Cloudy water not clearing

[Maurie]

Thanks! This is what I needed. I've had this greenish water for so long I had a feeling there was more going on than algae. I haven't been adding anything other than bleach for at least five days maybe a week. I know the chlorine has been over 5 since friday. I will get the unicel cartridges ASAP and I already have some muriatic acid. No more calc-hypo. It's all gone and I won't buy anymore. Do I need to buy dichlor now? Is all the acid going to affect the CYA?

More background: last winter we didn't take care of the pool. By march/spring break, we had a pond. According to pool store we added a bag of yellow stuff and eight bags of shock to treat algae. It didn't touch it. We drained it down to a few inches, put calc-hypo shock in over night, scrubbed with bleach, then refilled. It was still brown, but not as bad. Our fill water is clear, but in the few inches we had ALOT of either algae or what looked liked oak blossoms that mixed in. We added more calc-hypo shock and algaecide and the color turned lighter overnight. We continued to see improvements with the color but never with the cloudiness. That's what led me here.

I will do the bucket test as soon as I get everything and report back.

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I thought of a question. When I lower the ph to just below7.0, how do I add more muriatic acid to lower TA? Won't the ph go down even more? The pool store had us go down this road and told us to use ph plus after the acid circulated a few hours. Thanks.

(Edit by moderator: two posts in the queue where combined.)

[Watermom]

When you add the acid, it will drop your pH and alk. Then, you aim your return jets upward to make as much splashing as you can (aeration) which will cause the pH to rise. Once it does, you repeat the cycle. Read the following:
Lowering Alkalinity Step-by-Step

[PoolDoc]

When I lower the ph to just below7.0, how do I add more muriatic acid to lower TA? Won't the ph go down even more? The pool store had us go down this road and told us to use ph plus after the acid circulated a few hours. Thanks.

Yeah. That's the pool industry standard advice . . . and your results are typical. Just lower the pH, and KEEP it there. Your TA will drop over time.

[Maurie]

Here are the results from the fill water test.

Chlorine - 0
Ph - about 7.0 (I think - the color was a really pale pink)
TA - 310-320
TH - 210

I will start the metal bucket test tomorrow. I am keeping the chlorine at shock level for another day or so to be sure. Then I will just keep above 5. I will also start the acid tomorrow.

[PoolDoc]

You don't need to do the bucket test, to know you need to start adding acid.

But there are currently 5 bucket tests: evaporation, chlorine demand, metals, lime softening, and flocculation -- which one were you planning? It sounds like the metals bucket test on your FILL water may be appropriate.

[Maurie]

In a previous post, you gave a list of suggestions to help with green water which may be due to TA rather than algae. The metals bucket test was one of those suggestions.

[PoolDoc]

Yeah, I checked back, and saw that. But I wanted to make sure that you knew that there are MULTIPLE bucket tests, and knew which one you were doing, and why.

[Maurie]

This is a quote of your suggestions to clear some tough cloudy and green water.

If you want to clean up the pool FAST, draining and refilling *might* be your best option. But, before you pursue that, you need to test your fill water (don't test CYA!) and you need to do a metals bucket test on the fill water.

It sounds like you've had your chlorine consistently high over the past few days. If this is true, it's not impossible, but it's unlikely that you still have algae. I have seen greenish water that seemed to be related to alkalinity.

If you don't want to drain the pool, I'd recommend all these things:

1. STOP adding stuff -- no more goop. It's VERY likely that you've added enough to make it harder to clear the pool.
2. Keep the chlorine above 5.0 100% of the time.
3. Get the Unicel cartridges recommended above.
4. Read the muriatic acid guide in my signature, buy several gallons from Lowes, and lower your pH to just below 7.0 . . . and KEEP IT THERE, till your TA is less than 100 ppm. (May take several weeks!)
5. Stop using cal hypo.
6. Let me say again: no MORE goop, for AT LEAST 2 weeks. Use bleach, borax, muriatic acid and NOTHING ELSE! (Well, use dichlor if your CYA goes below 20 ppm.)
7. Filter as much as you can.

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Here were the results of my fill water test.

Chlorine - 0
Ph - about 7.0 (I think - the color was a really pale pink)
TA - 310-320
TH - 210
************************************************** *****
I have done the bucket test (not quite finished) on the fill water and the pool water. Here is what I've got.

Fill water started out clear. Once adding bleach it took on a yellow tint but still clear. After 15 min, it was still clear but a bit more yellow. I added the borax. After 24 hr, the water was still yellowish and clear with sediment on the bottom in the center. After 24 more hr, it was still the same. Tested with OTO and it was very splotchy orange...very strange. The next three days are up tomorrow.

The pool water started out whitish and very cloudy. Once adding bleach it stayed the same. After 15 min, it was still the same. I added the borax. After 24 hr, the cloudy water was gone!!! It had sediment on the bottom too, but not as much as the fill water did. It looked a slightly filmy on the surface. After 24 more hr, it was still the same. Tested with OTO and the water was splotchy orange, but not quite as bad as the fill water. The next three days are up tomorrow.

I have not put anything in the pool except chlorine bleach and muriatic acid.

I have kept the chlorine above 5.0, but it's been very hard. It has been raining ALOT in the Houston area. So much so that it's been hard to get outside and take care of the pool. It's pretty green again too. Algae again??? Today, I got the chlorine high again with the OTO in an orangish color. The skimmer is floating (not hooked up) with the high water. I took the bucket out and it looked pretty yellow. I also noticed the small separation in the liner above the seams at the top have little bits of water and lots of algae sitting in the area. What do I do with that?

I got the Unicel cartridges. I've been using them a few days now. Absolutely no better than the INTEX yet.

I've been adding the acid keeping the ph around 7 or just below and the TA has come down to 170 the last time I checked (was over 240).

I've been filtering most of the day, but my husband unplugged it some when it rained.

I still don't know what to do. I see no change or possible improvements. I know the rain has made things harder. I'm afraid the algae came back due to the green color and I don't know how to get rid of the algae in those tiny crevices. Which could they reinfect the pool?

So any ideas? This is getting really ridiculous.

[Maurie]

I will report the final results of the bucket test later today, but did anyone ave any ideas for help? The chlorine is really high and the pool is really green and doesn't seem to be changing.

[Watermom]

How consistently have you been keeping the chlorine in the orange range? You state in your post above that it has been difficult to tend to the pool with all the rain you have been having. Killing algae requires consistent high chlorine. You cannot let it yo-yo up and down or else you will never get rid of it. Have you brushed the pool daily while the chlorine level was in the orange range? Are you testing it every day, every other day or ???? How often are you adding bleach?

If it were my pool, I'd be testing it at least three times a day, and each time adding enough bleach to get it back into the orange range. You are wanting your chlorine to stay at around 15-18. You can use the dilution method I linked for you back in post #9. Sustaining high chlorine levels is the key to killing algae.