Cloudy Water

[Sherra]

With a TC of 10 and FC of 7.9, then your CC should be 2.1, which means you need to bring your chlorine up to "shock" level, which with a CYA level of between 90-100 would be 20-25ppm according to Ben's Best Guess Chart. This should bring your FC & TC into balance and your CC down to 0 (or at least down to less than .5, which is acceptable according to most of the "gurus" on the board).

[ivyleager]

computer results today
TDS 1100, cya 93, total chlorine 10, free chlorine 7.9, ph 7.5 total alkalinity 115, total hardness 453
water unchanged..still cloudy but can see the bottom
would appreciate some advise. thanks

Frustrated,

Looks like you have combined chlorine of 2.1. Keep adding the bleach, needs to be higher than 10, up around 20-25ppm to be effective.

Yours is a vinyl pool, right? The total hardness (calcium) is a bit high. It could be a contributing factor to the cloudiness. Once the combined chlorine is dealt with, then this needs to be addressed. Most advocate partial drain and fill, if fill water calcium is low. You may want to browse the "Dealing w/ Alk and Calcium" section.

PH and alkalinity look good. No worries there.

The TDS seems high, as mine is only in the hundreds. Calcium can factor into that value. Here's a recent thread: http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthr...ssolved+solids It, too, advocates a partial drain/fill to lower TDS. If so, fill water needs to be tested.

Keep adding the bleach to get the chlorine up, pump and filter 24/7 and have patience. It took awhile for the pool to get this way, will take a while to correct.

Good luck.

CaryB

[Very Frustrated]

guys...when i first starting adding the bleach combined chlorine was .5 and now it's 2.1 after adding all this bleach...so you still advise to shock to 20-25?? seems like i just keep getting worse instead of better as far as the readings go....is that normal and just keep shocking and keep it at 20-25 until it clear??? just want to make sure??

[Sherra]

Yes, your CC can go up...it's the amount of chlorine that's been "used up" but is still in the water.

[Simmons99]

There is something in your pool that is "eating" or combining with the clorine you are adding - that's probably what made it cloudy to start with. You need to bring your clorine level back up to "shock" to "burn-off" this combined clorine.

I think the combined clorine indicates you still have something in your pool that's not "dead" - but the experts can probably explain this better.

Hang in there - it sounds like it's getting better

[Very Frustrated]

i do have a vinyl liner...i have and will keep adding the bleach and pray this will eventually clear. how can i determine the free chlorine and combined chlorine without going to the pool store to analyize the water?

[mas985]

The best way to measure free and combined chlorine is with a test kit that does so such as the one Ben sells. But in a pinch, I sometimes will use this crude and somewhat inaccurate method with test kits that test total chlorine only. After adding the drops and mixing, immediately note what the color and reading is. This is close to your free chlorine level. After a few minutes, note the color and level again. This is your total chlorine level. Combined chlorine is then the total - free. If the color does not change, you probably do not have any more combined chlorine. Again, this is not very accurate and will miss small amounts of CC. Long term you might want to order Ben's kit.

[Very Frustrated]

how do you order ben's kit? phone number...website or something?
price? thanks

[mas985]

You can order it here:

http://www.poolsolutions.com/cart/ps234.php

[Very Frustrated]

thanks for the primitive method and website also.
pool water has been cloudy too many weeks..
i'm giving it one last try tonight...shocking to these levels again..then i am giving up this season... thanks to all who has tried to help.