Calcium Plus...To Add or Not to Add?

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AJC9725

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Jul 9, 2015
47
Pittsford, NY
I opened my pool last week. It is an inground, vinyl, 20,000 pool. It was previously a green swamp, but has improved substantially since. I noticed the last two days though, the rate at which it is clearing up has slowed significantly. I am maintaining the recommended chlorine level for a SLAM. I then read the guidance sheet in the TF test kit and noticed it says that a low calcium hardness can lead to cloudy water, regardless of which type of pool you have. I measured CH at 150 ppm. I bought enough to raise it to 250 ppm and plan on adding it.

The 'recommended levels' page on the Pool School page says to NOT add calcium to a vinyl pool, yet the test kit says that low CH can lead to cloudy water regardless. So what is the consensus on balancing CH in a vinyl pool?
 
CH is not causing your cloudiness. Don't put it in. CH in a vinyl pool is simply not really needed although some vinyl people say 150 ppm which is where you are anyway.

Add ing CH to your water will NEVER reduce your cloudiness. That cloudiness is a result of your chemistry or insufficient filtering. Can you post a full set of test results? That'll probably give us a clue.
 
I'm an idiot and realize the laminated sheet said that TOO HIGH of CH can cause cloudiness, not too low. Oh well, I'll consider it a waste of $17 for a bucket of CH and a lesson learned. I think this is just a case of me being impatient. I'm having to backwash every two days, indicating the filter is continuing to trap the dead algae. I will wait a few more days, and hopefully it will clear to my liking.
 
Adding DE may help. Anything you can do to boost the circulation - pointing a return at the bottom, brushing, Setting the vacuum head down in the deep end upside down or on its side to act as a drain- will get those fine particles sucked through the filter. You need to keep that stuff suspended in the water so the filter can grab it.
 
Hey I don't want to hijack, and this seems on target, I'll move to a new thread if you think it isn't
- if you add DE per the link above, do you have to re-add it after every backwash? In other words, will a backwash flush out the DE or does it remain in the sand?
 
I was a little frustrated at how slow the pool was clearing up after being a swamp all winter. Going on almost two weeks, maintaining the correct SLAM level, and seeing a real slow improvement every day, I decided to add some Pool First Aid that was left over from a previous owner. 16 hours later, the pool is almost perfectly clear. I suppose it could be a coincidence, and the chlorine could have cleared the remaining cloudiness that remained in that short of time, but I think that the Pool First Aid helped out a lot.

The part that I'm confused about is that the filter pressure did not go up as much as I would have thought considering how much more clear it is today over yesterday. It's almost like the Pool First Aid 'disintegrated' (I'm really showing my lack of chemistry knowledge here), rather than trap it all.

I'm a full supporter of the TFPC method, and will definitely use it the remainder of the summer, now that the pool is clear, and save loads of money using only liquid chlorine. My question is...in the initial SLAM after the winter when the pool is green, could you actually save money by adding a bottle of Pool First Aid, rather than the equivalent amount of liquid chlorine jugs it would take? Not to mention it taking less time to clear with the Pool First Aid?
 
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