Cloudy Pool

[aylad]

I have also shut the filter off hoping things would settle to the bottom but they haven't, not to mention I can't even see the bottom, so I would even know for sure, plus like I said, it's been over a week now of filtering. So the only thing to do on the calcium is to do a partial drain? is this true? I'm going to hold off a couple more days and see if it is just algae, but also wanted to ask on what to do if it was a calcium cloud. and i thought read where that was draining water out? Again, thanks for your help in advance, and thanks for your patience in answering questions.

If you turn the filter off and leave it overnight, a good bit of it should settle to the bottom, whether it's calcium or dead algae, and you can vaccuum that to waste. There are flocculants you can get at the pool store that are supposed to bind the small particles together to make bigger particles, and
sink them to the bottom to make it easier to vaccuum, but I try to stay away from any chemicals that just aren't absolutely necessary when patience will do the trick. If it is calcium, then partial drain and refill is the only way to reduce your calcium level, and stop using cal-hypo to chlorinate with. You could also lower your pH and see if that helps to reduce the clouding, but do not lower it below 7.0. Hgih pH and alk levels tend to help the calcium precipitate if your hardness is high.



Janet

[dkdog68]

Okay, I will try lowering the ph a little, and vacuuming after ther filter has been off over night. see if that seems to help. I will keep you posted. Oh and I will never use the hypo-cal again, I was using it as a jump start and learned my lesson!! Bleach from here on out!!

[dkdog68]

Hi Janet, just wanted to let you know how things are going. I ended up draining about half the pool...although it was clearer, it was still very cloudy and still could see more than half way down on a 4 foot deep pool. I then decided to go with the Flocculant, didn't have much of a choice really. I now have an almost crystal clear pool. Still have a little more work to do, but I am headed in the right direction. Thanks again for all your help!!

[aylad]

Hi Janet, just wanted to let you know how things are going. I ended up draining about half the pool...although it was clearer, it was still very cloudy and still could see more than half way down on a 4 foot deep pool. I then decided to go with the Flocculant, didn't have much of a choice really. I now have an almost crystal clear pool. Still have a little more work to do, but I am headed in the right direction. Thanks again for all your help!!

Good job....now put that cal hypo away, and buy some bleach!!

Janet

[Watermom]

Glad that your pool is clearing up. This probably isn't going to help you any, but maybe for somebody else who is reading this thread. I think part of your problem also may have been that, like many AG pools, your pump is way oversized. A pump that is too big forces water too quickly through the filter and doesn't give it time to filter things out. This seems to be a common problem. I have a 24 ft AG and had to replace my pump last summer. I originally had a 3/4 hp pump but I let Al (Poconos) recommend what to get as a replacement since he has a lot more knowledge about pumps than I do. He recommended a 1/2 hp as being adequate for my pool and it is working well.