Cloudy.. impatient

[chuck9997]

OK.. but its getting hard to be patient. I have been looking at blueish white water for 9 days.. been shocking for 13 days. If it weren't for the wife.. I would be hiring a bulldozer to take care of this. LOL

by the way.. I also put a cup or so of DE in the sand filter last night.. it didn't spit out the return.. (i am thinking that's encouraging.. maybe my filter is ok).. but it also didn't clear the water overnight. I added a little more this morning.. then it was too much. so i backwashed and flushed all the DE out. Had to go to work and didn't have time to add any more DE.

[BigDave]

You can see the return?

It's always hard to be patient. Let's kill the algae then clean up the water.

[chuck9997]

yes.. I can see the return.. its only a few inches from the top. I can see a couple steps down into the pool.. probably 18-24 inches.

[Watermom]

I've asked Ben to pop onto this thread and see if he can think of anything else that might help.

[chuck9997]

tonight's readings:
FC 11ppm
CC .5ppm
PH 7.3-7.4
ALK 90
HARDNESS 100
CYA 30-40

I just now added 182 ounces of 6% bleach.. and put some more DE in the sand filter.

Day before yesterday I left the pump off over night to see if anything would settle to the bottom.. it didn't.

Still cloudy/blue.. looks inviting.. just not clear. Visibility is about 18inches down.

[BigDave]

Measure FC tonight (if you get this) now that your chlorine addition is mixed in. Measure again before the sun is on the pool. If you lose more than 1ppm FC and have less than 0.5ppm CC, maintain shock level for another day then let FC come down if there's no CC(less thsan 0.5) and less than 1 ppm FC loss overnight.

[chuck9997]

FC was 16 at 10pm. I will check in the morning.

[chuck9997]

this AM readings:

FC 15ppm
CC 0

water: still clean/cloudy. It seems to be a slight bit clearer.. but I'm not sure. It might be wishful thinking on my part. Anyway.. its isn't a big enough difference for anyone else to see.

[BigDave]

Awesome! Almost there ( with killing the algae ), keep shock level one more day, if you lose 1ppm FC or less tonight to tomorrow morning and still have 0.5ppm CC or less, you'll be done with the shock process and can let the FC drift back to normal for your CYA - between 3ppm and 6ppm FC for CYA 30-40. Don't let FC go below 3ppm.

Now, let's work on the cloudy. It's probably dead algae and has to be removed. Your filter seems to be having a hard time clearing it so let's talk about your filter / pump.

Please tell us model and size of your sand filter and model and size of your pump including model number / HP / SF of the motor.
Do you have a valve to throttle the output of the pump?
Has the pressure been rising?

[chuck9997]

thanks for all your help... I am just so frustrated with this.. I don't have the time (or mechanical ability) to start tearing apart the filter. I am not sure about the size and model of the filter. But I can tell you I have had the same sand filter for about 6 years (or more).. and this pump for at least 3 years.. and it has always worked. No problems eventually cleaning the water and having a clear pool. Not saying there isn't a problem now.. but I think I can rule out a pump and/or filter size problem.

It does have a valve on top for backwash, rinse, filter, etc.

Pressure has been rising and falling (with backwashes to clear too much DE)

This pool has been too easy for years.. and has spoiled me. Right now.. I hate it.