ARGHHHHH!!! Cloudy water

[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

[Watermom]

We really need to know the cya reading. In the meantime, test it at least 2x a day, and 3x a day is better if you can do it. Each time, add enough bleach to bring your cl level back up to 15. The key to clearing a pool is to sustain the high cl reading. If you let it yo-yo up and down, you'll never clear it. You really need a test kit that measures higher than 5 like the one Ben sells at the sister site to this forum www.poolsolutions.com which is what most of us use. But for now, you can dilute your sample and make your kit go higher than 5. Take one part pool water and one part distilled water, mix them together, test as usual and multiply the result by 2. If you need to go higher than this, take one part pool water and two parts distilled, multiply result by 3, etc. It does lose some accuracy with each dilution but it is better than nothing.

(After we get your cya reading, we may need to adjust what you need to keep your chlorine at but for now, go with 15.)

[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!!!!!)

[geneskaf]

Hi everyone,

Any takers out there??? I just don't know what to do to this pool and I need some help. I've been working on it nearly a month (as my husband has reminded me a LOT and we still can't see the bottom.

Any of you experts have some direction for me?

Kathy