ARGHHHHH!!! Cloudy water

[geneskaf]

Oh, and how do you vacuum to waste?

Kathy

[mbar]

Please don't give up. Here is what I would do:
To vacuum to waste, look on your filter - on the top where you turn your filter on and off there should be a place for backwash - if you don't have one, then I don't know what kind of sand filter you have. Was your filter checked? If your filter is not working properly, then your water will never clear.

Second, I would cut a pair of old stockings or tights - cut the leg off. Put the foot in the skiimmer basket, wrap the top part (where yu cut) around the top of the basket and put it back in - this will collect the small particles that the filter is letting back in the water.

Third, turn your return eyballs up so that the water is bubbling on the top of the water, this will aerate your water and with a ph of 7. to 7.2 it will lower your alkalintiy while raising your ph. You must keep lowering the ph back down to 7 and repeat - your alkalinity is too high. Check out the sticky in the alkalinity section of the forum, this will explain the process to you.

Fourth, keep your chlorine at 15 to 20 constantly - this means checking it a couple of time a day. You must not let it yo yo up and down - you still have combined chlorine which means that you are not killing the algae completely - it is trying to come back, and will use up your chlorine fast.

Fifth, and most important, don't let it get you down - you have to have complete patience - I know you think that you have, but you keep wanting to try new things - you must keep the chlorine steady until it holds overnight. You must keep your filter running 24/7. You have to make sure that the filter is working properly - the stocking on the skimmer will help. Invest in a good test kit - so you will have control over your own pool. Read all you can on these forum boards, after a while they will start to make sense to you. It seems really confusing, but in the end it is simple - keep chlorine in your pool at all times so that you don't get an algae bloom - balance the water according to the type of pool you have. Have patience and don't throw lots of chemicals in the water - most times the chlorine just needs time to work, and the filter has to filter out the dead stuff. Keep your ph and alk balanced - they will buonce around a lot if you don't. In a vinyl pool you don't need calcium, unless you have a heater, then keep it low - around 125.

Hope this helps, good luck!

[let_her_flicker]

Kathy,

Don't throw the bag in just yet. Water should not wear out in 3 years.

So, by your response you have been vacuuming into the sand filter I assume.

To backwash you need a backwash hose that should be attached to the filter. It is rolled up and usually blue in color. If you don't have one, get one from your pool store. You will need a clamp too to hold it in place. Roll out the hose so it can discharge. Turn your filter off. Move handle clockwise to backwash. Turn filter back on. Water should flow through the blue hose. Check the little plastic bubble near the top of the filter housing on the side. It will look sandy in color. When it appears clear, stop filter. Move hand to rinse. Run on rinse for about 15 to 30 seconds. Stop filter again. Turn handle to filter. Start your filter again.

To vacuum to waste, roll out the blue hose. Remove all air from the vacuum hose by placing hose in front of the return. The place vacuum hose into skimmer throat (remove basket first). Turn filter off. Move handle to waste. Turn filter back on and water should come out the blue hose like backwashing (except at a slower rate). Vacuum bottom. Then follow procedures by turn filter off, removing hose, replacing basket, move handle to filter and turn on. No need to backwash yet.

Keep chlorine up. You do need to know how much CYA you have in the pool so you can know how much chlorine we need to get it at to kill all the things that are consuming your chlorine.

Make sure you try to keep PH around 7.5 Deal with the TA later. Even a PH as high as 7.8 doesn't inhibit the effectiveness of chlorine that much. Constantly aerating will cause the PH to rise.

The key is to do one thing at a time.

Hope this helps.

Harry

[geneskaf]

Harry,

My CYA is 42, taken with a drop test. So, I'm not supposed to have total chlorine? I'm guessing this by the statement that I still have total chlorine so there is something in my pool that is using up the chlorine???? I will try the backwash to waste tonight. Man, I am so sick of this pool. Ugh. I used to have a life.

Thanks to everyone for all your help so far!!!

Kathy

[day1]

If you don't have a waste hose, you can use any hose that will fit tightly over the waste port on your filter (usually the back side). I use a short hose
that came with my pool for the aquabug cleaner, it has 8 four ft. sections that fit together. That way I can see it coming out of the hose instead of watching the little plastic window. I just attach to waste port and backwash...DON'T FORGET to STOP PUMP and move lever to RINSE before turning back to filter! I forgot that once when I started all this pool stuff last summer and blew alot of dirt back into the pool!
Main thing is to keep Cl levels up....I personally think a high cl level is better than a low when shocking....and my "bleach line" shows it on the liner. I just add water above the line and I feel alot better. Point is, if you don't keep levels high, you'll never get rid of the algae. It's much easier to maintain a good range than mess with shocking and consequently having to add muratic acid to lower pH. You'll notice as you add chlorine for shocking, it will raise pH...which is better kept at about 7.4-7.6 I only add Chlorine, muratic acid or water to my pool. You can swim in pond water...just don't drink it! good luck!

[let_her_flicker]

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

I am sure you have seen the above chart. You should shoot for 15 ppm, but if it goes to 20 or even 25, it will most likely not damage or fade your liner because you have stabilizer in your pool.

You should have total chlorine. That is Free Chlorine + Combined Chlorine which equals Total chlorine. Don't worry, just post your chlorine number. My neighbor's pool was one cloudy, dirty mess. I tested their water with my kit and never had a positive combined chlorine reading. Took 1.5 weeks, but we got it clear. They just need to keep the vacuuming up.

Just make sure not to go over 20 ppm (parts per million) of chlorine in your pool. Try to keep it that high every day. Vacuum to waste every day. Don't forget to refill your pool as necessary to keep it around the middle of the skimmer entrance. You should see a difference in your pool in about a week. You must vacuum regularly (and not into the filter) and I would brush the walls every other day.

Keep up the good work. If you have any questions about backwashing, PM me and I will try to help. As stated earlier, any time you move the handle on your filter, Stop the pump first.

Harry

[mbar]

Total Chlorine is the free chlorine plus the combined chlorine. The first numbers you posted were :
Tot chlorine 7.3
Free Chlorine 6.1

Which leaves you with 1.2 combined chlorine, which means that you are fighting something in your water. Without a test that tests for combined chlorine it is ok to just bring your levels up to shock - I would try to bring it up to 20ppms. You can tell that you don't have anything fighting your chlorine when the chlorine holds overnight.

I told you to point your return eyes up so that you can aerate your water, because as long as your ph is low, you can lower your alkalinity this way, and your alk is way to high - it should be 80 to 125 in a vinyl liner pool and not higher than 180.

Just keep adding the chlorine - your pool will clear. Every time it goes down at all, add it back to 20ppms.

[let_her_flicker]

1. 6.1 and 7.3 are pool store readings. Can't trust them. You can only trust Ben's readings with his kit. If your chlorine drops at night, yes you are fighting something.

2. I would worry about the TA later. It is not causing your pool to be cloudy.

3. I will let mbar help you from now on as I don't want to confuse you with anymore recommendations as your pool is giving you enough trouble already.

Good Luck

[geneskaf]

ok, i've done as asked Scrubbing, vacuuming, adding chlorine daily. Added 2 gallons of chlorine yesterday and this morning its still at 15.

My chlorine is holding but my pH is now 6.8. And, the pool is still cloudy.

What should I do now? Today our warm weather is starting and I'm bummed, but not as much as my kids!

Kathy

[Bleach=Chlorine?]

Can you post a full set of #s? I don't want to recommend any changes without knowing where the TA (total alkalinity) is. Also, how is your filter pressure? Have you been backwashing the filter? Lastly, is the water coming out of your returns clear?