Cloudy Pool after battling algae.

[Jbonnette]

Hi Guys, I'm a new subscriber to the forum. We bought a new house and the pool hasn't been maintained for some time. I started trying to turn the pond (lots and lots of algae) back into a pool about 8 days ago. After shocking the heck out of the pool yesterday, I woke up to a blue pool again (with lots of piles of yellowish brown dead algae . The problem is that it's still cloudy. I added some floc on Friday evening and did a vacuuming and brushing Sunday. I'm not able to properly vacuum the deep end because I can't see the bottom very well.

Pool Info:
32,000 gallon
Vinyl Liner
Sand Filter (I'm wondering if this is doing it's job properly)
Using Calcium Hypochlorite to shock
I've been testing about every day or so at the pool store (pinpoint) computer tester but I purchased a taylor kit from Leslie's pool (their re-branded k2006). I ran several tests tonight and these are my numbers:

FC: 15 (using the dilution method)
TC: 15
CC: 0
pH: 7.2
TA: 150 (the pool store had me add to much baking soda but said it's not a problem)
CYA: 9 (wouldn't measure on the dropper test but that was the pinpoint reading from Fri)

Not sure what to do from here... any advice would be appreciated.

[blessedbeingmom]

I'm relatively new here so I can't address the issue very well, but will say it does take some time after an algae outbreak to get rid of the cloudiness. We have a four foot above ground pool and even after shocking & killing the algae we battled last year, it took a number of days for all the dead algae to filter out. However, our pool is only about 5000 gallons & only has a filter cartridge. It took a few days to become swimmable, I think.

[Watermom]

Hi JBonnette and welcome to the forum!

Tricia is right that it takes a few days to filter out dead algae, but resist the temptation to add any clarifiers or flocs. Usually adding more stuff is not helpful and will delay clearing the water. Give your filter time to do its job. Run your pump 24/7 and watch the pressure on your filter. If it rises 8-10 psi over your clean filter pressure, you'll need to backwash.

Regarding your cya --- there is no way a test can give a cya reading of 9. That test is just not that sensitive. Test it yourself and repost with a reading.

A question -- do you have a calcium hardness reading? Your cloudy water is most likely due to dead algae that needs filtered out but since you say you are using cal-hypo, just thought I'd ask. A high calcium reading can also cause cloudy water.

By the way, thanks so much for becoming a subscriber. We appreciate the support. Hope you find the forum helpful.

[Jbonnette]

The forum has been beneficial to me so far...only makes sense to support it.

I'll give it a few days for the filter to do it's work. Is there a way to tell if the filter is doing a good enough job? Currently the filter pressure goes from 12 psi to 22 psi in around a day or a day and a half. While backwashing, the water looks pretty dirty and takes around 2 minutes to clear up. It seems normal, but just wanted to make sure.

On the CYA reading, I could not get a reading last night on my kit. But when I went to the pool store the other day, they had a pinpoint testing machine that said it was 9 ppm. I realize that I need to add some CYA. The pool store folks said that while adding I shouldn't backwash for a few days to give flakes a few days to dissolve. Considering that I have to backwash every day or so now because of the algae clean-up, should I just wait on adding CYA? I was thinking that perhaps adding the CYA to a filter sock might allow me to add while still backwashing?

* EDIT *
My calcium hardness levels are a bit low. 134 was the pool store test. I didn't bother testing them last night because from what I understand I really don't need to worry about them because I have a liner pool.

[waste]

Welcome to the forum!

Don't add the CYA until the algae battle is finished! (you'll end up sending a good portion of it out the backwash) If you want, you can put the CYA in a sock and hang it in front of a return, but I think you're better off waiting until the algae problem has been dealt with.

As Watermom (Hi Mom ) said, the flocs and clarifiers will only confuse your issue.

A little POP (Pool Owner Patience) is required here - I doubt you plan on swimming tomorrow, so take a few days and get rid of the algae completely first

[Jbonnette]

Thanks for the advice . I'm applying some patience and it seems to be paying off as I get all the junk filtered out of the pool. How often should I be brushing the pool? Is it better to vacuum the accumulation at the bottom or just brush it into the water again?

[aylad]

You should be brushing the pool at least daily. As far as the stuff on the bottom, vacuuming it, if you can vacuum to waste, will get rid of it much quicker than brushing it up into the water. If it's big enough, you might also try a fine-meshed net to scoop some of it off the bottom to get it out. If all else fails, then brush it up into the water. The filter will eventually get it, but it will take a good bit longer.

Janet

[Watermom]

Something you might try is adding a little DE powder to your sand filter. Many of us do this and it helps your sand filter to filter out things that are a little smaller than it normally could. It is a little tricky getting just the right amount. You can read more about it at the following link. Just something else to consider. Glad the pool is starting to look better!

http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?t=3742

[Jbonnette]

Something you might try is adding a little DE powder to your sand filter. Many of us do this and it helps your sand filter to filter out things that are a little smaller than it normally could. It is a little tricky getting just the right amount. You can read more about it at the following link. Just something else to consider. Glad the pool is starting to look better!

http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?t=3742

Going to try this today! Thanks Watermom

[madwil]

[QUOTE=Jbonnette;69317]
I'll give it a few days for the filter to do it's work. Is there a way to tell if the filter is doing a good enough job? Currently the filter pressure goes from 12 psi to 22 psi in around a day or a day and a half. While backwashing, the water looks pretty dirty and takes around 2 minutes to clear up. It seems normal, but just wanted to make sure.

QUOTE]

The fact that your pressure is increasing, along with dirty water during backflush, tells you the filter is working- the increase pressure is due to clogging with debris, which you then rinse out during backwash.
Note, a slightly dirty filter works better than a clean one, as the partial clogging also makes smaller holes in filter media to catch more crap- partial backwashes more frequently will often reduce total time cleaning the cloud out of the pool, but at end do a double duty backflush to make sure no residue left in filter; decaying algae can give more "food" for future algae, so you want all that crap out!