Cloudy Pool

[Oysters]

Hello,
This is my first post on the forums. I have a few questions about some problems that I have been dealing with. First some back ground info. I just started taking over taking care of 3 pools for a local hospitals health club about three months ago. The whole pool chemistry is still a little new to me. My biggest problem has been with the main lap pool becoming cloudy. We do have a heavy bather load with multiple water aerobics classes almost every day. I have tried adding pool clarifier to the pool but it only seems to help for a few days after vacuuming up the residue from the bottom after it settles. All three Pools use bromine for disinfectant with ORP controllers. I have also been struggling with keeping the main lap pools ORP above 650. But when I test for bromines the levels have been acceptable. We test the water 2-3 times daily. Below is my test results this morning from the Lap pool.

PH. 7.2
ALK 90
Bromine 6
CH 370
I did not check my TDS but last time I did it was 750.
Thanks any advice will be great.

 

[Oysters]

I called a pool compay and they said it's my filtration. Said I should use Jacks Magic filter enhancer. Does that sound familiar or about right to anybody?

 

[dmanb2b]

Welcome to TFP!!

It may be a filtration issue, but the issue is then a broken filter element or perhaps the filter is somehow being bypassed. The filter rarely (almost never) needs any aditives to do it's job, especially a cartridge filter which can filter down to 10 micron. Have you inspected the cartridge to ensure there are no tears and that it is properly seated?

 

[Oysters]

I have not. I will do that next. I'll inspect the o rings and gaskets. Our pump runs 24/7. Do you know the average life of a media filter?

 

[JasonLion]

If properly cared for a cartridge filter can last ten years or more with a little luck. If it gets scaled or is not cleaned often enough it can fail well before then.

Public pools are rather more complex than private pools. We tend to talk about private pools, with much lower bather load. In a private pool the first place I would look is the filter, but in a public pool my first thought is that there isn't enough oxidation happening. One thing to try would be adding some MPS in the evenings after swimming is over for the day to speed up oxidation. That is not to say that it couldn't be a filter problem, that just isn't the first thing I would suspect.