Milky water & white powder 2 weeks after AA treatment

[unsrek1]

Followed the directions on this website for the AA treatment 2 weeks ago. FC was zero, ph 7.5, and added Polyquat before starting. Initial 1.75 lb dose in my 20,000 gallon pool removed most stains almost immediately, but I brushed and waited 24 hours to get the stubborn stains. Still some stains after that and ph at 7.2, so added another pound followed by more brushing and adding ProTeam Metal Magic. After another 24 hours only slight staining remained, ph at 6.8 and TA at 75. Raised TA and ph. Had to backwash the filter. Started adding bleach in small doses. After another 24 hours the water became totally milky, and I noticed I could stir up what appeared to be white powder on the steps. Is that the sequestered metal?
I added fiber to my sand filter to help clear the water and continued adding bleach slowly until the pool began to hold chlorine. After 3 more days the milkiness did not improve and the filter didn't seem to be trapping anything. A local pool shop suggested it was due to algae until I mentioned the white powder. They suggested turning off the pump (which had been running 24/7 all of this time) and letting the powder settle followed by vacuuming. After another 24 hours the milkiness did not settle, but I vacuumed anyway even though I couldn't see what I was vacuuming. After that the filter required another backwash. Another 24 hours later the milkiness had improved a little. I vacuumed and backwashed again. FC was holding at about 3 ppm by this time. CC about .5 ppm. Raised FC to 5 ppm. No improvement in the milkiness. Without vacuuming the filter didn't seem to be doing anything.
Finally after 2 weeks this morning I decided to shock the pool just in case it was all due to some kind of white powdery algae. No luck. I vacuumed again and backwashed again. My numbers now are:
FC = 12
CC < .5
ph = 7.3
TA = 95
Calcium = 280
CYA = 35

I have no idea what to do next short of emptying and refilling the pool. I've seen other posts about persistent milkiness after the AA treatment, but none of them seem to list the final resolution. Perhaps they emptied and refilled.

 

[JasonLion]

If you have a sand filter, try adding some DE (procedure is described in Pool School). Otherwise try clarifier.

 

[BoDarville]

unsrek1:

If I'm following your timeline correctly, it appears you added bleach 48 hours after starting the AA treatment. Doing that caused some of the AA to be consumed by the chlorine. Fortunately it appears that the AA treatment lifted much of the staining in the first 48 hours.

Some cloudiness after an AA treatment is not unusual. However, it should have cleared up before now. It is possible that you might have algae. Although your CC is < 0.5ppm, you might try running an OCLT as another check. In the meantime, if you have a sand filter, you could add either DE or cellulose fiber (e.g., FiberClear or ZeoFiber) as Jason suggested and see if the water begins to clear up.

If you find that you do need to shock, click on The Shock Process link in my sig.

 

[unsrek1]

I have been using ZeoFiber in my sand filter since the pool turned cloudy, and I did shock this morning. Guess I'll go to Leslie's and get some clarifier.

 

[unsrek1]

Also read through The Shock Process link, and maybe I'm being too impatient. I shocked just 8 hours ago, so I'll give the filter more time to clean up whatever this white stuff is.

 

[257WbyMag]

Don't waste your money on clarifier. It is not necessary or particularly useful for any purpose. Continue shocking. This means keep your FC at shock level even if you have to test and add more chlorine to it every 30 minutes. And you need to run your pump 24/7 until this process is complete. You are done when your FC drops no more than 1 overnight, your CC is 0.5 or less, and your water is clear.

 

[unsrek1]

Guess I should include the final resolution here for future reference. It was algae. After shocking and filtering 24/7 for a couple of days, the water cleared up. There was also some dark precipitate on the bottom of the pool during this which I vacuumed up once the water was clear enough to see it. I feel a little foolish that I didn't recognize it, but the only time in 10 years of pool ownership that I have had algae is after the AA treatment. I always that it would be green and accompanied by high CC, but that wasn't the case. Obviously next time I do the AA process, I'll have to use more Polyquat up front.
Now to deal with a leaking pump discovered after all of this 24/7 pumping. Trouble free pool? I think not.