Cloudy water- Cartridge Filter

[johnnyf0614]

I noticed that you recommend to bring the CL level up to 10ppm and hold it there. Is 10ppm above the normal level? Do you recommend using bleach to bring this up? My current total Chlorine level is 4.4, would 1 gallon of bleach suffice? And how often should I add this? What is a typical level to keep the chlorine level at? Sorry for so many questions....

[Watermom]

Any time that you have algae or cloudy water, your best bet for solving it is to 'shock' your pool which basically means to superchlorinate. How high depends on your cya level. Since you have no cya at this point, your shock level is 10ppm. See the chart at the following link for more info about that.

http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?t=365

I'm getting your volume to be roughly 6300 gallons. In a pool this size, each quart of plain, unscented 6% bleach will raise your chlorine level by about 2.5 ppm. Try and test your water 3x a day if you can (at the very minimum 2x a day) and each time, add enough bleach to get your cl level back to 10 ppm. Also continue running the pump 24/7.

I would wait to add the cya. For now, just keep the cl up and hopefully within a day or two it will clear. Then you can add the cya.
Hope this helps.

EDIT: Please do not start a new thread about the same problem. Since you have two threads currently running about this, I am going to merge them together. Having them in separate places makes it hard to help.

[johnnyf0614]

Ok, so once I get the water clear, I add the chem's to increase the CYA. How much bleach would I use to maintain. Am I still shooting for 3ppm then?

[Watermom]

No. Your chlorine level will depend on how high your cya is. Take another look at the link I put in my last post above.

[johnnyf0614]

Ahhh, I see. What should be the ideal CYA that I'm looking for once the pool is clear? FYI, I added 3 Qts. of Ultra Bleach tonight to the pool. I'll check the level tomorrow morning, and most likely need to add more bleach I assume. I appreciate all your help. This website is the extremely helpful for new pool owners like me

[Watermom]

Most of us like anywhere between 30-50.

[johnnyf0614]

Ok, well I added the 3qt. bottle of bleech Ultra last night. This morning the pool looked no different than it has been. I tested the water again, and the Chlorine was around 4. I added another 3Qt. bottle of bleech ultra this morning. Should I be adding more bleech at this point? Unfortunately I live in NJ, and work in NYC, so I won't be able to check the water again till this evening.

[Watermom]

As we suggested above, with a cya of 0, you need to be shocking the pool up to 10ppm. What was your cl reading before you added the 3 quarts last night? Try testing in the morning before work, as soon as you get home from work and then as late as you can before going to bed and each time, add enough bleach to get back to 10ppm. I know it is difficult, but it is crucial to sustain the shock level. If you let it yo-yo up and down, you'll never clear the pool. In a pool your size, each quart of 6% bleach should add about 2.5 ppm of chlorine.

[johnnyf0614]

I'm picking up a drop test kit tonight as well as a stabilizer, and more bleach. I'll do a test, and report the results this evening for you. I'm not sure how much of the bleach held in the pool today. I added 3 Qts. this morning, however its been sunny and in the 80's all day. With no CYA, I assume the chlorine will dispurse fairly fast. I should still hold off on adding the CYA till I get the pool clear correct? Also, would you recommend a good vacuuming tonight, or do you think I should wait till I can see the bottom of the pool??? Thanks!!

[johnnyf0614]

Ok, I tested the Chlorine this evening and it was about 5ish. I added more Bleach this evening. I also gave the pool a vacuum. When I did that though, it seemed to stir a lot up. There were lots of white foamish stuff everywhere on the surface. Is that due to the bleach, or the previously entered chemicals from last week? When I was done vacuuming, the pool was just flowing the white foamish stuff straight through the filter and back into the pool. This is really frustrating. I just want to make sure that I continue to keep the Chlorine level up as much as possible. It still doesn't look any different from this past weekend unfortunately.