cloudy water

[Zac851]

So what should I do next to it?

I went by one pool place today but They only had the large 25lb bags of the DE powder and I didnt want to buy such a large amount since you said I only needed a few pounds. I went to tractor supply store next and they had a small 4lb bag of DE powerder used to treat bed bugs and other pest. Here is the brand they had. Would this be OK to use to test my filter? If not I guess I'll just buy the 25lb bag.

http://www.tractorsupply.com/safer-r...asedPricingCmd

[PoolDoc]

Get the 25# bag. It will keep forever, if you have a place to store it.

The problem with the bug-grade of DE is that it may be too fine -- I don't know. But if you use it, and it blows back into the pool, we won't know if it's because it's really, really fine DE, or because your filter has problems.

[Zac851]

Alright. What about vacuuming it? Should I start doing that? I have a blue diamond robotic vacuum that I bought last year right after I bought the house and moved in towards the end of summer but that's the only vacuum I've got.

[PoolDoc]

You'd be better off with a manual vacuum. But, you sorta have to get a whole package. I looked on Amazon, and they have PoolMaster which I think is OK residential quality stuff. I'm not sure, because I've always used commercial grade products which are considerably more expensive. Anyhow:

Poolmaster 27514 Classic Full View Triangular Vinyl Liner Vacuum @ Amazon



Poolmaster 33430 Premium Vacuum Hose with Swivel Cuff, 30ft x 1-1/2in @ Amazon



Poolmaster 20172 18in Nylon Aluminum Back Pool Brush @ Amazon



Poolmaster 21191 Premier Aluminum Pool Leaf Skimmer, Black/Silver @ Amazon



Hydro Tools 8365 8- to 16-Foot Adjustable Fluted Premium Fluted Telescopic Pool Pole, White @ Amazon


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Needed mostly for spring and fall clean-up:
Poolmaster 21196 Premier Aluminum Pool Leaf Rake


You can look around locally. The stuff I've seen personally in Lowes, Walmart, etc. is junk. I'd guess pool stores have a higher grade of gear, but I haven't been in a pool store in 20 years. You can find higher grade stuff at some of the only retailers. Rainbow (now a Pentair brand) has some decent poles and an excellent (but expensive) commercial vac head. Nycon makes commercial grade skimmers, brushes, and leaf rakes.

[Zac851]

CC - 0
FC - 0
pH - 7.4
CYA - 0. Was able to easily see the black dot with the tube all the way full.

I also tested the filter and It looked like a VERY small amount may have came out. It was hard to see though. It rained the past 2 days and really hard yesterday and the water is very very cloudy now.

Where do from here?? Id like to have it cleared up by Saturday or Sunday since it's been so hot here if possible but if not, oh well.

Thanks for all your help.

[Watermom]

The only way to get this pool cleared up is to consistently keep chlorine in it. You may also have some filter issues since you think some of the DE came out. I'll let Ben address those. But, even if you have to have filter work done, you'll still need to keep chlorine in there or else you aren't going to have a cloudy pool, you'll have a green pool!

You can either use bleach for your chlorine and then add some CYA separately. If you go this route, you'll need about 5 or 6 lbs. of CYA, often called stabilizer or conditioner. The ingredient will be cyanuric or isocyanuric acid.

OR you can chlorinate with dichlor for awhile which will add chlorine and CYA at the same time. You can buy it at a good price at Sam's --- PoolBrand. Some other places are selling blends which have unwanted stuff in there, so be careful what you buy. (Once your CYA level gets to 40-50, you'll want to switch to an unstabilized form of chlorine, though.)

No guarantees about Saturday or Sunday though..........

[Zac851]

What about those large 3" chlorine tablets I have? Can I use those? If so can I just fill my chlorinator with the tablets and then turn the flow control knob all the open? I also have a little floating one as well

I have a costco membership so maybe they carry something similar to SAMs

[Zac851]

Alright, I tested again this evening with my taylor kit. I guess my walmart kit was pretty spot on this morning. I just don't understand how the pH went from 7.3 to 8.0 by using 1 four pound box of borax? I checked twice to make sure I wasn't making some sort of mistake (pretty impossible to do that anyway). I'm really glad that I decided to only add that first box to see how it would affect it before adding the second box.

So awhile ago the numbers were:

FC - 1
CC - 0.5
pH - 8.0
Alk - 100
CYA - Didn't even bother wasting a test.

I understand that most here recommend to run high pH levels regardless of what pools stores and Pool SOP's say but with it being at 8.0 should I adjust it down slightly to like 7.8? I also vacuumed to waste this evening and kind of took my time doing it which caused approximately 5 inches of water loss. It took right at 2 hours to get it back to proper levels so perhaps that might have knocked the pH down a tad by me adding all that water back??

While at Leslies pool supply I picked up 8 pounds of conditioner (says 99% cyanuric acid and 1% other ingredients) per WaterMoms instructions I was going to add 5-6lbs of it and see where that takes the CYA to. Actually I think I might go with 4 lbs starting out to be safe. From reading here, just add straight into the skimmer and then don't backwash for 4 of 5 days so it will dissolve in the filter. Then do a CYA test and see where the pool is at. It is almost completely clear now but the deep end is still slightly hazy but still viewable on the bottom..

Anyone see any problems with this plan?? Also I will still add a one or two bottles of 1.42 gallon bleach every evening.

And that brings me to my last question…I actually have a lot more of these expensive tricolor 3" tablets than I thought. I understand they increase CYA so If I get my CYA to the proper level range, its probably best that I do not use these anymore right? If thats the case I've got a co-worker who swears by them and says its just about the only chemical he uses and says he goes through at least four 50lb buckets a year. I told him that I may sell him the rest of my bucket for a cheap price which is actually a 50lb bucket thats over 3/4 full. I thought it was a 25lb bucket and maybe I should keep 10 or so as a last resort like if I go vacation? I technically wouldn't need them anymore right? I wouldn't mind maybe making half of my money back on them.