pool newbie with cloudy water

[PoolDoc]

5 ppm is *NOT* too high to swim; that's bogus stuff that traces back to standards that were established in the '60's, on a purely 'pulled that one out of the air' basis. During the *same* time when "above 3 ppm" was set as "too high to swim", there was NO upper limit on chlorine in drinking water. Some utilities routinely shipped drinking water at 10+ ppm, so there would still be chlorine in the water when it reached the end of their old and corroded water lines!

However, if you still have no CYA, that chlorine will drop by over 1/2 in an hour of full sun!

Read the Best Guess page, linked in my signature, to get a better understanding of this.

[wackster]

Got it, Ben. Thanks for the info. I'm waiting for your direction on next steps with the cloudy pool. HEDP was ordered and vac & skimmer are on the way. I have muruatic acid and polyquat on hand.

[PoolDoc]

If you would, go ahead and complete the pool chart:

Pool Chart Entry Form

I know you did the metal bucket test; but have you done the lime softening test? If we do that, and every settles out nicely, that process will ALSO remove all the metals remaining in the water.

[wackster]

Chart complete, lime test underway.

[wackster]

Vac and skimmer arrived today. I'll be installing the skimmer and vacuuming tomorrow. HEDP will be here Monday. This is a pic of the lime test @ 24 hrs. There's an orange film on the surface and around the rim, but the water below is quote clear. At the bottom I see a very small amount of white residue from the washing soda. What do you think, Pool Doc?

[wackster]

Got the HEDP today. I vacuumed yesterday and unfortunately recirculated the crap at the bottom. The water was clear until then. I have a plan to vac to waste next time, but worry that the fill water will pump the bad stuff back in and I'll face the same predicament...

[Charlie_R]

Here's an idea for your fill water -- As suggested by PoolDoc in a sticky-- get a cheap blow-up kiddy splash pool and pretreat your well water before putting it into your main pool.