returned and pool completely cloudy

[poolhelp101]

added 4 each 3/4 gallons of bleach to pool when left on Wednesday. Returned today, no chlorine, ta 180, ph 7.5,cya 45 pool completely cloudy, cannot see the bottom anywhere. trying to hurry and beat the heavy rain that is starting...i just now added 6 each 3/4 gallons of bleach to the pool . please advise to help me clear this mess up! thanks.

[day1]

You should keep Cl 12-15 ppm to clear up any algae that's taking hold. I'd add at least a half bottle of clarifier. HTH brand from walmart or elsewhere and keep pump running. Once it clears, vacuum bottom to remove junk and you're set.

[CarlD]

Do not add clarifier unless nothing else works.

Keep your chlroine levels up to suggested levels, your pump running and have patience. You need to kill the algae (that's what you have) and then get the dead algae out. Clarifier doesn't do either.

There is no magic bullet for cleaning up pools that have an algae bloom.

[poolhelp101]

Thanks for the reply. i will keep adding the bleach and hope it works. i was having a problem before i left that it still stayed a little cloudy even when i kept shocking it. just couldn't clear it completely up.... do you think it's cause i didn't keep the levels where they needed to be?

[CarlD]

Yup.

That's why we keep harping on proper and frequent testing. I test my water several times a week, and do a full test each weekend:
Yesterday,
19,200 gallons vinyl
78 Deg F.
FC: 6.0ppm
CC: 0
TC: 6.0ppm
pH: 7.5
TA: 90ppm
CYA: 30ppm
CH: Only test 2 or 3 times a summer

Week before:
79 Deg (little sun, lots of rain)
FC: 1.5
CC: 0
TC: 1.5
pH: 7.6
TA: 90
CYA: 30
CH: 70

So, even though the water was clear and perfect, I KNOW that for CYA=30, I should have at a minimum, FC=3.0.

I also know that 1 gallon of regular bleach(5.25%) adds 5.25ppm of FC to 10,000 gallons. My pool is virtually the same as 20,000 gallons, so 2 1/8ppm would be added--that put my FC over 3.5--back in the good range, BEFORE a problem began.

Later in the week, after tons and tons of rain, the FC dropped again, so 2 gallons of bleach went in late in the week, resulting in Sunday's numbers, which are about as good as I can get.

[poolhelp101]

i do test my water everyday and add as i am suppose to, i think, i hope.. but when there is a problem and you have to shock and try to hold it at shock level until it clears...that's hard for me to do when i work. i can't test it 3 or 4 times a day and i guess that's where my problem is that i'm not holding it at shock level and i didn't get it completely clear before i left....i have learned that from you and the others on this forum...but i am trying and i do appreciate you bearing with me and my mistakes and in helping me get on the right track. thank you Carl D.

[aylad]

What is your Ca level? Have you been using cal-hypo shock? If you Ca is high, and TA are high, you may be having some precipitation problems.

I'm with CarlD, though--keep the bleach to it, skip the clarifier!
Janet

[poolhelp101]

not sure what my ca is. i added 4 each 3/4 gallons bleach on sunday night and 5 each 3/4 gallons bleach last night. this morning chlorine was 10-12 so i added one each 3/4 gallon. there is no change at all in the pool since i started this on sunday. please advise what else i need to do???

[SLR_65]

Thanks for the reply. i will keep adding the bleach and hope it works. i was having a problem before i left that it still stayed a little cloudy even when i kept shocking it. just couldn't clear it completely up.... do you think it's cause i didn't keep the levels where they needed to be?

Don't despare - the problem is that, as noted in your post above, you were already having a problem before you left -> the resulting inattention to the pool while you were gone just allowed your already existing problem to get worse. Once you have everything cleared up you'll be able to leave on short trips without coming home to pool problems.

[poolhelp101]

thanks. i hope i can get this cleared up. there's still no change in the pool this morning.