Unable to remove cloudy pool water in Intex pool

[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.

[Watermom]

Cords --- The CYA test only requires 7 oz. of the reagent plus 7 oz. of pool water. If you buy the K-2006C version of the kit, you get larger bottles of reagents --- 2 oz. vs.0.75 oz at a better price. But, you are correct, that buying some extra R-0013 is a good idea.

[stma]

Luckily, it's only 7 ML of each

[PoolDoc]

@stma: I've purchased stuff at eBay, successfully. But I've also had some unsuccessful purchases, and found the return process to be very difficult and not supported by eBay.

So, I'd prefer to stick to the Amazon links I've got. The same seller is present on Amazon, at a few dollars more than you mentioned. But Amazon will get involved if there's a return problem.

I had to think about this for awhile, because we do get a commission on Amazon sales, and I needed to think a bit, to make sure I wasn't pulling the link for purely selfish reasons. But I've never allowed links to even slightly dodgy sources - and eBay is sort of a 'Wild wild west' market -- some great deals, but at the cost of some high risk.

Of course, if someone wants to search for the K2006, they can find sellers on eBay. That's fine with me, but it's on them, not on us.

[RockTaco]

Thanks for all the help guys.
Bought some CYA and put 2lbs in gradually since 8am. When levels are up ill go to bleach.
Kickin myself for wasted money on stuff I didn't need.. but, better late than never. I'll keep you posted on progress!

Sam

[PoolDoc]

Bought some CYA and put 2lbs in gradually since 8am. When levels are up ill go to bleach.

Do NOT wait; you'll end up with a green pool that will cost far more than the bleach you are trying to save. Add a gallon of plain household bleach per 10,000 gallons of pool water each evening. Purchase and use a cheap local OTO/phenol red kit (yellow/red drops). Skip bleach doses if the chlorine level is dark yellow.

Kickin myself for wasted money on stuff I didn't need.

Don't. It's not like the pool industry promotes this site, or the 2 - 3 others that promote the BBB method!

[RockTaco]

Success!! I can see the bottom of the pool! Still has a light haze (no sparkle yet) but TONS better than it was.

New, quality filter did wonders along with 2.5 lbs of CYA, 3/4 gal of bleach =
5.0 chlorine, 7.2 ph, 170 alk, 50 cya.

Chlorine is up and AK still high, but LOOKS a whole lot better and should be much easier to manage.

Thanks for all the help!

[Watermom]

You are welcome! Great to hear it is shaping up!

[Cords]

Cords --- The CYA test only requires 7 oz. of the reagent plus 7 oz. of pool water. If you buy the K-2006C version of the kit, you get larger bottles of reagents --- 2 oz. vs.0.75 oz at a better price. But, you are correct, that buying some extra R-0013 is a good idea.

Oops! I did the test this morning and realized my goof when I posted that. And my CYA was less than 30, no wonder I was going through so much bleach lately!