Cloudy Pool Water :(

[j_maduena]

We havent used our pool since last Summer. I drained about 1/3 of the water and covered our 9'x18'x48". This Summer I scrubbed the sides, bought a new pump (because the pump that came with this intex pump blew) added a gallon of instant conditioner, 1 lb of fresh and clear and chlorine. The green lingered around so I pumped most of it out with the vacuum and continued to run the pump, cleaning it very frequently. I took in a sample to Leslie's Pool Supply and they recommended adding 1lb of Chlor-brite. We did that waited a week, and it was still cloudy. All the levels from our test were fine, but we still took in a water sample to Leslie's again. They then recommended adding 2 oz of Ultrabrite. We did that yesterday and today it is still cloudy (white) We can see about 1 1/2 feet down in the water. The rest is cloudy. What should we do now???? This is our first pool, so we are at a loss. Please help. Thanks so much for any answers.
Our levels are:
FAC 3
TAC 3
CH 170
CYA 100
TA 130
PH 7.2
PHO 500

 

[Bama Rambler]

Welcome to TFP.

If your CYA really is 100 it's already too high. You need to drain half of your water (1900 gals) to get your CYA into range.
Since it's cloudy white it seems like you've killed the algae and now need to let the filter do it's job. On Intex pools the weak link is the pump & filter, so it's probably going to take a while for it to clear the cloudiness up.

Another route would be to do a complete drain and fill starting from scratch if your water is cheap enough and not from a well with metals in it. That way you could start new and add only what you need to the pool.

 

[anonapersona]

We often (OK, almost never) trust pool store testing around here. If they use strips it is nearly worthless. If they use drops you have to watch them carefully to see if they are doing it properly, waiting and counting correctly. All too often we see posts from people who have gotten randomly varying test data from stores that do not reflect correctly the changes expected after the prior test and a measured chemical addition.

So, 100 CYA might be 50, or it might be 200, it is really hard to say. Can you confirm that with some other method, do you have strips that suggest that is a valid test result? I am comfortable using strips to SUGGEST a result, but those wide open ranges are too hard to base chemical dosages on.

 

[257WbyMag]

Although pool store test results can be suspicious, I would bet that your CYA is probably high and warrants a drain and refill as Bama suggested.

The Temporary Pool Guide is a good resource for information on taking care of an Intex type pool. Since this is your first pool, it is worth reading. I would take the article's advice on test kits as well. Without a good test kit, you are really flying blind.