Still Cloudy!

[mjwilliams81]

We had to leave town unexpectedly right after our pool was opened and we returned to a green pool! So we shocked and shocked and then someone told us we needed to add muratic Acid to drop our total alkalinity. The pool dropped the green color and we have been maintaining the FC in the pool, however its still cloudy with a slight tinge of green - but I could be seeing things. I've read that it could take a week for the pool to drop is cloudy color, but I'm not seeing any sign of improvement! I've listed the numbers I have below and would love any input and suggestions. We are northerners who have been moved to Jackson Mississippi for my job and are renting a house with a pool, and really want to enjoy it this weekend. Its safe to swim in even if its cloudy right??

I'm about to go buy the pool party dye to change the color!!! HELP

PH - 7.2
FC 3
TA - 150
Stability 30-50

 

[zea3]

Hi, welcome to TFP! I have a few questions for you.
What did you use to shock the pool?
What are you using to test the water?
What type of pool do you have?
What type of filter do you have, and how long since it has been cleaned?

Pool dye will not help and could make the problem worse.

Technically, a pool is safe to swim in when it is at or exceeds the minimum chlorine level for that particular pool. In order to know the minimum chlorine level we need accurate numbers from drop based tests. I would not allow children or weak swimmers in a pool where I could not see the bottom. That is a tragedy waiting to happen.

 

[mjwilliams81]

We have a sand filter.
We have test strips -not a dye kit (yet). I am going to the pool store in the morning to get a new PSI meter.
We have a concrete in-gound pool

I'm believe we used HTC to shock the pool. All in all about 15+ pounds. The pool is 25,000 gal. I hope this helps.
Thanks.

 

[zea3]

You really need a high quality test kit such as the TF 100 or the Taylor k2006. They are both drop based kits and will give you more accurate readings than test strips. We need to see a complete set of test results, FC, CC, TA, CH, pH, and CYA. It is possible that you have calcium clouding, but we won't know for sure without those test results. Take a water sample to the pool store to be tested and post the results here.

Keep in mind that you may still need to shock the pool, again without complete test results we won't know for sure. Once the shock process is complete it may take several days for the sand filter to clear the debris out of the water.

 

[mjwilliams81]

According to the pool store my numbers are

TC 8
FC 4.3
Ph 8
Ta 220
Ch 150
Stab 75

Please help. I'm sick of watching my money go down the drain!!

 

[duraleigh]

Please help. I'm sick of watching my money go down the drain!!

Well, I seldom post this because I have an obvious agenda in that I sell these kits, but if you REALLY want help, you must help yourself by doing your own testing and learning what it means by reading Pool School.

As long as you depend on the pool store for your advice, it seems you are destined to repeat the same old patterns that got you where you are now. I'm sorry to be harsh, but the correct path towards getting a crystal clear pool and saving your money is to do your own testing

 

[JasonLion]

This will all be much simpler if you get your own test kit. These test results are significantly different than the previous set. Some of the numbers will have changed, but they shouldn't have changed that much. That suggests that your test results are not reliable, which means lots of guessing.

The first thing to do is to lower PH to around 7.4 or 7.5.

Then you need to shock the pool. Go read the article on how to shock your pool in Pool School. The main challenge here is that you have to guess at your CYA level, since the two test results are inconsistent and you are going to have a hard time maintaining shock level without a good test kit.