Cloudy Pool

[Old Eagle]

I have had a pool for more than 20 years and now I am faced with a cloudy pool that is being very slow to clear. I am using a sand filter and new sand did not clear the cloudy pool with any speed at all. I need to be clear in 4 days from now. I decided to change from sand to a zeolite media sold by Leslie Pool Supply. Still it is very cloudy but it has only been running with the zeolite for 16 hours and it is probably too early to judge whether it is clearing up. My operating back pressure is 6.5 psi and has yet to climb any noticeable amount. All help and suggestions will be appreciated.



18' X 36' In Ground pool, 18,000 gallons, skimmer and bottom drain, mixing valve before pump strainer, Hayward 3/4 HP pump, Hayward 250 pound sand filter, 3 returns.

[PoolDoc]

We've never seen any evidence that Zeolite was better than sand -- though it's much better than MISSING sand, if a filter has gotten low, because the pump is too big for the filter.

MOST of the causes of cloudy water are biological (algae or people 'goo') or chemical (calcium + carbonates, or other bad chemical mixtures) in origin. Once the cause is resolved, the speed of clean-up is determined by your filter.

But to even begin to help you, we'd have to have some idea of what your chemical situation is: what have you added, and what are the current chemical levels? A VERY common cause of problem is high stabilizer (CYA) when pool owners do not understand that their chlorine level has to be at least 10% of whatever their CYA level is. Pool stores don't help, because they refuse to sell the K2006 kit which allows accurate measurement of CYA levels, and FC levels over 5 ppm. (See http://pool9.net/tk/

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