"BEst guess" question

[Sue225]

can you see my signature?

[aylad]

I can see your sig.

There are a number of reasons for cloudy water. One is impending algae bloom, which would be killed by the shock, but the dead algae still has to be removed by the filter. Is your filter pressure rising? How often are you backwashing? Do you see anything blowing back through the returns?

High calcium levels can also cause cloudiness. What is your calcium level?

Clarifiers can also make the situation worse-- especially if you overdose. In this case, I thnk a good dose of POPP is in order--pool owner patience and persistence. Leave your filter running, maintain your shock level another day or two, and see if it makes a difference. To make sure the filter is functioning properly, you can add a handfull of DE to the skimmer and then watch the returns to see if it blows back into the pool. If it does, then your filter is part of the problem.

[Sue225]

I will add a handful of DE in the AM. The pressure is not rising at all and when I backwash, the water is only a little dirty not like I have seen it earlier this summer. The pump basket also has bubbles in it and I can hear water sloshing in the filter which I do not remember hearing before. I was just thinking "maybe the filter is not working properly" when I read your post. The filter is not even a year old. Wonder if there is a problem in the pump? It is loud and old. The water is so cloudy with dead algae that the backwash should be filthy and it was not this evening.

[aylad]

I'll let the equiment guys chime in here, but I'm thinking your pump may be overdriving your filter, pushing stuff back through to your pool. The DE should help diagnose the problem, but I'm thnking it's just not filtering properly.

[Watermom]

I agree with Jan on all points. Your pump is awfully big with a small filter for this size pool. Adding a pool store goop --- clarifier --often makes problems worse. All the granular chlorine, if it was cal-hypo, could have driven your CH too high and you need POPP!