Cloudy Water

[melissathepoolgirl]

This is my first time on this site and I thank everyone in advance for any help. I have a fiberglass in ground pool (5th season) and can't clear up milky/cloudy water. We changed the sand in the filter last week. It looked like it was starting to clear up but now this morning it is worse then ever. This has been going on for 3 weeks now? Hardness was low since this year's opening. Dropped from 50 (already low) to 30 this past week. We added Hardness Plus this past Wednesday and it is now up over 200. Chlorine dropped from a 5 to 0 in a 24 hour period after the Hardness Plus was added. It has been in the 90º the last week.

Had water tested yesterday, pool was slightly cloudy but looking much better added soda ash as PH was 7.0 and this morning the pool is back to milky white and cloudy.

Any help would be much appreciated.

[aylad]

Hi Melissa,

Your milky water problem is more than likely caused by the addition of calcium to the water, but it also can be caused by a bunch of other stuff. If you could please list a set of current test results, taken with a drop-based kit, (no strips!!) we can better advise you. We also need to know what chemicals exactly you're using in the water. In addition, please take a few seconds to fill out this chart with your pool's info, so we don't waste a lot of your time and posts going back-and-forth trying to get the info we need to make accurate decisions...
Pool Chart Entry Form
Pool Chart Results

Welcome to the forum!

[melissathepoolgirl]

Hi Janet,

Thanks for your reply. I completed the pool information sheet.

I did not know where to send my numbers? So here they are: Tested last night by Leslie's Pool Store: chlorine total and free 0, ph 7.0, Total Alkalinity 100, Calcium Hardness 230, TDS 900, Phosphates 500. At this point last night the water appeared to be clearing up. We added 2 lbs Soda ash last night and this am it was back to milky water. We added 1 package of powder power shock this morning. I just tested with OTO kit and chlorine is 5 and ph is 7.5.

[BigDave]

Power Powder is Calcium Hypochlorite and will add to your calcium hardness. Aylad suspects that calcium is part of your trouble so it's probably best to use Sodium Hypochlorite (aka bleach, liquid chlorine) to chlorinate the pool. Since you've experienced FC of 0 lately your cloud may also be an algae bloom starting.

Do you know your CYA level? You're going to need a good testkit, we recommend the Taylor K-2006 (accept no substitutes!). It can only be found online - if you order through the Amazon links on the How to Get the Right Testkits for your Pool the Pool Forum will get a few scheckels for sending you there. While waiting for your K-2006 (you have ordered it, right?), you can see if your local wall mart carries the HTH 6-way drops kit (check availability). If they do, pick one up, it is compatible with the Taylor K-2006 and will let you measure CYA.

[Watermom]

If your Walmart does not have the HTH 6-Way kit (not test strips though), at least pick up a cheap OTO/Phenol Red kit (yellow and red drops) to use while you wait on the good Taylor K-2006 kit to arrive.

[PoolDoc]

Using the soda ash is likely causing the problem; stop it. Use borax instead (20 Mule Team borax from the detergent section)

+ We routinely recommend the use of 20 Mule Team borax INSTEAD of soda ash, for several reasons. It's cheaper than pH plus (soda ash labeled for pools) but more importantly, it does not raise your alkalinity much, and does not combine with calcium to cloud your pool. The way to add is it is to pour it into your skimmer SLOWLY, while the pump is running. (How slowly? Slowly enough that it doesn't make a big pile in the bottom.)

Borax also can help control algae, but you have to add a LOT. It ends up costing around $50 per 10,000 gallons of pool water, for borax and muriatic acid, if you buy your borax at Walmart and your muriatic acid at Lowes. Soda ash is now frequently available at Walmart in the detergent section, at prices MUCH cheaper than the pool prices for the same chemical. If you ALSO need to raise your alkalinity, you can buy that instead. But if your alkalintiy is high enough, and you only need to raise your pH, it's better to use borax:

20 Mule Team Borax @ Walmart
Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda @ Walmart
Muriatic acid @ Lowes (do not get the 'safer' muriatic acid; do read the "Using Muriatic Acid" sticky)