cloudy water

[mbar]

Did you put in any sequestering agent after the ascorbic acid? THe ascorbic acid only lifts the stain from the pool surface. You need sequestering agent to keep the lifted stain (metals) in soluble form - sequestered in solution which keeps them from redepositing on the pool surface. You never get rid of the metals - we are trying to see if there is an easy way, but so far we have no sure way. So what you are aiming for is to keep the metals from falling out of solution on the surface of the pool. High chlorine along with high ph levels will cause any metals in your water to fall out of solution, therefore they will deposit on the surface of whatever it can. Please read the sticky Pooldoc has posted at the top of this forum. Let me know if there is anything you don't understand. You should have put the algaecide in the water before you started the stain treatment. After you let the ascorbic acid recirculate in the pool for at least a 1/2 hour, and you see that all of the stains are gone, then you should have added enough sequestering agent as the bottle suggests for the amount of water in your pool. Until you have done that, the stain will just come back. Once all of the stain is gone and the sequestering agent is in, then you can start to bring up ph and then add chlorine in to get it to the bottom end of the best guess chart, and continue that process until your chlorine starts to hold in the pool, which means all of the ascorbic acid is removed. If you see stains start to come back you drop the ph back to 7.0 - 7,2 and add more sequestering agent. If you don't follow these steps you will be in a vicious cycle of stain battles.

[aylad]

Even though it's late in the process, I think it would be okay to go ahead and add the Polyquat and sequestering agent. The worst case scenario is that you may have to use the ascorbic acid again, but at least now you know what order to use them in. Just watch your chlorine, because as Marie said, the acid will use a lot of it up, as will the Polyquat. Be prepared to add low amounts of chlorine to make sure there is "some", but not "a lot" of chlorine in your pool.

I know balancing metals and chlorine is tricky, but mbar is the resident expert (besides Pooldoc) on metals around the forum, so if you'll stick with her advice, she'll get you on the right track

Janet

[Watermom]

mbar is the resident expert (besides Pooldoc) on metals around the forum, so if you'll stick with her advice, she'll get you on the right track

Absolutely right!

[mbar]

aaw shucks

[mrszaff]

I appreciate everyone's input, thank you!
I added the sequestering agent and polyquot around noon. at 8pm I added a gallon of bleach because my Cl was < 2 and will prob drop .
I just took a reading and FC 7 cc 1 ph 7.2 alk 70 cya 50 I will check it in the AM again.
The deep end is still cloudy, I cannot see drain. I have filter on 24/7.
When I checked the baskets to remove insects, I noticed there is a green film gathering and green bubbles. I do not notice this on the pools surface though. Is this a sign that the algacide is working?

[mbar]

I am not sure what was in your skimmer basket. What kind of algecde did you use? Some algaecides can cause some bubbles. I will be interested to see how much chlorine you lose overnight.

[mrszaff]

We are in the middle of a of a major thunderstorm right now, the pool is filled to capacity so I dont know how this affects the water reading. I lost all the Cl according to my test , FC abd CC are less than 1. I had to turn off the filter because of the overflow.
when it stops raining, and the lightening stops I will backwash and drain the pool back down to the right level. As far as I can tell it its still cloudy.
what next?

[mrszaff]

Here are my 5pm numbers I am totally obsessing and I apologize but Im on vavation today and I could cry about this pool...
FC 4.4
CC .2
PH 7.4 (might be 7.5 hard to tell)
Alk 80
cya 45 (lowest I can remember it being in years..) pool is still not clear
I can almost see the drain I think but its murky and tinted green in deep end, low end looks hazy
I also have a curalator bag in basket for the last 2 weeks. I dont know if its helping still hasnt turned a color
thanks, very frustrated....

[mrszaff]

Hi I had to leave for a few days, so I put 3 pucks in the chlorinator and left the filter running 24/7, the pool is still clear and beautiful but my numbers are off and I want to add the right amounts of everything
TC 3 CC 0
ALk 60 PH 7.0 cya 100
also, is arm aand hammer super washing soda of any use? we bought it by mistake instead of baking soda, but havent used it.
thanks!

[aylad]

The washing soda can be used to raise both pH and alk, so it would be okay to use it with your current numbers. Better get some chlorine in the pool, though, because running a pool with CYA of 100 and chlorine level of less than 8 ppm is an invitation to algae! If your chlorine has been low for more than a day or so, I would go ahead and shock the pool to make sure you don't have something already trying to bloom.

Janet