Water cloudy, have test results

[aylad]

Cyanuric acid is known also as CYA--it's the stabilizer that you need to protect your chlorine from the sun. It might be labeled cyanuric acid, balancer, condition, or stabilizer, but if you look at the ingredient list, cyanuric or isocyanuric acid is what you want. Muriatic acid is a very strong acid that is used to lower pH. You don't want that one, at least not for now.

Janet

[sbillingsley]

We have been waiting, watching, and testing. The water still looks basically the same. We got a new test this morning:
Temp: 75
CYA: 15
Total chlorine: 8
Free chlorine: 0
Ph: 7.9
Total alk: 97
Adj tot alk: 93
Total hardness: 238

[Watermom]

How much run time are you operating your pump/filter?

[sbillingsley]

We are running it 24/7

[Watermom]

You need to buy the good kit! I can tell by your numbers that these are pool store numbers and may or may not be reliable. There is no way to get a reading of 15 on CYA or 97, 93, or 268. Those tests are simply not that precise. In addition, unless you have a total green slime pit, there is no way that your chlorine numbers can be right. FC + CC = TC always. So, for your readings to be right, then your CC would have to be 8ppm which I highly doubt. I'd also be a little wary of a pool store that wouldn't recognize that those chlorine numbers were wrong ----- unless it might have just been a typo on your part.

Have you backwashed your filter any? If so, did you note your clean filter pressure afterwards and is the pressure rising to indicate that the filter is actually filtering particles out?

[aylad]

Do you see your pressure rising at all? If so, the filter is catching it and it will just take some time and patience. If not, you can try the DE trick-- take a cup or so of DE (just enough to raise your pressure by 1psi) and add it through the skimmer. First check your returns to see if it comes back through. If so, then you may have a problem with the filter that needs fixing. If not, then the DE will settle in the filter and help filter out smaller particles than sand can do alone.

Janet

[sbillingsley]

The night that I posted my last reply I had to leave town to see my Grandmother that feel suddenly ill then passed. While were were gone my BIL tried his best to take care of the pool with no real directions, just doing what he thought needed to be done. He couldn't find any chlorine so he bought some and started using that instead of bleach. He sucked all the leaves out and kept it brushed down for me. It is a little cloudy but I can see the liner well. To answer the last questions posted the sand filter runs 24/7. My husband suspects he needs to replace the sand next weekend. There has never been a pressure gauge on the filter so I dont know about the pressure. I ordered a kit Thursday night when I got back. While I was gone a Leslie's Pool Company opened in town (until this point I was using Ace Hardware to test the water cause that is all we had) so I took the water there to be tested until I get the kit. These are the numbers I got from Leslie's:

FAC 2
TAC 2
Calcium Hardness 50
CYA 40
TA 60
PH 7.2
Phosphates 50

She said I had a "chlorine lock" and need 30 pounds of Calcium because my water was "hard." From reading this website I think I need to add bleach regularly to break this "lock" but I am not sure how much. I am not sure about the calcium. Thank you all for your help!!!

[BigDave]

You don't need calcium in your vinyl lined pool. Given your two readings, 211 and 50, if either is correct, calcium shouldn't be causing the cloudiness.
Sounds like your Brother In Law did well.
I'm pretty sure that "chlorine lock" is a pool store myth, sounds like you may suspect that as well. However, if you have algae (and you did) and it's not all dead, you could be just holding it at bay with all the chlorine you're putting in without making real headway.
As you supect, you do need more chlorine. According to Ben's Best Guess Chart, your regular operating Free Chlorine level should be between 3 and 6 for CYA of 40 and 15 for shock level. If this were my pool, I'd raise the FC to 15 and keep it there until the pool loses less than 1ppm FC overnight (sundown to dawn) with nearly 0 Combined Chlorine. It willl take about 3-1/2 gallons of 6% bleach to move your FC from 2 to 15, and you'll need more to keep it there so stock up.
You will need the K-2006 kit to measure these values. Have you ordered it yet? You may have noticed the the pool store tests show a wide variance, you really do need to be able to make accurate measurements yourself.