Bleach? I've also got cloudy water

[Poconos]

Crystal,
We really need some good test numbers. Need to know Free or Total Chlorine, pH, Calcium Hardness, Total Alkalinity, and CYA...Cyanuric Acid (stabilizer) levels. Never saw one but people here say Walmart has a decent drop based kit for about $15. Cal Hypo by itself may or may not cloud the pool. Depends on other factors. I wouldn't go the 'DE in the sand' route until we understand more about your situation.
Al
Also...welcome to the forum.

[cjayc]

Ok, I bought a test kit from Fred Meyer. Wal Mart had only 1 and it didn't have any directions. So, hopefully I did the test correctly, and here are the results:

PH 7.8
Free Chlorine 2.0
Chlorine 5.0
Alkalinity 7.6

My kit didn't include any tests for hardness, but I was told I didn't have to worry about it because I don't have a in pool heater; it is solar heated.

I also don't know how to test for CYA levels, the kit didn't come with that either.

I know my PH is a little high, and I did put bleach in a little bit before I tested. I maybe should have waited before I tested it.

Crystal

[Watermom]

We really need to know the cya and calcium hardness levels to be able to advise you. If you can't test for them, take a sample to a pool store, just don't let them sell you a bunch of stuff. We prefer not to have to use pool store numbers, but it is better than nothing. Have you considered buying Ben's kit at the sister site to this forum www.poolsolutions.com? It will test for everything you need. It is what most of us use.

[cjayc]

As much as I would like to buy it, just haven't got the funds right now. I will try to get to the pool place with a sample and get back to you.