blue cloudy, soapy water

[Watermom]

It won't hurt to replace the sand, but it probably isn't necessary. I'm on my 10th year with the same sand and I know there are others with even longer time frames with their sand. You should be able to find DE locally. I think Janet even said that she found it in her local Wal-Mart. Certainly a pool store will have it and maybe Lowe's or Home Depot? Buy the smallest container you can which will most likely be 10 lbs. Good luck. Keep us posted how it is going.

[pooldufus]

Just an update on my pool. The water is slowly clearing. I still can't see the bottom drain but it won't be long before I can. I have tried to seal any leaks but think the pump basket lid o-ring is bad. At some point the pump filtered enough of the fine particles out and the SWG can now run without producing the foam/air bubbles. If I had thought of it earlier I would have ran the recirc and SWG to see if it foamed the same way it did on filter and SWG. I suspect it wouldn't and that the culprit was a chemical or something in the filter media that has since been eliminated. Anyway, the system seems to be working correctly. The water is clearing and swimming is imminent. I appreciate all the advice and encouragement from each of you. This forum is a great help because, as always, I am just a pool dufus .

[Watermom]

I appreciate all the advice and encouragement from each of you. This forum is a great help because, as always, I am just a pool dufus .

Glad to hear that things are improving! This forum IS a great help because of all of the collective knowledge from all the members. By the way -- we are ALL "pool dufuses*" at times, no matter how smart we think we are!

*Somehow, I don't think the word "dufuses" is in the dictionary. Whatdya think??

[pooldufus]

I believe dufuses or doofuses may be right. I couldn't find any DE so I gave up and changed the sand. The sand level was low and I removed all doubt about the sand being the problem. I don't think the sand was the problem but it didn't hurt. I will eventually find some DE and use it to remove the fine particles that I suspect is causing the cloudiness. I used the down time to glue suspected leaking joints. I also got the chance to spin the filter around so that I can access the drain without having to climb over the pumps. I got the new TF100 test kit and tested this morning. Between the heavy rains and inoperation, levels are a little out of whack. Pool is still cloudy but not foaming.
Levels are: FC=1 CC=1 PH=7.8 TA=110 CYA=40 TH=60 SALT=4000

At this point, my CC is a little high and my FC is low. I need to lower the CC and TA (which means lowering the PH). Can I do this all at once or do I just need to shock first? I plan to raise the CYA once I get TC right.

[Watermom]

Actually, your TA is ok at 110. Go ahead and shock. Try and test a couple or three times a day and each time raise it back up to shock level, which for a pool with cya of 40 would be 15 ppm. When you CC is less than 0.5 (ideally 0) and your chlorine level isn't decreasing more than 1 ppm overnight, and the water is clear, then you can let the cl drift back down. But, with a cya of 40, you need to maintain the cl between 3 and 6 all the time.

[pooldufus]

SUCCESS!!!!!!!! The water finally cleared. As all of you said, the drop based test kit is really the only way to go. If you can't get accurate test data, you can't correct the problem. Once again, I appreciate all your help, advice, and encouragement.

the pool dufus

[aylad]

Yay!! So glad to hear your work paid off, and thanks for the update!! Happy Swimming!!!!!

Janet