Pool newbie - pool still cloudy 1 week after opening.

[aj23]

Hi,

Hoping you guys can help this first-time pool owner troubleshoot my very cloudy in-ground vinyl 30,000 gallon kidney-shaped pool. Located in Long Island, NY. Filter is a Sta-Rite System3 cartridge filter. No green is present, just milky cloudy blue.

We had it opened by our pool guy a week ago today. It was very green upon opening. He instructed 15 gallons liquid bleach and 5 pounds shock. The green was gone within 24 hours. Have been running the filter 24/7 to try and clear cloudiness, but really no change. I've hosed down the filter cartridges 4 times in the past week. Our Sta-Rite System 3 filter has been operating at the max PSI of 30 nearly the entire week. The only time it drops to around 20 PSI is the 2-3 hours following a cartridge cleaning (when the system has been off for 30-45 min). Return flow to the pool seems fine regardless of PSI. Although, the Polaris vacuum which was inspected and set up by our pool guy only moves immediately following a filter cleaning, then comes to a dead halt.

Had the water tested at our pool store midweek and was instructed to put in 10 pounds shock followed by a clarifier. No change to the cloudiness.

Test Results

FC - 1.4
CC or TC -1.4
pH - 7.0
TA - 120
CH - 150
CYA - Cyanuric Acid (stabilizer/conditioner) - 0

With regards to the stabilizer, pool guy instructed 4 pounds put in after the green went away, which we did. Guess it didn't stay around.


Thanks very much,
aj

 

[Richard320]

Welcome!

It's going to stay cloudy until you take control of things. Start by ordering your own test kit.

If I could trust the pool store results, I would tell you to add about 7 lbs of stabilizer in a sock, then raise FC to about 12 and keep it there until things clear. If you have no CYA, the chlorine and "shock" you've been dumping in are getting destroyed by the sun before they can really work. And the chlorine level is too low to get ahead of the algae growth. And it needs a constant shock level to kill things, not a liner-bleaching mega-dose once a week. But I don't test those results.

I could type for hours here, but the bottom line is, you need to study Pool School. There is no quick fix, it will require you to decide to learn how to test and treat the water yourself.

 

[harleysilo]

Was the stabilizer in a granular form, or liquid? How did you add it? Granular can take a week to show up in testing.

Your Chlorine is too low. You should be going through the shock process right now, which involves testing your water every few hours and adding more chlorine. What you've done so far is give the green pool a dose of antibiotics, but you haven't yet finished the prescription. This pool needs constant (as often as possible) chlorine additions to clear.

Have you seen our "Pool School"? It's a link in the upper right hand corner. It is a collection of articles/threads that answer basically any question you could have. It is a lot of information.

Specifically you need to do this pool-school/shocking_your_pool

Welcome to the forum!

 

[zea3]

Hi, welcome to TFP! Can you tell me if the powdered chlorine (shock) was calicum hypochlorite, dichlore/trichlor, or some other oxidizer? How did you add the CYA to the pool? If you broadcast it into the pool or added it to the skimmer, then you may have rinsed most of it out when cleaning the filter cartridges. Also it takes about 5-7 days for CYA to register on the test.

It is normal for a filter to need frequent cleaning while clearing a green pool. Its doing its job and capturing all the dead algae to help clear the water. We recommend running the pump 24/7 and cleaning the filters as needed while clearing a pool.

I strongly recommend you purchase a high quality test kit such as a Taylor K2006 or a TF 100. Your testing will be more accurate than the pool store, and being able to frequently test FC is essential to completing the shock process.

My gut feeling is that you have not killed all the algae and you need to complete the shock process. You can read more about it in these two articles, the shock process and defeating algae.

 

[aj23]

Thanks for all the replies. Will start reading through Pool School.

The shock was in powder form, and sprinkled evenly on the surface of the pool. It was dichlore/trichlor marketed as "Green Out" shock.

The stabilizer was a 4 pound bucket of granulated pebbles. It was also sprinkled on the surface of the pool.

I have a basic test kit and just tested the chlorine levels (this is my first test after adding the 10 pounds of shock--those results in my original post were pre-shock). Chlorine levels seem like a deep red. My test vial only goes up to a 5.0 but based on the color I'd call it a 7 or 8.

Thanks again!