Cloudy water is it my filter?

[Skymarc]

Hi all, new to the forum.
I have a 20 x 40 vinyl liner pool, about 30000 gal.
TC 4
FC 4
PH 7.2
TA 74
Cal 72
Copper 0.9
CYA 0

I had lots of leaves and dirt in the spring and had to use a lot of chlorine.

Now that the pool is very clean I'm still dumping 4-5 gal a day of 12% liquid chlorine and by the next night its down to under 2 ppm or 0. I just added a box of Borax to raise PH. Water is cloudy, cant see the bottom of the pool but its clean with no slim in the bottom as I was in it today.

Seems that my sand filter is not doing the job. I have a 25" Ranger filter with a 2 hp pump on 1.5 " piping. Pump is running 24 hrs a day. I changed my sand last year to a finer sand that a pool guy around here recommends.

Not sure it works as when I was cleaning with my kreepy krawly in filter mod it would come back brown from the returns. I bought a Dolphin robot cleaner and it cleaned out the pool really clean.
I don't see any algae but why I'm still using so much chlorine? Wondering if the cloudy water comes from the filter not filtering?

[Watermom]

You are probably using so much chlorine because you have no CYA in the water or are still fighting something organic in the pool. Without CYA, it is nearly impossible to keep chlorine in the pool. You can either add some CYA directly as a separate product or use some dichlor which adds chlorine and CYA at the same time. Most pools do well with a CYA level around 50. (If you buy some separately to add, it might be called stabilizer or conditioner. Ingredients should say cyanuric or isocyanuric acid.)

If brown water is shooting through your returns, you have one of three things going on or a combination of them:
1. Your pump is too powerful and is simply forcing debris through the sand bed back into the pool. (Common problem.)
2. You do not have 'pool sand' in your filter.
3. Your filter is malfunctioning. You can test this by throwing a handful of DE in your skimmer and watch the return. If you see white powder shooting out, you know you have a filter problem.

What kit are you using to test with? Can you give us some current water testing results taken with a drops-based kit? What all have you added to the pool -- meaning ingredients and not product names.

[Skymarc]

These numbers are from the pool store lab test, they are good. I take ph and chlorine test only with a small drop tester. I have a k2006 on order.

I only added liquid chlorine 12% (im on my 2nd 55 gals drum), some Borox to push ph up also some copper sulphate 2 weeks ago.

Not sure on the sand filter, I had the same problem 2 years ago, dealer said the sand was too coarse, he sold me a finer sand and its not better. I stop the pump last night and the pool was clearer this morning I was starting to see the bottom. I could see some dust in the bottom so I put in the Dolphin robot and it made it cloudy with the cleaning. I restarted the pump this morning and its cloudy again.

I will get some stabilizer and will try to find some DE sand to do your test.

My sand filter is a 30" size with sand about 10" -12" down from the top, is this too low? Pump is a 1.5 hp Pentair.

I will probably take the sand filter appart to see if I find anything wrong. What do you think of Zeobrite sand media?

[Watermom]

Is your sand "pool sand." It makes a difference. Try the DE test. (By the way, DE is not sand. You should be able to find it at your pool store.)

Check your manual for how much sand your filter needs. It may be that you are low and need to top it off. The consensus around here seems to be that most people don't think Zeobrite is worth it.

Glad you ordered a K2006. Unfortunately, most pool store testing isn't accurate.

[Skymarc]

Im pretty sure its pool sand as it was sold by a pool shop. I will try to find some DE.
Just got my K2006 test kit. Will test tomorrow.

[Skymarc]

I added some Stabilizer and Borox. I did my first test with my k2006. PH is still low, could the Stabilizer put the PH down?
Water is still cloudy, need to find the problem with the filter.

PH 7.0
FC 7.5
CC 0.5
TA 80
CA 200
CYA 50

[Watermom]

Stabilizer doesn't really affect pH too much. Go ahead and add some more Borax to try and bump it up.

[PoolDoc]

. . . membership updated.

DE filter test info => http://pool9.net/de-test/

[Skymarc]

Just want to update.

I took my sand filter apart, found out that the installer 7 years ago had use a 1.1/4 pipe standout on a 2" filter head. Spyders were ok. No wonder it wouldn't filter. Glued in an adapter and pipe to 2" and reinstall my sand and filter head. Big job on a 30" filter.

Within 4 days the pool as clear up perfectly.

Added 2 box of borax and 1 box of sod bicarb.
Added 3 x 2 kgs of stabilizer and now the pool is clear and uses very little chlorine.

Here are my numbers, from the pool shop test but mine are basically the same.
FC 3
TC 3
PH 7.5
TA 140
CH 220
CYA 70
Borate 30
Copper 0.5

I took a sample of water to my pool shop and they gave me a perfect water balance certificate !
Thanks for the help.

Now I got a few stains on the liner, whats the best product to clean does?

[CarlD]

Fire your pool store.

With a CYA level of 70, your FC needs to be a MINIMUM of 5ppm. If you have an SWCG (saltwater chlorine generator), it needs to be a MINIMUM of 3.5ppm.

So FC of 3 with CYA of 70 is definitely NOT perfect and at risk of algae growth. Other numbers look OK for a vinyl pool.

But...if you find your pH isn't stable, you'll want to lower your TA. If, however, pH is stable, you are fine--don't fix what isn't broken.