Cloudy water-Intex Quickset 18 x 48, 5455 gallons

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G

gailstorm9

0
Jul 6, 2009
20
Tucson AZ
Sorry this is long but this is my first pool and I'm still learning. I have a Poolmaster Pool Shop Basic 4 Test Kit I got at Home Depot that does TC, CC, pH, Total Alkalinity and Acid Demand. The pool has been up for about a month and the water was nice and clear. The pump was on 24/7, I'd shocked the pool and put in the recommended amount of cya (18 oz) and my TC was maintained at 2 ppm with one 3" tablet every other day (HTH 3-in-1 chlorinating tablet-47.6% Calcium Hypochlorite, 45% Minimal Available Chlorine). My pH was 8.2 to start so I added 8 ounces of Muriatic Acid which brought it down to 7.6-7.8.

I was running low on tablets so I visited a pool store. They said I should only run the pump during the day for 6-8 hours and use their tablets which would last 5-7 days. I put in their tablet and turned the pump off that night and the next day the FC was still 2 but the water was very cloudy. I changed the filter cartridge but the next day the water was still cloudy and the FC was down to .6 I added 16 oz of regular bleach which brought the FC back up to 2. The clarity started to improve but it still wasn't clear.

That was yesterday. Today, the clarity was the same but the FC was down to .6 so I took a sample to my local pool store. They gave me these results:

TC 0
FC 0
pH 7.4
CY 37
TA 140
TH 203 ("total hardness")
TDS 100
SI 0 ("saturation index")

They recommended .25 lbs of BioGuard Lo 'N Slo to lower pH (?), 1 lb of Bioguard Smart Shock and 1 oz Polysheen Blue. I opted instead to add 2 qts of 10% liquid chlorine based on the pool calculator for shocking to 12 ppm. Now my FC is around 4 and my pH is 7.8. (My tester only goes up to 5 for FC) I live in Tucson so we get a lot of heat and sun.

At this point, I'm not sure if I need to follow the suggestions for a "regular" pool or the ones in the post "Simplifying BBB for very small pools (e.g. Intex)". Do I need a TF or Taylor 2006 type test kit or should I just keep adding liquid chlorine until it clears? Should I also add some more muriatic acid to bring the pH down further?

Thanks for any help you can provide.
 
don't buy any of that stuff from the pool store. you're doing good, you just need to shock with the liquid chlorine. directions are in pool school. while shocking, keep the pump running 24/7.
pool-school/
pool-school/shocking_your_pool
as far as a test kit, you can keep adding until it clears, but you're going to use more chlorine than you would if you had the test kit (namely the fas-dpd test). also, you run the risk of not reaching or maintaining shock level, which will put you right back where you started. ph is ok for now. while shocking, the ph will read falsely high, so don't worry about it unless you get a low reading.
 
Thanks for the super-fast reply :-D . I'm working on convincing my better half that the Home Depot kit isn't good enough. I also wasn't sure if I needed to go whole-hog since it's a smaller pool and will come down each winter. In the meantime, I'll add more chlorine and see if I can clear it. (I got 2 gallons of 10% chlorine for $6)
 
you can probably get by without it because you can use the pool calculator each year to figure out how much stuff (i.e. cya) to add, and then probably won't have to worry about anything other than FC and ph. the problem is when you have a problem - which you do now. but if you get this cleared up, then stick with the daily chlorine/bleach additions, I think you'll be ok. being in arizona, you'll probably want to run a tad higher cya level (if you're in full sun) which means a little bit higher FC level. but even then you can more or less get away with the cheap chlorine test. you have the one that turns yellow and maxes out at 5?
 
Yes, it turns yellow and maxes out at 5. Not very useful for finding out if the pool's at shock level. Maybe I can convince her to spring for just the FAS-DPD chlorine test which is only $25. The pool store is across the street, so I can always go back to them to see if it's high enough.

I also have 1/4 to 1/3 lb of cyanauric acid left as well as 1 lb of dichlor that I got from the guy who told me to turn off the pump. :roll: I could use one or both to increase both the chlorine and the CYA.

Thanks again!
 
I think your CYA is fine at 37 (if that's accurate...the best I can do is estimate in 10ppm increments), but nonetheless 30+ppm for manual chlorination is fine. The key I think is that your shocking, but not long enough.

The key to shocking is to raise the FC level and hold it there until your water is clear and you lose 1ppm or less overnight and your cc is 0.5 or less. This is where the fas-dpd test comes in handy.

To save money, you can try diluting 1 part pool water and 3 parts bottled water and multiply your TC result x4...will not be that accurate as we have all chuckled at the shades of yellow the OTO test provides, but it worth a shot if funds are tight. I'd hate to see ya keep dumping bleach and just slowing the algae growth vs killing it with a strong enough and long enough shock cycle.
 
dman, thanks for your help. I know you all are right and I'm just wasting chlorine not knowing the real level. I'll just have to bite the bullet and get the FAS/DPD kit. I also need to be patient until the kit arrives and accept that this might take a few days to fix. I'm going to call the local distributors in the morning to find out if anyone has a kit in stock locally. If not, I'll order the Chlorine and CC's Test kit from TFT tests.

In the meantime, I'll keep pouring it in to make sure it doesn't get worse. Thanks for the dilution tip. That will at least give me an idea of how close I am.
 
best of luck...in the meantime if you get pool store results post them up and we'll help you as best you can...if you get the fas/dpd...test at least twice a day while shocking (evening and early morning) open up a bottle of POP (Pool Owner Patience) and you'll get there. Trust me I and many others were in your shoes on this forum. I had no clue pool water maintence could be so easy...all it takes is a good test kits and max 5 mins a day, with the occasional vacum and brushing mixed in. In the mean time...read pool school 3 times over and it will click for you...Good Luck :goodjob:
 
using lots of chlorine, trouble getting to shock level :?

I didn't realize how much dirt and leaves had gotten in the pool from an intense rain storm. I had also let my dog in the pool a few times. The vacuum that came with the pool just stirred it all up and made it cloudier. Finally, I figured out a way to rig it so it would actually pick stuff up and the clarity has improved a lot.

I've also been shocking since I got my FAS/DPD test kit from TFTest Kits last Thursday. I don't know if it's the weak pump, bad chlorine or something else, but my levels are slow to increase and never reach what the Pool Calculator says they should be. For example, I get a reading of 4.5 and add 78 oz of 10% chlorine but 30 minutes later, it's only 12 when it should be 16. On Sunday, I was getting ready to do an overnight loss test. My level was 7 and I added 128 oz which should have produced 26 ppm. 45 minutes later it was only 10. I tried again in another 30 minutes and it was still 10. At 6 the next morning, it was 21. By 2:30 in the afternoon, it had dropped to 1 so I added another 128 oz.

The good news is that the clarity has been excellent since Monday morning, except after vacuuming when the stuff that isn't picked up makes the water cloudy until it settles again.

Do you think it was the dirt and leaves plus the dog causing the cloudiness? Any idea why it's using so much chlorine during the day when my CYA is around 40? Would full sun, 105 degree air temp and 98 degree water temp be the problem?

Thanks again for all your help.
 

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Hi Poolmom, :-D

So I don't need to boost my CYA? I get my chlorine at the local supermarket. It's the Chem-Tek stuff.

I think the organics are almost gone now although it did get a bit cloudy after today's vacuuming so I guess another one is in order.

Thanks for your help.
 
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