Cloudy.. impatient

[BigDave]

Don't hate it, it's just having a little tantrum.

It seems that alot of people are having more trouble than usual this year and Ben has speculated that some oversize pump / undersize filter combinations are pushing the dead algea through the filter grinding it into bits too small to filter. These filter / pump combos may have been fine for years but this year appears to be exceptional.

Adding a little DE is a good idea, it should help capture smaller particles. The gotcha is: adding a layer of DE on top of the sand bed in a small sand filter turns it into an extremely small DE filter.

With the DE in, your filter pressure should be rising.

Do you have the ability to take the multiport valve off the filter to inpect the sand bed?

Have you considered CarlD's suggesstion of adding a dose of polyquat 60%? It can act as a clarifier as well as an algecide - possibly making the cloudy more filterable.

Watermom's comment below is right on. If you use polyquat, don't add it until we've confirmed that you lose 1ppm or less overnight and have 0.5ppm CC. Then keep a close eye on your FC and be sure to keep it above 3ppm as the polyquat will drop your FC.

You'll get there. We'll help.

[Watermom]

The Polyquat will make your chlorine level plummet, by the way.

Is it just me, or is this thread going in circles?

[BigDave]

Watermom,
Thanks for the reminder about polyquat and chlorine depletion - I knew I forgot something.
I don't think this thread is going in circles, chuck9997's pool lost 1ppm FC and had 0ppm CC for the first time last night. I've advised him to maintain shock level for one more day and test overnight FC loss and CC again tonight.
Since it seems he's finally got the algae licked, we've started talking about clearing the cloudy water.

[Watermom]

OK. Upon rereading the entire thing again, I guess it isn't going in circles as much as I thought. It just seemed to me that we told him the same things more than once. But, I guess not as much as I remembered. (Not a criticism towards you, Chuck, by the way.)

Sometimes I think we have threads where the same information and directions are given over and over but by different people. Repeating something that someone else has already said is just a waste of time, unproductive, and makes threads even longer than is necessary. Long threads are hard to manage because they require more and more time to wade through and that does nothing but make it harder to help.

[chuck9997]

I usually don't post much here.. sorry for the long thread. I will try and work this out myself and keep posts to a minimum. Thanks everyone for the info.

[Watermom]

Please don't think i was criticizing you. I was not. We are happy to help you! You know that. I guess Watermom needs to open mouth and insert foot. I seem to have offended you and I certainly didn't mean to.

[chuck9997]

Please don't think i was criticizing you. I was not. We are happy to help you! You know that. I guess Watermom needs to open mouth and insert foot. I seem to have offended you and I certainly didn't mean to.

I am cool.. no problem. I do tend too get to "chatty".

[Guppy]

I hope someone will notice this thread again,.. and comment I am a bit concerned... Its been SHOCK level.. and adding bleach day and night for 10 or 11 days. STILL CLOUDY.. any other suggestions?
getting tired of spending $10 a day for bleach.

tonight:
todays readings:
FC 15ppm
CC just a trace .5
PH 7.2
CYA 30-40
ALK 80

I have done this for about 5 years.. and always get clear water by day 3 or 4.. what is the problem?

Hi Chuck- It took me 3 weeks to get my pool clear. I've been following the teachings of this site for 6-7 years and last year was the first time I had issues with cloudy water over an extended period of time. It usually took me 3-4 days, like you, to get it clear by shocking and running the pump 24/7. I too believe the issue this year (at least for me) was the lack of winter (80 plus degrees in March), and a load of oak leaves in my pool (my neighbors monster oaks are coming down some night!). At any rate, you'll get there, just stay the course. Did I mention it took me THREE WEEKS to get my pool clear? Just hang in there.

[chuck9997]

Hi Chuck- It took me 3 weeks to get my pool clear. I've been following the teachings of this site for 6-7 years and last year was the first time I had issues with cloudy water over an extended period of time. It usually took me 3-4 days, like you, to get it clear by shocking and running the pump 24/7. I too believe the issue this year (at least for me) was the lack of winter (80 plus degrees in March), and a load of oak leaves in my pool (my neighbors monster oaks are coming down some night!). At any rate, you'll get there, just stay the course. Did I mention it took me THREE WEEKS to get my pool clear? Just hang in there.

very similar situation as myself.. thanks for responding. Do you mind telling me how it finally worked out? I am algae free and am letting the FC drift down a little. I have always been the kind of pool owner who ran the FC a little higher than needed.. probably just a mind game I play with myself. I am running the pump all the time.. have a skimmer sock in place and a little DE in the sand filter.

I really think the pool is clearing.. but its soooooo slow. did you use anything other than filtration? Any skimmer socks, DE, clarifiers?.. etc??

[BigDave]

I am algae free and am letting the FC drift down a little.

Great News!
Now filter filter filter.