progressing.

Thank you. Ill try bleach and keep putting chlorine and shock.

membership updated; sorry it took so long.