ARGHHHHH!!! Cloudy water

[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!

[geneskaf]

Hi. My pool is vinyl. When I got home tonight I did a water sample with the drops (just a small testing unit for cl and ph. The water color was brighter yellow than the 5 on the side for chlorine and the pH was 7.2. So, chlorine stayed in there today. I checked the powdered shock and it is calcium hypo so I will return that tomorrow. I am going to run to the store and get some more bleach for tonight. Luckily, I live in Washington state and actually its raining right now!

I'll also take in a water sample to the pool supply store but I won't buy a thing (unless they have the water sample kit I want!).

Will report my chemical results tomorrow.

Thanks to everyone,
Kathy

[duraleigh]

Kathy,

That's great. Everyone here will be looking for them and you'll get lots of help.

[geneskaf]

Geez, now I can't find where I posted this the first time. If you find duplicates...forgive me. I'm not only pool illiterate but also message posting illiterate...LOL

Sorry guys, but I started a new thread because I'm not sure what to do next and I guess I need to do something!! The test below was done at about 3:30 pm PDT from a sample I took this morning at 7:30 am and right now its 5:40 pmPDT. I just tested the chlorine and ph and this is the result (I added chlorine AFTER the testing this morning) The chlorine is a 5 and the pH is at 7.2 and the pool is still cloudy.
???????????????????
Hi,

I finally made it to the pool store after a very hectic day at work. These are the results:
Tot chlorine 7.3
Free Chlorine 6.1
Alkalinity 133
Tot hardness 243
Optimizer 30
No Maganese
Saturation Idx .02
No Copper
No Iron
They did not test the CYA or TDS

They recommended this:
3 bags of Oxysheen
2 oz of Polysheen blue (clarifyer?)

She also tested my phosphates and said they were high (1000) and recommended I buy Sear Klear Phosphate Remover and use 2 oze.

I didn't buy anything. Thought I would wait for some directions from you experts on here. The water is still cloudy. When I checked the chlorine this morning, my husband checked with the stick tester and it said low. When I checked with the drop kit it said over 5. Even though it read high, I still put a gallon of chlorine it because it just hasn't been staying there all day, especially today because its sunny out. Soooo....what next????

Waiting with bated breath....
Kathy

[geneskaf]

CYA results:

42

I also tested the following (with a drop kit at home)

Chlorine - 15 (this is using the shot method - one shot pool water, 2 shots distilled water)

Alkalinity 250

ph 7.0 - 7.2 (the color is in between these two)

Hardness - 0 (the sample never turned red in the first place so it says there is no hardness).

And.......the water is STILL cloudy. I've been putting in bleach daily and honestly, I've about had it with this pool. I'm starting to feel like I'll never see the bottom again.!!!!!!

Any thoughts? What next??

HELP!!!!!!!!!!!

Kathy (in overcast Washington - thank goodness!!!!!)