Why did Soda Ash turn pool cloudy

[gustyk]

Re: Why di Soda Ash turn pool cloudy

Hi,
I experienced a very similar situation but I wasn't careful enough to pour pre-mixed soda ash into the pool; I added 10 pounds in different spots of the pool in chuncks of 1 pound
Bottom line, my pool has been Milky White for the last 4 days and after several visits to pool stores and following the instructions, I'm still in the same situation.

The last visit was to 2 different pool stores (to compare criteria) and they both said the same: Chlorine is not working as it's too saturated.
1) empty 1-foot of water from the top and re-fill (waste)
2) Don't add chlorine until water clears up.
These are my readings before emptying the poolin parenthesis, the status as per Leslie's). All units in ppm (unless noted)
FAC:4
TAC:4
CH: 120 (Low)
CYA: 50
TA: 110
pH: 7.6 (no dimensions)
Cooper: 0
Iron: 0
TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) 650
Pho: 0
I can't see the bottom so I have no idea if there are residuals particles.

You can notice only the fist step of the stair is visible, beyond that (2 more steps), only the white NADA!

Last night, I let pump run overnight after re-filling the pool (I don't have the new readings as I have to take a new sample and go to the pool store for it.) and still milky cloudy water.
Recommendations I've read in different forums go from using FLOC, checking the filter, and the most drastic is, emptying the pool completely and re-filling.
Help is highly appreciated

gustyk!

PS: New member, 3 year pool owner , ergo, very limited experience. Thank you in advance for your patience

 

[JVTrain]

Adding that much soda ash can turn any pool cloudy for a few days until it all completely dissolves. Is your pool a vinyl lined pool? Looks like it. If so. CH is irrelevant (unless extremely low <100) and there was no need to raise it in the first place.

However, the advice you received on chlorine being "too saturated" is hogwash. Based on your CYA level, your FC minimum is 4 ppm to maintain proper sanitation. If it has been maintained below that, you could have issues with algae.

I would recommend starting out in Pool School here and learning about how we teach homeowners to care for their own pools. We put zero confidence in pool store testing. Home based test kits are readily available and are more accurate than pool store testing. Plus it's more convenient and you don't have poorly trained PS staff selling you chemicals your pool may not need anyway. Start with ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry and check out a few of the articles in the Getting Started area.

Get a proper test kit ordered. The TF-100 is the best value of any kit. TFTestkits.net The Taylor K-2006 is passable, but you'll be reordering some reagents soon after you start using it, costing you more than the TF-100 in practice.

Welcome to TFP and ask plenty of questions!

 

[pinguy]

Keep your pump on and it should clear up soon. Brushing helps too.

 

[gustyk]

Thank you both for the welcoming and comments.
I was also told to keep the pump running and eventually, the water will clear up (which hasn't happened yet)
When should I start doubting about the DE filter performance (+10 year old Nautilus FNS48)?
I noticed last year some of the DE is back in the pool. I checked the filter and I don't see holes or anything suspicious (at least to my non-expert eye)

So if filter is bad, that would explain why water is not clearing up. And in this case, what's the wisest option:
a) Replace the entire filter (Hayward DE4820 Pro Grid D.E. @ $800)
b) Replace the filter grid (Pentair OEM FNS Plus 48 sqft DE Pool Filter Complete Grid Assembly 59023400 @ $190)

Is it worth the new unit?

Once again, thank you very much for the help.

 

[pinguy]

Before you spend a bunch of money on a filter, you should get a recommended test kit and post a full set of numbers, as well as a Overnight Chlorine Loss Test (oclt).

This will rule out organics as a reason for your cloudiness, and is something you should invest in either way. Leslie's test results and recommendations are notoriously unreliable. We recommend a K2006 Test Kit -or- TF100 Test Kit. The TF100 comes with more reagents and is worth the extra $$ in my opinion.

 

[borjis]

Be on the lookout for darkening metal stains once it clears up.

When I was just getting started the pool I inherited had a ph of 6.8 and took several buckets of
ph up, I did this over 2 days, it clouded up like yours but when it cleared I then had metal staining
in the deep end.

If you've never used any copper based algecide then you might not have a problem (previous owner had used some)

in hindsight I should have just replaced most of the water since the cya was 300+