ARGHHHHH!!! Cloudy water

[geneskaf]

We're at our wits end trying to get this silly pool swimmable! History is:
The pool was not used last year AND it wasn't covered. It's a 28x16 above ground pool with a sand filter. It was shocked and algicide was used. There have been several trips to the pool store and a considerable amount of money later....we replaced the sand (it had been about 8 years) and that really did help. We have vacuumed out the debris from the bottom of the pool (with the new leaf vacuum!) and we have been brushing the pool bottom and stirring up little particles of what I presume is left over dead algae. The pump is running 24/7. We've spent about $400 plus on chemicals and it is still cloudy. It's blue but cloudy with visibility of about 6 inches. I have not gone back to the pool store because everytime I do its $100 and nothing changes. Last night we bought bags of shock and some bleach. Last night it was shocked with two bags and 2 gallons of bleach. This morning the reading is:

HARDNESS 400
FREE CHLORINE IN BETWEEN THE READINGS OF 3/5 AND 5/10
PH 7.2
ALKALINITY 180
CYA 0-30

We have been unable to keep the chlorine level to register in the pool. Are we not putting enough in at a time or is our chemistry messing it up? We are at our wits end at what to do to clear up the water. We are vacuuming it every night and stirring it up in the morning to filter very small particles.

Help!!!!!

Thanks,
Kathy

[mbar]

You will have to get more specific about your cya levels. If you have 0, then your chlorine will get eaten by the sunlight. If you have 30, You will have to shock up to 15ppms and keep it there till your chlorine holds overnight. It sounds like you are fighting left over algae. If you are unable to hold chlorine in your pool with a cya of 30, then there is something that is using up the chlorine.

here is the "best guess chart"

Stabilizer . . . . . . Min. FC . . . . Max FC . . . 'Shock' FC
=> 0 ppm . . . . . . . 1 ppm . . . . . 3 ppm . . . . 10 ppm
=> 10 - 20 ppm . . . . 2 ppm . . . . . 5 ppm . . . . 12 ppm
=> 30 - 50 ppm . . . . 3 ppm . . . . . 6 ppm . . . . 15 ppm
=> 60 - 90 ppm . . . . 5 ppm . . . . . 10 ppm . . .. 20 ppm
=> 100 - 200 ppm . . . 8 ppm . . . . . 15 ppm . . .. 25 ppm



Your alkalinity and calcium are too high. In a vinyl pool you don't really need calcium. High calcium along with high alkalinity can make a pool cloudy - You may want to drain down 1/3, and refill.

[JohnT]

We have been unable to keep the chlorine level to register in the pool. Are we not putting enough in at a time or is our chemistry messing it up? We are at our wits end at what to do to clear up the water. We are vacuuming it every night and stirring it up in the morning to filter very small particles.

Help!!!!!

Thanks,
Kathy

When you have a very dirty or algae infested pool, it will consume chlorine like crazy. What you probably need to do is test and add more often. 3 times a day is acceptable, but more is better. Test and add what's needed. I'd steer clear of the powdered shock, especially with your 400 hardness, and just use bleach or liquid shock. Get your chlorine to 15 and add as needed to keep it there for a few days. You need a good test kit to monitor this.

[dstarr62]

Kathy, I have been going through the exact same situation you have, AG pool, uncovered all winter, $$$ on chemicals and algecides, left with blue cloudy pool with no visibility. Nothing worked until I got my chlorine up to shock level. 72 hours later crystal clear pool! Since Saturday evening when I first started following all the information in this forum, I have put nothing but bleach in my pool to achieve these results.

Follow the advice of the experts on this forum, use the tools available ("best guess" chart and bleach calc program) and get that chlorine level up to shock level and keep it there, you'll see results!

Don

P.S. First thing I did was get the 5 way drops kit at Wal-Mart to make sure my readings were as accurate as possible until I can get a really good kit. Worth every penny!

[geneskaf]

Thanks everybody. I'm feeling more hopeful just having someone to talk to about this. We put 2 gallons of bleach in this morning and when I left the house, the chlorine was above 10. The pH has been running anywhere between 7-2 and 7.6. Should I lower it with some of the pH Decreaser the pool supply company gouged me for? When we get home this evening we will put more chlorine in. I will stick with the liquid bleach for now and not use the powdered shock I bought (again....). We'll also vacuum the bottom and sides again, too. I plan on returning here regularly until I get this resolved. Oh, the chemical tester I use is the strips and sometimes its difficult to tell exactly what a reading/color is. Sometimes it's inbetween. I imagine I should follow Don's advice and get the 5-way drop kit at WalMart tonight on the way home.
Thanks, any and all input is appreciated!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Kathy

[JohnT]

The pH has been running anywhere between 7-2 and 7.6. Should I lower it with some of the pH Decreaser the pool supply company gouged me for?

If it's 7.2 you definitely don't want to lower it, and 7.6 is right on the upper edge of "you still don't want to lower it". Any higher than 7.6 and you would want to start nudging it down.

[geneskaf]

ok, I'll leave the ph alone, then. Thanks.

Kathy

[duraleigh]

Is this pool vinyl, fibreglas, or gunite?

You're doing quite a bit of guesswork with the strips. I would strongly suggest a drops based test kit.

As John already suggested....skip the powdered shock (or any Cal hypo).

I'm almost certain your issue is not maintaining your Cl level high enough, long enough but that's a little bit of a guess because of the test strips.

See if that pool store will give you complete test results for:
pH
FC
CC
Alk
CYA

That'll help us all to help you get your water clear....and it WILL clear, stay with it!

[aylad]

You definitely need to get a drop-based kit, and if your WalMart carries the $15 5-way, that would be a good one to start with. The strips are very unreliable, and are not worth much at all when trying to clear up a problem. As Marie pointed out, CYA of 0 is WAY different than CYA 30. If the bags of shock you bought were cal hypo, then see if you can return them--with your hardness that high you definitely do NOT want to put any more calcium in your pool. In fact, with your Ca and TA both that high, I'm not sure that some of your cloudy problem isn't precipitating calcium.

So..the best thing you can do is get a drop-based kit and run tests for Cl, pH, TA, Ca, and CYA and post them here. Alternatively, you could get a pool store to test for them (IF they used drop-based testing) and get their printout to post here. Just don't buy anything they want to sell you, unless it's a drop-based test kit!

We'll be able to help you go from there.

Janet

[geneskaf]

All the test drop kits I've seen go as high as 5. 5 what? I'm told to get my chlorine to 15. How do I know its 15 if the kit only goes to 5? I've spent $650 on my pool (above ground 28x16 vinyl) and its still cloudy. I'm getting so frustrated. What is ppm?

KATHY