Sky Blue water - cloudy going on 4 weeks

Hello all !

I have a IG 24x40 9' deep vinal pool. Sand filter running 24/7 for 4 weeks now. Mesh cover so i am used to a green opening. Have had the pool 7 years now.

This year, the water just wont clear up and i'm about to backfill it with dirt and stick a sign in the dirt that says You Win !

I never had this issue for this long - usually 3-4 days upon opening using the local pool store stuff.

I can only give you my test strip readings color chart
FC-1
pH - 6.8
TA - 80
CYA - 30-50

I'm starting to spend lots on chemicals now - have flocced once but no improvement as of yet.

The water looks beautiful save the clarity - can see to 4th step but bearly make out the bottom in the shallow end.

Open to any and all suggestions - many thanks!

Rob

First off, welcome! Glad you found us.

We don't really trust test-strips. A drops based test kit gives much better info. Walmart sells a 6-way kit for around $15 that will work for now but you really need to get a good test kit. We recommend the Taylor K-2006. It will pay for itself in no time.

Of highest priority for you is low pH. Any reading below 7.0 is acidic and can damage your pool. You say yours is 6.8. Most testers won't register anything lower than that so yours may be much lower than 6.8 in actuality. You need to raise it above 7.0 ASAP. Use 20 Mule Team Borax (in a green box in the laundry aisle at Walmart). Add slowly through the skimmer, breaking up any clumps, while the pump is running. Wait 2 or 3 hours, retest, and redose until you get somewhere between 7.2-7.8. You have a big pool. I think you can probably add the entire box initially. Once you see the pH start to move, add smaller additions until it is where you want it.

Next, your pool does not have enough chlorine in it. The cloudiness you see could actually be an algae bloom trying to start. With a cya between 30-50, your chlorine level should always be between 3 and 6 ppm. NEVER lower than 3. When you shock, you'll need to take the chlorine up to 15. (Chlorine readings are based on CYA readings.)

What all have you added to the pool. Please list ingredients for us -- not just "shock." Your CYA is already at a good level so you don't want to use any type of chlorine source that is stabilized. (No trichlor pucks, no dichlor shock.) Best to use liquid chlorine. Most of us around here just use plain, unscented laundry bleach as our source of chlorine for our pools. If you tell us the volume of your pool, we can tell you how much bleach it will take to raise it to needed levels. In a pool this size, it will take a lot of bleach. (But, bleach is readily available to attack this problem now. Then, you can look for other sources of liquid chlorine so that you don't have to be lugging so many bleach bottles. Some places sell 10% liquid bleach in carboys. BTW -- household bleach is 6%.) My opinion is that you need to shock the pool to 15 and try and hold the cl at that level for a few days. Test 2 or better yet, 3x per day and each time add enough bleach to get back up to 15. When you get to the point where your pool does not lose more than 1 ppm of chlorine overnight, then you can let the cl drift down to between 3-6 and maintain it there all the time.

Also, you should be running the pump 24/7 while you are trying to clear the water.

Repost with volume and go get some Borax, bleach and a test kit and we'll help you along best we can.

Again, welcome to the forum!

Many Many thanks for your help and I read for hours before posting - so much informative info.

So now i'm getting the info but lack wisdom - kids these days :)

In my rush for power and glory I went to the pool store after i posted.

My pool is 36k gallons. Here are the stores test results and my 82.00 purchase in chems and a good test kit. I'm probably upto 350.00 so far at least in pool store chems.

FAC - .5
TAC - 2
PH - 7.0
TA - 100
Cal Hardness - 150
CYA - 20

the 82.00 went to

1. 8 gallons of liquid shock - all poured in 15 minutes ago as instructed because of some " lock " in my pool ? ok whatever

2. Fiberclear - DE to add to skimmer and raise psi by 1 using small handfulls to filter small particles - todo later today as instructed.

3. Deluxe test kit using the drops that tests the above.

They did not test for TDS/copper/iron/phosphates or salt

He suggested that I come back later today and buy the chem to raise the ph more.

Upon opening I set 3" puck feeder on 5. brush/vaccum to waste etc - same as usual
Then used the standard opening kit from the pool store.

Apologies if i'm a little loose on the terminology(but i'm a quick learner).

I would really like to use / borax,bleach etc as the chem ingredients are the same from what I've read and understand. I'm off to Wallmart for the 20 Mule, cool name BTW hehe.

Again - many thanks for the assistance !!!! Will keep you posted as the day goes on - I want 1/2 gainers off the board and cold beer - todays gonna be a beaut !

quick question - will clorox harm or bleach my vinal liner ?

Rob

Bleach will not harm or bleach your vinyl liner, as long as you are controlling the amount you're adding, and not just throwing stuff in the pool to try to clear it. (I know the temptation is there, but RESIST IT! :) )

Keep in mind that the pucks in the feeder are trichlor, and it is raising your stabilizer (and therefore your baseline chlorine) by the minute. Most people target 20-40 ppm CYA in their pools, but you don't really want it to get higher than that, so keep an eye on it. Also keep in mind that those trichlor pucks are driving your pH down, so you're having to both raise your pH AND compensate for the trichlor lowering it at the same time...in your position, I would remove the trichlor pucks and switch to bleach or liquid chlorine. In the meantime, the pH rise stuff the pool store wants to sell you is overpriced Borax, which is in a green box in the laundry aisle at WalMart. Add it as Watermom directed to get your pH back up to the 7.2-7.6 range.

In a 36K gallon pool, each 3 quarts of 6% bleach you add will raise your chlorine by 1 ppm. Keep in mind that free chlorine (available to work) + combined chlorine (already working, thus being used up fighting something in your water) = Total chlorine. When your combined chlorine is greater than .5, that usually means you're fighting an algae bloom, hence the cloudiness. To fix that, raise your chlorine to 12-15 ppm and keep it there until the CC goes to zero, and your water clears. Do this by testing and adding more bleach 2-3 times daily (or more frequently if you can). The more consistently you keep the chlorine at this "shock" level, the quicker your pool will clear. Once the pool is clear and the CC is back to zero, you need to not let your chlorine get below 2 ppm--you need to keep it between 2 and 5. (That is, unless you keep using the trichlor and raising your CYA, in which case those numbers are gonna need to shift upward according to the best guess guidelines:
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

So--you've already put 8 gallons of chlorine in (any idea what the percentage is, and have you tested it since the chlorine addition?) , pouring slowly in front of a return jet so that the chlorine disperses and doesn't splash on your liner, so now keep your pump/filter running 24/7, and then keep the Cl at 12-15 by making frequent additions of bleach until the CC is down to zero. In the meantime, go ahead and adjust your pH as Watermom described.

Do not worry about TDS, salt, phosphates, or any of the rest of that--you obviously don't have iron or copper in the pool if it didn't stain when you added the liquid chlorine, so none of those things are gonna apply to you--it just gives an indication to the pool store people of more useless stuff they can sell to you!

Welcome to the forum!!

Janet

Good advice from Janet. Fight the urge to be "doing something." Other than adding bleach and Borax, nothing else should be going into your pool right now. Many times, people are so intent on clearing their pools that they end up making things worse by adding every product on the shelf at the pool store that the teenager behind the counter recommends. Bleach, Borax and patience are what is needed now. Keep us posted how things are going.

Hi all - quick update

Earlier today, Mrs. Heaven had the big box of 20 Mule in the garage. I added it slowly into the skimmer.

It appears my ph levels are exactly the same after a testing about 15 minutes ago.

I will head to the store and get Borax/Bleach until I start getting some movement there.( well in a while - those daquiris kick ya in the booboo ! :)

Also CC was very low but TC was around 3 or 4 id guess by the color. When I stand in the pool i can see my feet which is better than yesterday already.

From your help, i'm confident i'm on the right track TYVM !!!!

The water feels very nice almost silky if that is a good description.

Cheers !

Rob

P.S. The psi went up a bit so i backwashed/rinsed and back to 11 psi which is normal for my system.

Have not added DE yet. The 8 gal liquid chlorine was 12.5%

I have also turned off the feeder.

You want CC to be low. Ideally you want it to be zero. CC is combined chlorine or chlorine that has "already been used up" oxidizing something. Keep at the Borax and since the water is still cloudy, the cl level needs to be higher as well.

The pool is clearing by the minute !!! words cannot describe how much I thank you !

The PH is still a little low so i'm still working on that, but the CC/TC levels look great and held over night even after the storm dropped about 2".

Major storm caused havoc here last night(loss of power for 8 hours) so i'll be cleaning most of today.

I can see the shallow end perfectly and all walls in the deep to about 4-5'

Just added more 20 Mule and will test in a few hours !

Kiddies were in all day yesterday and had a blast - thats what its all about afterall !

Rob

Glad it is clearing. It is amazing what a little bleach and Borax can do for you, isn't it?

Great thread. I'm experiencing the same problem and everything that has been said has been helpful. I am going to follow what was said for the others. My question is what product can I use to raise the alkalinity. Right now I'm at 45. My CYA is 50, Ph 7.2, FC 3. I don't want to buy one of the Pool Co. products for fear of what else it may do. Is theree a "pure" prooduct I can add.

Baking soda can be used to raise alk.

Hello, Alemeg, welcome to the forum!!

Just wanted to add a caution that your Cl is on the low end of recommended for a CYA of 50--don't let it get below 3!

Janet

!Update!

Following the instructions given here, has led my pool to a level of clarity thats simply amazing.

The level of expertise and assistance here is awesome.

1. I took a deep breath relaxed, and bought a good test kit.

2. Blocked out all family members / neighboors / Pool Store advices.

3. Kept my chemical levels up to treat my particular issue with constant monitor simply using the BBB method.

Result ?

A crystal clear pool that my family, frends and neighboors are enjoying. No eye irritation, complaints from parents the next day or rash on their kiddies skin, and a tan that rivals Hassleholf.

Thanks and HAGS ! (have a good summer)

Rob

Another satisfied pool owner! That's our favorite "payment" here.

It's all about having a clean, safe, EASY TO MAINTAIN pool so you can swim and not worry!

Awesome!! Now aren't you glad you didn't fill it in and stick a sign in it! ;)

Janet

Hi All,

2 days ago I started seeing small green algea deposits on floor.

36k gal ig vinyl
FC- 5
TC -5
Ph - 7.3
TA 100
CYA - 35

Water Temp -92 Pool is in direct sun from rise til set and was wondering if this can account for that ?

My numbers seem right - I added 30oz poly60 this morning and have took the clips off the timer for 24/7 pump til clear up.

Am I on the right track here ?
Am I not running the pump long enough ? its set to 12 hrs.

Many Thanks,

Rob

Take your chlorine level up to 15 and try and hold it there for a few days. Test at least twice (and more than that is even better) times per day and each time, add enough bleach to get back to 15. When you get to where you don't lose more than 1ppm of chlorine from sundown to sunup then you can let it drift back down and keep it between 3-6 all the time.

Does your cl drop below 3 any? What are you using as your source of chlorine?

You are right to run the pump 24/7 while you are trying to clear the pool.

You say this has been going on for weeks. Can you please tell us what all you have been doing -- how many times per day testing, how high taking the cl when you add it, what all you have put in the pool meaning ingredients, not "shock."

We'll help you get it cleared up.

Hello Watermom !

When I 1st posted I was having a mojor issue. I took the expertise provided by you and this forum. Using the BBB method, my major issue cleared up and we have been enjoying crystal clear water mayhem for a while.

My new issue popped up 2 days ago - I may have let the CL drift to low for 2 days while I was away.

My cl level is dropping about 1ppm overnight but kick it to 5 in the morning.

My now late afternoon readings are the same as my post today. It appears the poly60 is doing its job but now water is skyblue and cloudy in the deep end again (hahaha). I'm also brushing like a madman with OCD.

How do I test a cl level above 5, as my test kit goes to 5, unlike my AMPS which go to 11(guitar humor) ? ;)

Since my 1st post I have been only using Clorox and Borax as needed. I test 2 times a day.

This morning I added 30oz Poly60 and 1.4 gal Clorox (big bottle).

Many Thanks,

Rob

You can force your test kit to test higher by taking one part pool water, mixed one part distilled water, mixing well, running the test, then multiplying your result x 2. If it still isn't reading high enough, use one part pool water and 2 parts distilled, test, then multiply x 3. (This is referred to around the forum as Carld's shotglass method! :) ). You'll lose a little accuracy with each dilution, but it'll get you in the ballpark.

If it was clear, and is now cloudy, Watermom's right, you need to shock the pool up to 15 ppm and keep it there until it clears and there's no overnight chlorine loss.

Janet

Awesome - shot glasses and their contents are my specialty !

Will execute and report !

Yep. What Janet said! I'm sure those couple of days where your cl dropped are the culprit. With a cya of 35, you have to keep the cl level between 3-6 ALL the time or it is an invitation to algae! Lotsa bleach and filtering 24/7 are what you need to do now to clear it.

I just modded your latest post in and got a chuckle from it!