Unable to remove cloudy pool water in Intex pool

[Watermom]

Hi, Sam, and welcome to the Pool Forum.

No more clarifier or algaecide. Sometimes those makes things worse.

Please list the ingredients in the granules and in the shock and swim. Also, look at the label on the tabs and see if it lists copper.

Is this a newly filled pool this year?

Come back with answers to these questions. Also, go to our sister website www.poolsolutions.com. On the left hand side of the page, click on "guides" and read the guide about lowering alk. Does your pool have a return jet eyeball that you can turn upwards to create as much splashing as possible to aerate the pH upwards?

Do yourself a favor and order the Taylor K-2006 or 2006C kit we recommend. It will make everything much easier. (Link in my signature below.)

[RockTaco]

Watermom,

Granules:
..calcium hypochlorite 47.6%
..other. 52.4
-------------------------------
Min avail chlorine. 45%

Shock:
Calcium hypochlorite. 52%
Other. 48%
-------------------------------
Min avail chlorine. 49%

Tabs do not contain copper.

Yes, its a newly filled pool.

Started in April, all was good until May when I started keeping track of measurements.. prior to then I used the algaecide 1 time at start up, then shocked & stabilizer tab weekly. Granules as needed during the week. No clarifier.
Then the pool started to get cloudy late April as alkalinity & ph rose.

Hope this helps and I hope the potential culprit isn't hidden in those 'other' ingredients..

Thanks
Sam

[Watermom]

If it were my pool, I would stick with bleach and forget all the calhypo. If you want, you can use the tabs; they will add CYA over time. However, until your CYA gets to around 40 or so, you are going to have some trouble keeping a chlorine reading in your pool.

A couple of options for you to consider:

1) Use bleach for your source of chlorine and just add some CYA separately to get you to about 40 or 50. Actually, some of our members in your part of the country find that their pool holds chlorine better if they have a CYA reading of 60-80 which also allows them to add bleach less frequently. But, if you do run a high CYA pool, you have to run higher than normal chlorine levels. See the Best Guess Chlorine Chart in my signature for more about this connection between the two.

2) Use Dichlor which adds CYA as well as chlorine. (If you decide to do this, buy it from Sam's as other places have lots of other unwanted stuff blended into their dichlor.) Dichlor is a powder and can be used for daily chlorination until you get the CYA where you want it. At that time, you switch to bleach to keep your CYA from getting too high. (Since it is a powder, it can also be used for shocking a pool when needed.)

3) Use the trichlor tabs and let the CYA build up over time. Again, when you get the CYA level where you want it, switch to bleach.

Since you are having cloudy water issues, I would not use calhypo.

Let me encourage you once again to order the kit I mentioned above. You won't regret it. It will be the best thing you can do to make pool care easy!

Let us know which way you want to go and then someone can advise you from there.

(Keep the pump running 24/7. I assume since it is an Intex pool, it has a cartridge?)

[RockTaco]

Watermom,

Seems like option 2 would be best. Get the CYA up with dichlor and switch to bleach.

Am I to assume everything else will fall into place (AK level, cloudiness, ph) ? Or are there steps seperate from the CYA process to manage those needs?
Thanks for the help!

Sam

PS: yes, the pump has a cartridge. I backwash only when flow is reduced or heavy algae load. Replace monthly, give or take.

[Watermom]

High pH + high Alk + adding calhypo is not a good combination as you have found out!

The Intex OEM filter cartridges are low quality. Better cartridges will not only last longer, but will filter out the residual cloudiness better. Read this thread:

Cleaning-your-Cartridge-Filter-wiithout-Damaging-It!

Replacement Unicel cartridges:

Unicel C-4607 Replacement Filter Cartridge (Easy Set Size A or C) @ Amazon
Unicel C-5315 Replacement Filter Cartridge for 15 Square Foot Intex B Filter @ Amazon

[PoolDoc]

membership upgraded; post re-located to proper forum section.

Hi Sam;

It looks like you've gotten the advice you need, but just to summarize:

1. Stop using cal hypo, for now. (Stop buying diluted cal hypo FOREVER!)

2. Switch to dichlor, then bleach.

3. Upgrade your filter cartridges ASAP, using product from either Filbur or Unicel ONLY.

4. Worry about any remaining problems AFTER you've done 1 - 3

Good luck!

[Cords]

I've been in that cloudy situation before and also have very high alkalinity. I had a perfectly clear pool until I decided to use up some old shock pouches that contained calhypo. The pool turned cloudy instantly and it took weeks to filter it out. My cheap A filter couldn't capture the white stuff, but a little clarifier helped group it into bigger globs (I agree with posts above- use a better filter instead of clarifier but I was a noobie). I had to clean/spray the white junk out of the filter 3 times a day and it looked like milk running off the filter.

NO MORE shock pouches for me. Don't use floaters either, most of the tabs include forms of stabilizer and after 2 months you have built up WAY too much and you go green. Actually all I do now is start up with a gallon of bleach, the next day put in the initial CYA stabilizer to get up around 50 (24oz was a good place to start for me), then bleach as needed all summer to keep CL in the 3-6 range. Every 3-4 weeks I add 1/2 a jug of muriatic acid (paint section of hardware store) to help with the high alkalinity and aim the jet to the surface for a day as mentioned above. The alkalinity remains too high all summer but this knocks it down a bit and helps with the PH that keeps creeping up. Halfway through summer I check and adjust the CYA again. It is this simple!

Get a test kit as recommended on this site. Also buy an extra 60ml bottle of R-0013 cyanuric acid reagent. The kit comes with 22ml but the CYA test requires 14ml so you only can test once (eyes rolling). I test chlorine every other day, and PH once a week. It only takes 5 minutes but staying on top of it is key to not going green.