Cannot Get Rid of Cloudy Water

[AnnaK]

Yes. 126 oz of Walmart 6% bleach will raise your current FC to around 10 ppm. My preferred method of adding bleach is to pour it slowly in front of a return with the pump running. You can also pour it around the sides while you're walking around the pool but it can get splashy and wreck your clothes. Another way is to put it in a pitcher and broadcast across the water but this also has messiness potential. Or you can pour it in the skimmer with the pump running but ONLY if you DO NOT have an inline chlorinator filled with trichlor pucks. You DO NOT want trichlor pucks to come in contact with bleach. It'll go BOOM. Really. The safest way is to pour it in front of a return.

Since your pH is within acceptable range let's just leave it there until you get the Taylor kit. The alk at 80 is a good buffer and you're not adding trichlor or dichlor, aren't making the water more acidic, so we'll just get the FC up and the get water filtered.

[ajb8898]

Yikes, that sounds scary. I have them floating in there now. How long do I need to have them out before putting in the bleach? I definitely don't want anything booming.

[AnnaK]

None of us do

Just scoop them out with the leaf net and set them somewhere where you know you won't spill bleach on them. Given your CYA of 70 you don't really want to use them anyway because they keep adding more CYA and dropping the pH. Put them in an bucket with a lid. They'll keep.

Once they're out of the way you can go ahead and add the bleach.

[ajb8898]

OK I will do this tonight. Thank you so much for the help so far.

[AnnaK]

Happy to help. Remember to look for filter socks as they'll really improve the filtration. I suspect we'll have a clear pool for your Memorial Day activities. If you're out and about shopping you might pick up a box of 20 Mule Team Borax. We may want that to raise the pH in a couple of days. It should be in the laundry aisle of your grocery store or at Walmart. If you can't find any, see if they have Washing Soda. Washing Soda will also raise the TA (alk) but we could live with a small increase.

[ajb8898]

OK, kids got in to swim this evening, cloudy water and all. They said the bottom felt clean. I then added 2 gallons of bleach and then brushed the bottom to be sure it was all stirred up. Walmart was out of Borax so I got the Washing Soda instead. I also got Baking Soda just in case. They also did not have any filter socks but I will get some.

I'll report more in the morning.

[AnnaK]

Kids!

Did you add 2 gallons? Or 2 jugs? A gallon is 128 oz and we were shooting for 126 oz. You'll have a goodly amount of chlorine to kill whatever might need killing. If you have the chance to take another water sample to the pool store for testing let's see what the pH is. Some pH tests fail when the FC is over 10 ppm. I'm not entirely comfortable recommending how much washing soda to add until we have a reliable pH number.