Used old Calcium Hypo to raise Calcium, Pool is now "Milk"

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poolcat

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Mar 17, 2010
34
Mobile, Alabama
I had maybe 20 to 25 lbs. of calcium hypochlorite (old shock) which had been sitting around for years, which I put in the pool about 48 hours ago. (Actually thought at the time that it was calcium chloride which I had just stored in the bucket, but realized later it was the hypo.) I put it in the pool to raise calcium, which was low (40-60 I think). Now my calcium is 160 and rising, but my pH jumped from 7.2 to 8.0, and the pool now looks like radioactive milk!

I remember now someone telling me years ago that I could use the hypo to raise my calcium (I don't use hypo anymore, since I have the SWG). The stuff I will say really seemed to have lost ALL its chlorinating punch or properties, because there was no chlorine smell and the pool chlorine level did not change after it was introduced. It was very much hydrated & mushy from sitting around so long. Trying to decide best way to get the milkiness out. It has been there 2 days and doesn't seem to be going away. I have alum and am considering trying to floc it out. Also wondering if acid would help dissolve it. It certainly could use the downward pH adjustment now. I am thinking all the white suspended stuff is maybe unconverted lime or calcium carbonate (think limestone or agricultural lime), from the reading I have done.

Thoughts, please? (Please, go easy on me for the foolishness, and for even thinking of storing things in buckets labeled as something else!)
 
Lower pH and open a can of
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. That's pool owner patience.

Cloudy water after adding any source of Calcium is not uncommon. Just be patient.
 
Thanks, Richard. Wish there were a way to do it faster. Some kids were disappointed with me yesterday! Guess if I were to do the alum and it didn't work, I would have a mess on the bottom of the pool that I couldn't even see to vacuum. Running the pump 12 hrs/day right now. Wonder if it would be better to run 24 hrs, or just shut it off and see if the undissolved stuff settles out?
 
Run your pump 24/7.

Did you lower the pH as Richard320 suggested? I'd take it down to 7.0 and then manage it carefully.

This forum is not a fan of flocculants (alum). They can turn a bad situation much worse. They can also work but it seems they fail more than they are successful.
 
YippeeSkippy said:
Just for information sake here- Vinyl lined pools don't really *need* calcium. Save your money in the future for something more fun like new pool toys
:swim:
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Yeh, I wonder about that whole calcium in the vinyl pool thing. Pool store (naturally, they sell calcium) insists it will affect life of a vinyl liner dramatically. Tell me average life of liner is 7 years without calcium, 20 years with it. They claim soft water pulls minerals from the vinyl. Mine is going into its 10th season with no leaks, and I do use calcium. Of course I can't know if my success is due to the calcium or not. Also just now replacing the salt cell, after 9+ years. I'm told that was a very good life, and I have run it 12 months/yr, 6 hrs/day, @ 100% setting. I do have to say that the flappers in our toilet tanks last no time here in the zero hardness water that we have, unless I buy a special extra durability version. Don't know if that situation is related.
 
duraleigh said:
Run your pump 24/7.

Did you lower the pH as Richard320 suggested? I'd take it down to 7.0 and then manage it carefully.

This forum is not a fan of flocculants (alum). They can turn a bad situation much worse. They can also work but it seems they fail more than they are successful.
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Duraleigh, no have not dropped pH yet, but I will. I'll also try the 24/7, thanks. I very rarely floc, but have discovered it's the fastest way and a very inexpensive way to make a green pool turn blue, on those rare occasions when I have to (say, after my pump dies while I am out of town for a week). I just brush the surfaces, throw in some alum, run the pump about 4 hrs on bypass, shut it off overnight, then vac to waste the next morning. Wallah -- beautiful blue pool the next morning, without buying all those pricey yellow-out products the pool stores push. Usually about 2 to 5 lbs. of alum, depending on how bad it is, which I can buy for under $1.50/lb. As long as the SWG is running and I have ample CYA, the algae then stays in check, after the bulk of it is vac'd out. My experience has been that the "synthetic" flocs are not as reliable -- at least the way I use them they are not. I have never tried to floc calcium before, either, so I don't know for sure if it would even work.
 
poolcat said:
Yeh, I wonder about that whole calcium in the vinyl pool thing. Pool store (naturally, they sell calcium) insists it will affect life of a vinyl liner dramatically. Tell me average life of liner is 7 years without calcium, 20 years with it. They claim soft water pulls minerals from the vinyl. Mine is going into its 10th season with no leaks, and I do use calcium.
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Very interesting.

If you have a heater, then you absolutely need calcium....most require at least 220 ppm to keep the warranty on the heat exchanger valid.

The house I bought recently had a just failed liner I replaced....it was over 20 years old (manufacturer verified via serial number) and had calcium in it at all times because of the heater.

It lasted much longer than it should have.....I wonder if that is actually true then. though I'm no chemist.
 
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