Blue Cloudy Water

[pooljunky]

Hello Watermom, I have an in ground, 26k gallon vinyl liner pool, sand filter, city water. I have a drops based kit that I got from Walmart that test for chlorine, ph, and bromide. My water is blue and cloudy. I cannot see the bottom of the shallow or deep end. I can see the second step on the shallow end. The water color actually looks neat but it is not clear. The only thing I have been adding for the last month is regular bleach from Walmart and 20 mule borax from Walmart. I will try to post numbers this weekend if not I will post them Monday morning.

[CarlD]

If your water is blue and cloudy, not green and cloudy, then it's probably NOT algae. Does the cloud seem kinda white to you?

I really think we need to see your Calcium Hardness and Total Alkalinity levels.

What you can do is get the HTH 6-Way drop kit from WalMart Watermom mentioned and test those two things as well. BTW, the Bromine "Test" is the same as the Chlorine test. You just read it differently if you use Bromine instead of Chlorine to sanitize your pool. Otherwise ignore the bromine markings.

The test for CH and T/A in the HTH kit is basically the same as in the K-2006.

You see, I suspect you have very, very hard water and it's precipitated out.

[pooljunky]

Hello, thank you for replying. I will get one of the kits mentioned, run a test post the numbers. Yeah I don't think I have an algae problem. The water does not seem white at all. It is just light blue but cloudy.

[Watermom]

Have you had an algae bloom recently. Sometimes when you have had algae that has been killed already, it can make the water look a cloudy blue before it filters out.

[pooljunky]

Ok my numbers are chlorine 1.5 and ph 7.8. What do I need to do?

[Watermom]

Any idea what your CYA level is? Shock level is based on CYA readings. Did your Walmart not have a 6-way drops-based kit? It has a CYA test in it. Are you going to order a Taylor K2006 kit? Having more info from that kit will make it easier to get your pool cleared up.

[pooljunky]

I don't even know what cya is. My walmart only has the strip and the chlorine and ph drops kits. I guess I will take a sample in to the pool store then post the numbers from there.