slightly cloudy water

[BCannon]

I have maintained a crystal clear pool all summer but tonight it has become slightly cloudy.

ph - 8.2
FC - 7.0
CC - 0
TA - 180
CH - 240
CYA - 30

As you can see my readings are good - I did add MA to lower ph down to 7.5. Can the high slightly high ph lead to cloudiness? Any ideas would be helpful because the test results do not point to a problem elsewhere. Thank you for any advice.

 

[J20832]

Sorry, but your readings are not good. Your pH and TA are way too high, you could end up with calcium scaling. It is likely the cause of your cloudiness. Adjust the pH down and then work on getting your TA down. Here is info from pool school on how to correctly lower TA http://www.troublefreepool.com/pool-school/lowering total alkalinity

Since you need to lower your TA anyway, shoot for lowering down to 7.2 to help get the water cleared up.

 

[J20832]

Also, forgot to add that with a vinyl liner you don't need to really ever add calcium anyway. So if you haven't been adding it, great, but if you have, stop. If you haven't been adding it, it is possible that you have high CH in your fill water or you have been using calcium hypo to chlorinate/shock your pool. The only way to lower your CH is through a drain and fill (unless your fill water is high) or reverse osmosis.

 

[BCannon]

Thank you for your reply. I knew I had high ph and I have already added enough MA to reduce it to 7.5. I will go ahead and add the amount to lower it to 7.2 as you suggest. I am curious though about TA. The recommended levels according to pool school are 70-90+. I guess I thought since my ready was above 90 that I was good. I haven't read anywhere on pool school about a particular figure that requires lowering TA.

Should lowering the ph to 7.2 also lower the TA enough? What number am I shooting for in regards to TA? How much over 90 is acceptable?

 

[J20832]

The recommended levels are really 70-90, but can be higher if needed. If your water tends to drift to the acidic range, than it could be better to have your TA a little higher like 100 or 110. However, with a TA of 180, the water will almost definitely cruise up on pH quickly, which as you have found can have some definite drawbacks.

Shoot for getting it down to 90 and see how your pool responds to that over time.

Reducing your TA is a time consuming process, it could take weeks, but it is also not a highly crucial thing to do. Your pH, on the other hand, is very important and should be monitored daily until you get it more stablized (which will likely occur once the TA is down some more). You might want to get a few gallons of MA as it will likely take quite a bit, but not all at once!

 

[BCannon]

Thank you again. Since the last post, I have added 40 more ounces in addition to the 51 I had added previously this afternoon. According to the pool calculator, this should get the ph down in the 7.2 area. I will check in the am. The cloudiness is not real bad but it definitely is not as crystal clear as it has been all summer. I have had high TA numbers all summer but the ph has just started to rise. I appreciate you taking time to respond. I'm not exactly sure how I will aerate. I can keep an eye on ph and try to keep it around 7.2 over the coming days/weeks. Is that enough or do I really need to detemine a proper aeration method? The only one I have is kids splashing

 

[crek31]

Kids splashing is great aeration. Also, when lowering your pH, be sure to avoid getting too low -- you want to try to bottom out at 7.2.