cloudy blue water

[Watermom]

You can do some water changes if you want but that is a lot of wasted water since you have such a big pool. You certainly can do that if you want but depending on how high over 100 your CYA actually is, it may still be pretty high even if you drain half. Another option is to run higher than normal chlorine levels per the Best Guess Chlorine Chart in my signature below.

If you decide not to do any partial drains, go ahead and shock your pool. (Even if you do drain some, you still need to get some chlorine in their ASAP before your pool turns green). Again, per the Best Guess chart, your shock level is going to be 25ppm. You do not want to use any more dichlor which is what many powdered shock products have. Also, no calhypo since you are already having cloudy water issues.

Liquid chlorine is your best bet. You can use plain, unscented bleach but with a large volume pool, it might be more convenient to buy liquid pool store chlorine. Both that and bleach are sodium hypochlorite but the pool store will sell a higher concentration of it and thus it won't require as many bottles. However, if you do just want to use bleach, each gallon of 6% bleach is going to add about 2ppm of chlorine. Each gallon of 8.25% will add just under 3ppm. Use that as a reference to help you figure out how much to add to get to shock level. If you buy pool store liquid chlorine and will tell us what percentage of sodium hypochlorite it is, we can help you figure out doses of that to use.

Keep your pump running 24/7 and clean your filter whenever the pressure rises 8-10psi.

You are going to have to have kit that can measure high chlorine levels. Do yourself a favor and order a Taylor K-2006 or 2006C from the link in my signature.

Stay away from that pool store's advice. Pool stores typically have people having any and everything they think they can sell to them. Many times, as you have discovered, it just makes things worse.

[nexxceleb]

Thanks for the advice. I am not sure what kind of liner but I know its not the thickest. I was thinking about buying a clarifier. Will that work? I only have powder shock and chlorine tablets. If I use the tablets and not the shock since you said might make it worse, woukd that help it? My test for cya goes to 300 so it should really be at 100. If so, would the water changes still work?

[Watermom]

You don't want to use the tabs since it will cause your CYA to rise. What kind of test kit do you have that will test CYA up to 300? We have never seen that before.

[nexxceleb]

The strips

[Watermom]

Test strips give lousy readings especially on CYA levels. You cannot assume that your CYA is 100. You need to get a good kit.

[nexxceleb]

I got a liquid test but it didn't test for cya. Ill buy the other one and hopefully it comes in the mail soon. Thanks for your help. Ill post results when the test comes

[nexxceleb]

So, its been 9 days and still extremely cloudy. The robot has been picking up chemicals and now lots of sand. I decided to open the filter and see if there was any dissolved chemicals that the filter couldn't handle. When we opened it, it was filled with water with a white layer over the sand. Once we got past that, the sand looks exactly like what the robot is picking up. Is this normal? I would post pics but it doesnt allow me.