Major chemical setback with Water Clarifier

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Blue114

Blue114

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LifeTime Supporter
Aug 25, 2012
65
Brisbane , Australia
Hi

FC 5.5
TA 90
PH 7.6
CH 320
CYA 70

I have just gotten my pool to nearly where I want it. It was still slightly cloudy (maybe 5%) so I decided to add a water clarifier .

http://www.hyclor.com.au/pdfs/Products/Brochure/Brochure%20Water%20Clarifier.pdf
Put it in and the whole pool went milky cloudy.

This product is Poly-diallyidimethylammonium chloride.

I am so Peed off ( with myself as well )as I've taken 2 weeks to get my pool right. I rang the makers of the product and he said it shouldnt make the pool go cloudy and to run the filter 24/7 to try to clear it up.

The only other product in there it could maybe be reacting with is my Scale and Stain inhibitor. Active Constituent: Acrylic Polymer Complex.

i'm not a chemical guy but i'm really worried if this stays this way and doesn't filter out.

Any ideas
 
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It will likely filter out on it's own. I have no idea why it turned cloudy.

Clarifiers and Flocculants seem to be a mixed bag......sometimes they work but often they either do nothing or, in your case, cause some harm.

Why do you have the stain and scale inhibitor in there? I assume it is a sequestrant.....have you tested positive for metal in your water?
 
The clarifier, which is PolyDADMAC, is a cationic (positively charged) polymer. The metal sequestrant, which is an acrylic polymer complex such as poly acrylic acid (PAA), is an anionic (negatively charged) polymer because the acid dissociates. So these two likely combined forming a milky precipitate/suspension. It should eventually filter out, but realize that you effectively removed your metal sequestrant. In general, polymer metal sequestrants will have a negative charge since they are to bond with positively charged metals (e.g. iron, copper) while many clarifiers are positively charged since they are designed to bond with the negatively charged surfaces of cells (e.g. algae). So unless you know the chemical compositions and are careful, one should not use a clarifier and a metal sequestrant at the same time.
 
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Thanks for your replies.

I only added the correct dose i.e. 1.4 litres

I added the Acrylic Polymer Complex (https://www.quartzon.com.au/calstop.php) at the recommendation of the pool surface manufacturers to help with the calcium buildups on the surface which these pools (Quartzon ) are apparently renouned for.

I am now understanding more about balance and CSI so I wonder if I dont need to put the Acrylic Polymer Complex if I keep the CSI close to 0.

I'm hoping this doesn't affect any of my other chemicals

Thanks
Brad
 
Blue114 said:
I only added the correct dose i.e. 1.4 litres
Click to expand...

Thats the issue. You waayy over-dosed the clarifier. For 19,000 gallons, maybe 4-8 ounces is all you need. You added ~10 times the amount of clarifier you were actually supposed to use. Anything over that, you run into the milky problem. What happens when you add too much clarifier is that all the little particles clump together too much an end up as a colloidal suspension. When that happens, the whole thing turns cloudy. It'll clear but it will take a while. Run the filter 24/7 until is clears. Watch the pressure so you'll know when to clean the filter. While the sequesterant interaction could be an issue, I highly doubt it.
 
Thanks bk406. I followed the directions on the bottle. 20ml per 1000 litres. I put it in and slowly saw the water tranforming to this milky muck. Not daylight here yet but will have a look this morning and report back. I've had the filter going non stop since I did it 19 hrs. ago.
Brad
 

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Blue114 said:
Thanks bk406. I followed the directions on the bottle. 20ml per 1000 litres. I put it in and slowly saw the water tranforming to this milky muck. Not daylight here yet but will have a look this morning and report back. I've had the filter going non stop since I did it 19 hrs. ago.
Brad
Click to expand...


Did you dose based on liters or gallons?
 
Well I dont know how but the pool is clear now and there is no sediment on the bottom. The directions were to run the filter for 8 hrs then vacuum.

I did backwash and the water that came out was very dirty. The first time in weeks when backwashing, so it must have suspended the fine rubbish and it went thru the filter.

Chem Geek ,do you think it needs Cal-Stop if I keep the CSI balance correct?

Brad
 
I don't think you need Cal-Stop if the CSI is kept near zero, perhaps slightly negative if your pool surface is prone to scaling.

Clarifiers typically clear material to get caught into the filter. It is flocculants that are designed to drop to the floor when the pump is turned off. Though one could try and use a clarifer turning off the pump to hope it will settle, they aren't designed to do that quickly and are better used with the filter running. Of course, the industry often mixes up terminology so these meanings are not universally accepted.
 
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