Sabres,

I've said this several times lately, but I'm not sure if I've said it in this thread: contrary to much swimming pool literature, pH + alkalinity does NOT equal cloudiness. Even if you had high pH + high alkalinity + high calcium . . . it STILL wouldn't equal cloudiness UNLESS you had a sudden precipitating event, such as:

1. A sudden rise in pH, especially from a carbonate, such as bicarb or soda ash, OR
2. A sudden addition of calcium, from calcium chloride or calcium hypochlorite

A clear pool with high pH + high alkalinity + high calcium does not suddenly get cloudy! To get calcium carbonate based cloudiness, you have to change something SUDDENLY. If you change it GRADUALLY, the calcium tends to come out on the filter OR settle to the bottom of the pool.

You had algae, and apparent ammonia from CYA degradation -- that's a more than sufficient explanation for cloudiness.

Also, I'm discovering that
(a) most people are cleaning their cartridges incorrectly, AND
(b) the majority of replacement cartridges sold are substandard.

You haven't posted your exact pump and filter info, but we know that MOST pumps are oversized and MOST filters are undersized. So -- without knowing for sure -- it's likely that your problem is related to those factors, and NOT to your pH and alkalinity.

BUT . . . if you want to check for yourself, do a WHITE bucket test; calcium carbonate cloud WILL settle, if you give it time:
(1) take a CLEAN white 5 gallon bucket;
(2) add 4 gallons of pool water;
(3) add 1/8 cup of bleach;
(4) DON'T add bicarb, since we're not testing for heavy metals
(5) cover and wait 24 hours -- see if there's any sediment. Algae sediment will be brown to khaki; calcium sediment will be white to light tan.