Need help with cloudy water-numbers/info attached

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seggsme

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Jun 21, 2012
6
Hello,
We have been BBB-ing since end of season 2009 when I realized I paid $30 for a small bag of pH increaser and found out it was BAKING SODA! :hammer:
We swore we would NEVER talk to another pool snake oil charmer again. With TFP, we never need to. :-D

We have a 13200 gal A/G Vinyl pool. Sand Filter with a single speed motor. We ran the pump last year 10 hours a day (total of 2 - 5 hour sessions). This year hubby wanted to try to save some $$ and we calculated how much it should run to turn it over the recommended amount of time each day. We came up with 6 hours. We started out on the 10 hour schedule, after the pool was opened a month (May) we decided to switch to 3 sessions/day: 6a-8:30a, 2p-4:30p, 12a-2a: 6.5 hours total/day (started June 4th).

We have never had an issue with cloudiness, etc until now. Our winter cover "shed" to the bottom over this winter and we had a mess when we opened it. We got the water crystal clear at the beginning of this season, now I am not sure why it has turned cloudy over the past 4 days. I am stumped :?:

I use 12% chlorine, 20-mule or baking soda for pH up (I like the 20-mule better as the water glistens when I use it), Cyanuric Acid dissolved in a sock for CYA once or twice a season, have never had to use Muriatic Acid for pH down but have it on hand.

Yesterday morning, I vacuumed a yellowish "silt" off the bottom. It was hard to pick up. Thinking it might be algae, I tested the water. I have not had any CC's since we open it in May and CC's have never been over 0.5.

Numbers today:
(I shocked last night for Mustard Algae thinking that was it because I let FC get too low the other [email protected]):
FC 26
CC 0
TC 26
pH 8.2 (this just went up with the shock, has been steady at 7.5)
CYA 45
T/A 110
CH 50
Temp this AM 80 degF (it has not been over 85 yet this season but the outside temps have off and on been 90's+.)
We had a solar cover on it until this past Sunday. It is so hot out we didnt want to bother. The solar cover is dirty and some of the dirt has gotten into the pool over the past 2-3 weeks. It does need a good cleaning.

Hubby scrubbed and vacuumed the bottom last night again before I shocked. He scrubbed the sides and took the stairs out and scrubbed those too.

This am I went out to get water to test and the yellow "silt" it back but not quite as extensive as yesterday AM and it is still cloudy. Is this algae with a CC of 0??

Can anyone help me get my pool sparkling again.

I LOVE BBB :goodjob: and tout about it to everyone we know with a pool. Thank you Jason, Dave and everyone involved for this fabulous resource! LOVE your test kit too. I am addicted to learning about water chemistry and always having a clean, clear, sparkling pool. :party:

Thanks so much for your help!!!
 
Baking soda is used to raise TA. With a TA of 110, you are already higher than you really want to be. You should only use the Borax for raising your pH.

If your pool stayed clear at 10 hours of pump run time, but not at 8, I suggest you go back to running it at 10 hours and see if that solves the problem. For now, you could run it 24/7 to see if the problem is cleared by the filter. I did not see what kind of filter you have, but if you have a sand filter you can try adding some DE to it (as detailed in Pool School) to help the filter clear your water.

The only real way to tell if you have algae is to perform the overnight chlorine loss test, also in Pool School.

Letting FC drift down to 1.5 usually won't be enough to let algae get started.
 
Can anyone help me get my pool sparkling again.
Click to expand...
Yes. Continue the shock process. That yellowish silt on the bottome is algae that you couldn't see until the high chlorine levels killed it and it gathered at the bottom.

At some point, you allowed your FC to get too low and that lwet algae start to grow even though you couldn't see it.

read "How to Shock Your Pool" up in Pool School and then follow that procedure exactly as it is written. Your pool will be back sparkling in just a few days.

I agree that increasing your pump run time back would be helpful but I suspect the lack of chlorine was a bigger culprit.
 
Sorry, I see that there is a Borates test on the Ordering Site.

Other question for Dave:
What you are saying is that even tho I had no CC's algae can grow?

Thanks so much for the info. We have never had algae but with the mild winter here in NY and the shedding winter cover, there was a small amount of junk/green algae :mrgreen: that got in the pool at the beginning of the season when we tried to get the deteriorated cover off; we shocked it and it was so clear until we changed the pump schedule.
I appreciate your help!! :cheers:
 
1. Borates is a completely optional item. I do not suggest you even think about borates until you get your pool water back crystal clear and nicely in balance.

2. CC's do not have to be present at all for algae to be in your pool. It is a common misconception that we need to do a better job of defining here on the forum.
 
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