Cloudy water after days of filtering and BBB

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cyclonepool

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Jun 29, 2010
6
Hey guys, I was referred to this board by a friend that swears by the method a few months ago, and have been lurking and learning since then. I have learned a lot about how this pool I inherited works, but I am at a deadend on this one.

My chemical numbers are correct, based on the pool calculator. I replaced all 8 laterals and the sand in my PacFab Tagelus T60 filter a week ago. I have been running my filter for a week at shock levels 24/7 since then and the water is still green/cloudy. I just got a watertech blue diamond yesterday and have run it through 4 cycles already (90 minute cycles). The stuff I am washing out of the filter bag is a beige sandy material, that clumps together. I have removed and replaced the top couple of inches of sand in the filter already, but when I backwash, the water passing through the peek window is not very dirty at all, despite the increasing of the pressure on the filter gauge. Am I missing something?

14,000 gallon in-ground pool, 1.5 HP pump, Tagelus T60 sand filter, WaterTech Blue Diamond, also have a Polaris 360.
 
Welcome to TFP.

What is your CYA level and what shock level are you using?

The first 30 seconds or so will have clear water in your site glass. You'll want to backwash for 3 or 4 minutes typically.
 
Welcome :wave:

It sounds like you need to open some POP (pool owner patience). It is not uncommon for it to take this long.

What are your levels? If you have CC or FC overnight loss > 1.0 you need to keep shocking. That stuff you are collecting is probably dead algae, so keep shocking until you are done, and let the filter do it's job. If you want to speed up the filtering process you can add DE to your filter.
 
cya is 90 (believe it or not, I just had to drain 50% of the water to get it *down* to that. The previous owner used pool shock granules for everything), FC is ~20, after I add bleach to bring it to shock levels. I do lose some overnight.

Just found out my TA is high (~200). I am working on lowering it, but could that cause the issue as well?
 
frustratedpoolmom said:
It will be very difficult for you to clear it with CYA at 90. You should consider another partial drain/refill....
Click to expand...

Yup...with CYA of 90, your shock level is around 35 and you want to keep it as close to 35 during the shock process.
 
Testing with a TF-100; What else, right? :-D

ok, so a partial drain and refill. I don't have a swg, so is the recommended CYA level always 30 to 50? so I need to redrain about half my water again.

Sheesh. OK, so I know what I am doing this weekend.

The first time I drained it, my CYA was down to 70. Now it is reading 90 again. The only CYA that should have gone in is from my tablets in my inline chlorine dispenser; everything else has been straight clorox, with frequent backwashings. Is it possible to have that much of a jump in less than a month from just the tablets?
 
cyclonepool said:
Testing with a TF-100; What else, right? :-D
Right! :goodjob:

ok, so a partial drain and refill. I don't have a swg, so is the recommended CYA level always 30 to 50? so I need to redrain about half my water again.
30 to 50 is the general recommendation for a non SWG pool. Some folks, (depending on their location (city/state) & amount of sun on their pool, etc.) run a little higher with success. But, with a higher CYA level comes a higher shock level.

Sheesh. OK, so I know what I am doing this weekend.

The first time I drained it, my CYA was down to 70. Now it is reading 90 again. The only CYA that should have gone in is from my tablets in my inline chlorine dispenser; everything else has been straight clorox, with frequent backwashings. Is it possible to have that much of a jump in less than a month from just the tablets?You can calculate the amount added by the tabs using Jason's Pool Calculator (link in my sig) at the "Effects of adding chemicals...." section near the bottom.

Welcome to the forum :wave:
Click to expand...
 
If you could get CYA down to the 60-70 range, it would be more manageable and then by next season after some more water replacement, your CYA should be down some more.
 
In 14,000 gal pool, 3 trichlor tabs a week, at 7 oz each, for 4 weeks (= 84 oz total), will raise CYA by 25 per Pool Calculator "Effects of adding Chemicals" at the bottom of the page.
 

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Ok, cya is down to 60. Cl is....embarrassingly high. I got a litttle overzealous. :)

Whila I was waiting on the water to stop glowing, i tore apart my multi port valve and found that some of the seeds from my vitex had forced their way between the spider gasket and the plastic of the valve. I am hoping that that might explain some of what appears to be poor filtering performance. I hope that is the case, between the chemicals, the parts and the blue diamond, i am over budget for this thing. Thanks again for all your help. I will post results after in a day or so.
 
OK over the weekend I drained 1/3 of the pool, refilled with clean water and nuked the sucker with an obscene amount of 6% bleach. Pool is so blue it glows now, but there is still a cloudiness to the water, despite still running the filter 24/7. I know that POP is called for here, but i have been filtering for over two weeks now and it has gone from brown cloudy to blue cloudy. Are we still in the reasonable waiting period for clearing up, or should I be trying a change in tactics, such as adding DE to the filter or troubleshooting the chemistry more?
 
How long has it been since you passed the overnight chlorine loss test?

It takes a few days after that for the filter to clear the pool. If it's been a few days and it doesn't appear to be getting any clearer, it may be time to employ other tactics.
 
Have you passed the overnight test? Until you pass the overnight test you still have organics in your pool and need to continue shocking. Test your water at dusk when the sun is off the pool and record the FC level. Get up early and test the water at dawn, before there is full sun on the pool. Record the FC and the CC. Compare the FC results. If you lose 1ppm or less overnight (at least 8 hours) and your CC is .5ppm or less you are done shocking.
 
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