Cloudy Water

[JoeGabrielMA]

20,000 gallon above ground pool. Started conversion from Bacquacil pool about 4 weeks ago. Still haven't gotten the water crystal clear yet. Feel like we're close:

FCL - 6.97
TCL - 7.52
PH - 7.4
Alk - 145
CH - 171
CYA - 37

Using Chlorine Tabs and Calcium Hypochlorite Chlorine as my Shock. Running filter 24/7 and brushing sides and floor daily.

Any advice to get clear?

[aylad]

Get the chlorine up higher. I don't know what testing system you're using, but I'm thinking it may be strips with a computerized reader? If so, we don't put a whole lot of faith in the readings. Do you have anybody near you that uses drop-based testing? Better yet, does your WalMart carry the hth 6-way drop kit?

Have you added any CYA other than what's in the tabs? If you truly do have 40-ish ppm of CYA in the pool, then your chlorine needs to be up around 15 ppm to break down the Baq. If you keep the chlorine as low as it is right now, it will take a VERY long time to finish the conversion.

Also, I would stop using the cal-hypo at this point and switch to plain, unscented bleach for your chlorine source. With a vinyl pool you don't have to worry about having a minimum amount of calcium in the pool, but you DO have to be concerned with having too much. Too much calcium can create milky water conditions that you really don't want.

[JoeGabrielMA]

Am using a 6-way Taylor testing kit with drops. Yes, have added a Stabilizer and Conditioner which contains cyarunic acid and sodium bicarbonate. How much unscented bleach should I add to bring up the chlorine levels? Thanks for the quick response!

[PoolDoc]

Each gallon of plain 6% household bleach will add about 3 ppm FC; a 96oz jug will add ~2 ppm.

Remember, you'll need to replace your filter sand when the conversion is complete.