Frustrated

[PoolDoc]

Hi All; Staclear;

One of the questions I've been asked hundreds of times over the years is, "How fast will this clear up?". (or turn blue, or what not). I was asked this on Friday PM, a week ago, by the general manager of the area's largest country club as we stood looking at his clear, but green, pool. His pool was opening the next morning, and he'd already gotten a nasty phone call from an anonymous member.

I didn't give him the answer he wanted. Instead, I gave him the answer that I've learned to give after 20 years of experience:

"I don't know!"*

The problem is that there are a bazillion reasons why pools behave the way they do. I've got a page somewhere, that I need to relocate and make available listing 100 real reasons why your pool may be cloudy. And, it's NOT a complete list.

Often, as the GM did, people asking this question have a deadline. Their pool is opening; they've got company coming; they've promised their wife or their kids . . . and they need to get it done NOW!

My job is to give them the answer they need:

"Sucks about the deadline, but your pool is not going to clean up as quickly as you want. What's more, trying to hurry almost always -- I can't think of an exception -- makes things worse."

StaClear, I'm sorry you are having problems. But the fact is your pool is almost certainly going to take much longer to clear than you hope.

You need to know that, and accept it. Why?

Because frantically trying to get it done NOW, will almost certainly make things worse. In fact, I'm guessing that that's already happened.

Most flocs can make things MUCH worse, if you don't use them EXACTLY right. Even when folks read and follow the long directions perfectly (and often they don't) sometimes the directions aren't long enough or complicated enough to cover the real difficulties of using those products. Why? Because if they were, nobody would buy them.

Flocs are products I used in the early part of my pool career. Once I had more knowledge and experience, I quit using them. Occasionally, they can help a little, but it's not worth the risk.

BTW, the stuff on the surface is just a characteristic of the finely ground HTH cal hypo and some flavors of pool water. I've seen it many times before. It's not a long term problem; it goes away after awhile; it can be avoided; but the way I've avoided it is too complicated to explain here.

Staclear, I made a list of everything you mentioned adding to the pool. Here's what I came up with:

• ?? quarts Hydro-Floc
• 6 gallons of bleach
• ?? lbs of HTH cal hypo
• 2 lbs of Fiber Clear

Also, several things are not clear to me about the history of the pool this spring?

• Did you refill it?
• Was it covered and slimy, and now you are trying to clear it up?
• Did something else happen?

Be SURE to include any special additives you used. Many of them -- Metal OUT, Phos OUT, floccing chemicals, among others -- can create cloudy water that is nearly impossible to clear. A large overdose of Metal OUT, in particular, can create a calcium phosphonate suspension that can't be removed with sand filtration. (I did that once, about 18 years ago!)

There are several reasons a pool can be green. The country club pool mentioned above was green from iron in the fill water. So, you need to give the mods and others a timeline on your pool this spring.

Meanwhile, stop using ANYTHING except bleach! Your pool situation is already too complicated to figure out from a distance, and we need to simplify things.

Also, take Aylad's advice and go get a small sack of DE powder. But, what I have in mind is a little different than what I think she did. With your pump on high, dump all the DE in through a skimmer. Then, go watch your pool return, where the water re-enters the pool fastest. If you see a cloudy stream, you've got sand or mechanical problems with your filter that will have to be fixed.

So to sum up:

1. Give up on getting it clear soon.
2. Add only bleach for now.
3. Test your filter with DE
4. Post the results and a pool timeline here.
5. List ALL specialty chemicals used.

Oh, and one more: don't go back to the pool store that's selling you all this stuff. Get your DE at Lowes or Home Depot or some other place that won't sell you something that makes things worse!

PoolDoc

* PS. The country club pool was clear and blue Saturday AM -- fortunately, there wasn't too much iron in the water!