Cloudy water; need help

[TurboDoc]

I am going to attempt to give as much detail in a short post:
New plaster pool last Summer, 19,000 gal, SWG, cartridge filter; I check water as well as a service once a week. HAVE A COVERSTAR FULL AUTO COVER. Stays closed when not swimming. Went out of town and returned to cloudy water with greenish hue.

Tested water and then had Leslie's verify before I called the service frustrated. Water results:
FAC 0, TAC 4. Salt 3300, ok. CH 250, TA 120, pH 7.8. CYA? because the water is so cloudy to begin with but with a full cover it was generally 100 before issues.

I added 2 lbs Fresh N' Clear, waited 1 hour then brushed the entire pool and then shocked with 4 gal. Liquid shock. Did all this on Sunday and called pool service Monday. He told me "oh yah it looked cloudy July 2 so we added 1 gal shock and haven't been back yet." The problems with that response are obvious so I would like to focus on where I stand now. Pool service also tells me he changed the filter cartridges while I was away over the 4th.

Two days later the water is no longer green but still very cloudy and hasn't improved after another shock plus the service adding a Phos Free enzyme of some sort. Now he has added "drop out floc" and asked me to shut off everything(pump, polaris etc) and he is coming in the morning to vacuum. He tells me he checked the filters and internal manifold and both are fine.

MY QUESTION IS WHY AFTER REPEATED SHOCKING IS THE WATER STILL CLOUDY?

WHAT DO I NEED TO DO TO GET IT SAFE FOR MY KIDS ONCE THE WATER CLEARS?

ARE THE MEASURES THE SERVICE IS USING OFF BASE OR WITHIN REASON?

 

[jblizzle]

Welcome to TFP!!!

You have to decide if you are going to take care of the pool or if you are going to trust the service to "hopefully" do it. Most of the members here take care of our own pools so it is just going to cause you confusion trying to mix our advice with what the service is doing.

What you would ideally do is get yourself one of the Recommended Test Kits and then follow the SLAM process. [slam:1bb5nrzn][/slam:1bb5nrzn]

Given that your TAC > FAC, that indicates the presence of high CC level, which is going to take a lot of chlorine to eradicate. And given that your CYA sounds like it is > 100ppm (which is pretty normal for pool service companies since they only come once a week), normally we would recommend replacing at least 50% of the water to get the CYA into the recommended 30-50ppm range.

 

[woodyp]

If a pool store checked your CYA as 100, in most likelihood it is far greater than that. The SWG just can't keep up with the higher chlorine demand levels ( minimum levels) that super high CYA requires. Your PH is on the edge of being too high as well. Only way to lower CYA levels is to replace water..read that as drain and refill a third at a time...........and retest. You need to read pool school to see how to properly shock "process" that pool after lowering your CYA levels. You'll need one of the test kits we recommend there as well.,,,,,,,,,at a very minimum the fasdpd chlorine test.

 

[TurboDoc]

I have been using the Leslie's FAS-DPD kit since we built the pool last Summer. Have relied upon the site and pool calculator like a Bible so I am on board with that.

The only reason I have the service is periodically we take vacations and I don't want to leave it unattended. Obviously, that didn't work.

After the vacuuming tomorrow I will start the SLAM. If I am successful can the kids swim this weekend?

 

[jblizzle]

If you are very strict about maintaining the shock FC level, you might get it mostly cleared up by then ... problem is your CYA is really high which is going to make that a problem.

We generally say you are safe to swim when:
1. FC > minimum for your CYA
2. FC < shock level for your CYA
3. CC at or < 0.5
4. Water is clear (at least enough to see the bottom, although this means you should still be above the shock level)
5. pH is in range (for comfort)

 

[TurboDoc]

If I do a CYA test with my kit now will it be accurate even with the water cloudy? I don't know the chemistry of the test but it seems that it will read a false high since the water is cloudy?

 

[jblizzle]

Fill the tube up with all pool water ... if you can still see the dot clearly, then the test will be accurate. It take VERY cloudy water to have much impact on the test. Some people have run the water through coffee filters to clear it up some.

Since you are likely over 100ppm. Do the diluted test by starting with 50/50 mix of pool and tap water ... then add the reagent ... then double the result.

 

[Suziqzer]

Even if your water looks cloudy in the pool, it won't likely affect the test. If you fill a glass of water with your pool water, it will likely look clear in that small amount. You might be surprised at how clear it looks

 

[Richard320]

Keep in mind, Fresh 'N Clear is MPS, which can falsely read as CC. http://www.taylortechnologies.com/Chemi ... ntentID=24

How'd the CYA get so darn high? If the pool is covered most of the time, the chlorine loss would be negligable, and a really low CYA would have been satisfactory. When testing, take a reading with just plain pool water. If the dot disappears without any R-0013, you got problems. But I'll bet you can take it all the way to the top. And if so, the cloudiness won't affect the CYA test to any great degree.

 

[TurboDoc]

Not sure how the CYA got so high. The last I recorded was 30 before leaving town. Will test it again in the am and plan to SLAM shock on Thursday. But if the CYA is really 100 I may be draining soon.

I have put in a total of 2 gal stabilizer since we filled the pool this Summer with all new water.

 

[jblizzle]

Trichlor and Dichlor add CYA in addition to the FC. Or maybe the service company added it.