cloudy water

[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

[PoolDoc]

You can put them in the skimmer. If you put them in the chlorinator, there's no telling when they'll dissolve. Those units have VERY erratic performance, in my experience. But, in the skimmer -- if you have a timer, make sure your pool is never off more than 8 hours at a time.

You can use the floating one, TOO.

BUT . . . add 2 boxes of borax SLOWLY through the skimmer. (You can even do it while the tabs are in the skimmer, but do NOT let ANY other chemicals EVER touch trichlor!!!!) Wait 4 hours; check the pH. Add 2 more if the pH is below 7.6

Costco? No. We checked. They went over to the dark side, and are selling AquaChem devil-blend chlorine.

But you can buy bleach there. Use bleach to GET YOUR CHLORINE UP. You can use the tabs, but USE BLEACH TO MAKE UP THE DIFFERENCE! You are not going to be clear by Saturday. And, if you don't keep your chlorine up, you won't be clear by Saturday week, either!.

Do you have an OTO kit? (If you don't get one). Do NOT let your pool get below dark yellow, even for a minute, while there's the slightest trace of green in your pool.

Post tomorrow with test readings, info on what kit you have and how you are testing, and pool appearance.

Also, check your chlorinator and make sure (A) it's empty and (B) it's turned on FULL. We can use the cal hypo you've got, soon, but we have to be 100% sure there's ZERO cal hypo in that feeder. (Best thing would be to remove it altogether!!)

[Zac851]

good info thanks, and sorry, I forgot to add that those last numbers I posted were done with my new taylor kit that UPS delivered today. I'll go pick up the Borax and stock up on bleach from costco tomorrow and start off by adding a couple bottles of bleach tomorrow afternoon and then test the following morning and drop some tabs in the floater and skimmer and see how good it looks by the weekend

[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.

[PoolDoc]

Hi Zac;

My Hi pH page on PoolSolutions, basically says that you shouldn't fight your pH more than you have to, and that higher pH levels aren't necessarily a disaster. It does not say, "Thou shalt run a high pH", but it seems sometimes to be taken that way. Right now, you should try to stay between 7 and 8.

Also, people tend to think all the test values are independent of each other. This too is not quite correct. Especially when you are cleaning up a swamp, all sort of things are going on that push the pH first one way, and then the other. If you had a chart with accurate test results and dosing actions listed every 4 hours, I might could tell you why your pH jumped, or maybe Chem_Geek could . . . but it's hardly worth it.

Here's a simple fact: even when you follow the BBB method -- and used the fewest and simplest chemicals possible -- a pool's chemistry is MUCH too complex to fully model or comprehend. An analytical model of nothing more than the relationship between chlorine and stabilizer requires 14 equations -- and there are many relationships in pools besides that one. If you are working on a graduate degree in analytical chemistry, then it might be worthwhile to try to establish a comprehensive model of what's happening in your pool.

But, if you just want to enjoy your pool -- or at least, not work yourself to death on it -- it would probably better just do respond to what's going on in your pool in the most direct and simplest method possible, and not worry too much about why it's happening that way.

Regarding your trichlor . . . given that you have a high pH and a low CYA, I think this would be a good opportunity to use some of those tablets optimally: they will both chlorinate your pool, add CYA, and lower the pH, and you need all three functions! Unlike the trichlor, the granular CYA will keep indefinitely..