Milky Water?

[stester]

We just bought our house with a pool that wasn't taken care of. I called a friend of a friend that installs DB and had him look at the tan stain that covers most of the pool. This is the 4th year on the finish, and he said it was installed well. However he had no idea what the stain was. of course he wanted me to drain and do an acid wash, but after reading on TFP how it diminishes the life of the plaster I decided not to. I did the AA treatment using citric acid and let it circulate for 2 days with minimal results. So then I brushed the pool and with every stroke there was a milky dust that came off the plaster. It didn't take too long for the entire pool to look like milk. I kept the balance as the AA post suggested for a week, and have now brought the PH back to 7.4 but haven't brought the chlorine up yet. (I will include the current test results at the end.) I used the pro team metal magic as suggested, and the polyquate 60. I went to the pool store to get some DE to see if it would help the filter get the finer particles, and of course I was told to try a flock treatment first. I let that sit since Thursday afternoon and nothing has changed. I was wondering if shocking and bringing the chlorine back to normal with the pool getting warmer would start correcting the problem or if I just need to drain the thing and start over. I'm at a loss!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

FC-0
CC-0 will be using trichlor tabs
PH-7.6
TA-70
CH-300
CYA-20
TEMP-45

Thanks for your help and suggestions

Thanks,
Scott

I'm trying to figure out how to post pics

 

[stester]

 

[Charlie_R]

Normally here flock and clarifiers aren't recommended here. More often than not, they don't work, and can sometimes mess up your water balance.

Are you totally done with the AA treatment?

 

[stester]

yes i'm done with the AA treatment, i was getting ready to shock and balance the chlorine. i just wanted to know what everyone thought first. i tested Thursday and ph was 7.4 now 7.6. so i was thinking the baking soda used after AA treatment didn't all get dissolved because of temp. but the milky stuff came off when i bushed before i added the soda. or the flock took my ph up some. but the pool was completely clear before i bushed. would calcium scale do this when coming off the plaster?

 

[Charlie_R]

Quite possibly. I asked about being done because I was going to suggest a SLAM. However, I'm not so sure that would be a good idea. Bringing the FC up to SLAM levels may deposit some of the stains back on the pool.

Go with the DE in the filter, and watch your pressure closely. You may have to keep the pump running 24 hrs for several days.

 

[stester]

i won't do the DE unless i'm going to be home all day, i don't have a pressure gauge on the filter but after i bushed the pool i could watch the returns and see the flow rate had dropped to not much and i would have to backwash about every 30 mins. I imagine it will be worse after adding the DE. And I know nothing about adding the DE I haven't read up on it yet.

 

[Charlie_R]

Pool School has a excellent article on adding DE to your sand filter.

Is there a port on your filter for a gauge? Gauges are not expensive ($15-20 for a good one), and cheap insurance letting you know what's going on faster. As a general rule of thumb here, it is recommended that you backwash when the gauge reads 20% over your clean pressure. You may not be able to tell the difference in flow rate at the pool with this.