Hello summer, hello algae, hello pool forum!

[BigDave]

Several posters here this year have been unable to clear cloudy pools after killing all the algae and getting rid of CC. Oversized pumps with undersized sand filters is common to many of these pools. Ben has surmised that these pumps may be pushing dead algae through the sand filter and back to the pool, grinding the dead algae into particles too small to filter. "Let it settle and vacuum to waste" is an attempt to clear these minute particles.

Would you please give us (I can't find them if you have) pump and motor model number and filter make and model.

In the meantime, keep your FC above 15 (18 is fine) and brush the pool regularly until you lose less than 1ppm FC overnight and have no (or nearly no) CC.

You can move the filter to recirc if you want. Did you get the guage? Has your pressure been rising?

BBB for clearing a mess:
Bleach - Bleach - Bleach, Brush - Brush - Brush

note: Aylad and I were posting at the same time (I'm slower) but we're saying the same thing.

[True Blue]

I did get a new gauge. The pressure has only risen a little bit. I'm still not to the point of only losing 1 ppm FC overnight and my CC is usually 1 ppm, too.

I'll look for the model information that you requested.

[True Blue]

I am running low on POP. I'm not sure where you can buy that!

To amuse myself, and because I am a science teacher, I'm running two experiments. In the first, I have a clear glass of pool water and am simply letting it sit to see if anything settles out of it. In the second experiment, I have another glass of clear pool water, but have added a tsp of dichlor.

I don't know if I'll see anything happen and if it does will mean anything, but I've just got to do something besides add bleach, test, brush and vaccuum.

[True Blue]

Things MIGHT be turning my way. My CC level is staying at 0.5 ppm or zero. My chlorine loss overnight is declining (only about 4 ppm last night). Then, today when I backwashed the filter, I noticed quite a bit of white...something being pushed out. Is that what the dead algae would look like?

Also, from my experiments last night, the glass with the dichlor added is almost clear, while the one that I didn't put anything in looks the same cloudy/hazy as before.

[True Blue]

Things MIGHT be turning my way. My CC level is staying at 0.5 ppm or zero. My chlorine loss overnight is declining (only about 4 ppm last night). Then, today when I backwashed the filter, I noticed quite a bit of white...something being pushed out. Is that what the dead algae would look like?

Also, from my experiments last night, the glass with the dichlor added is almost clear, while the one that I didn't put anything in looks the same cloudy/hazy as before.

Can anyone answer the bold?

[Watermom]

Yes. What you are filtering out is most likely dead algae.

[True Blue]

Well, it has been almost a month since I opened my pool and started this thread. After who knows how many gallons of chlorine and how many $100s spent on running a pump 24/7, with a cloudy pool still losing more than 1ppm of Cl each night, I decided to go a different route than the "stay the course! Bleach and filtering will clear it up!" and added a floc. Results: a pool that we could see the bottom of, a precipitate that was vacuumed to waste and happy friends and family that can swim.

My thoughts:
1) I wasted too much money and time in "staying the course."
2) People need to be referred to doing the bucket test with floc much more quickly (or at all...)
3) BBB is not the answer to all pool chemistry problems.