New Pool Owner - Cloudy Water issue

[ericbevill]

I just moved down to Carolina and bought a house with an inground pool. I used to live up north and wasn't crazy enough to have a pool for 2 months a year. I've got 8,000 gallons with a Hayward 220T sand filter. I opened the pool a number of weeks back and it was visually clean. I vacuumed and swept the pool and after a few days it was clear as could be. I could clearly see the bottom of the deepest part of the pool. The water temp was <65 at this time so I let it be at is was and went on a business trip. When I returned it was just as I had left it, but it was warming up so I tested the water found that I pretty much had water.

Not knowing what I am doing I took water to be tested at the pool store and they confirmed my findings and had me do the following:

Add 8 pounds ALKALINITY UP (wait 4 hours)
Add 1 pound SODA ASH (wait 4 hours)
Add 1 pound POWER POWDER PLUS (wait 4 hours)
Add 12 fl oz of PHOS FREE to the skimmer

I did exactly that and the numbers looked good, but my pool though blue was cloudy. I literally have about 1 foot visibility.

I ran the filter and waited a couple of days and there was no change so I went back to the pool store which I am quickly learning is not the right idea. They gave me a liquid pool clarifier and I followed their directions on it which turned out to do absolutely nothing.

After that little experiment and a few days I returned with water again and the result is as follows: (I have no idea which are important to you so I'll list what I know)

My pool temp during all of this stays between 75-80
CYA: 100
Tot. Chlorine: 1.1
Free Chlorine: 1.1
pH: 7.7
Tot. Alkalinity: 77
Adj. Total Alk: 47
Tot. Hardness: 152
Borates: 3

Upon getting those numbers they had me shock it with 4 bags and wait 2 days. Day 2 and I will say the pool has a blue'r color to it, it is still cloudy. Using my cheap little test strips it now seams that the total chlorine, free chlorine and CYA are high. I am on my way back to the pool store to get a decent test again, but figured I'd reach out here.

Any genius advice out there?

 

[duraleigh]

I am on my way back to the pool store to get a decent test again, but figured I'd reach out here.

It seems that is doing the same thing as you did before but expecting different results. As you continue to read on this forum, you will find that we believe pool store testing to be hopeless and the advice they give you will likely be about the same.

This forum will teach you how to test and manage your own pool if you are willing to learn.

It will require your own VERY GOOD test kit and will require some of your time but mostly it will require your dedication to learn what we teach and your pool will be crystal clear the remainder of the pool season.

The Pool Store is managing your pool for you and you see the results. Learn to manage it yourself along with thousands of pool owners who will help and your pool (and wallet) will never be happier.

I would suggest starting with reading "The ABC's of Pool Water Chemistry" up in Pool School. Then browse some more, post some questions, etc.

 

[Richard320]

Welcome!

It sounds like you've been pool-stored. Add that word to your vocabulary.

If - HUGE if - those test results are correct, your problem is twofold. Your CYA level is too high and your Free Chlorine level is too low for your CYA level. The one-size-fits-all-3-ppm-is-just-perfect preprinted sheets are wrong. You want proof? Go look at your pool!

The solution is in Pool School. Learn about it, take control. Go in the pool store and tell them what you want, don't let them tell you what to buy. Nobody but me has tested my water for over three years, and the whole time you can call heads or tails from the deck if you toss a quarter in the deep end, 365 days a year.

Want the express solution? http://tftestkits.net/TF-100-Test-Kit-p4.html. Order tonight, it'll ship tomorrow. You might even have it overnight without having to pay overnight rates! You're only 150 miles away. Get some good numbers of your own, drain off enough water and refill it to get the CYA to something manageable, and hit it!

There's still plenty of time to get that pool sparkling before Memorial Day!

 

[JesseWV]

With CYA at even 100 you will need to do a partial drain and refill. I'm guessing it's actually above 100 but there's no way to know until you get an dependable reading. Once you get your kit, we can show you how to perform a dilution to test up to read up to 200ppm.

Oh, and don't let Dave mislead you about the quality of the TF-100. It's not "VERY GOOD" ...



... it's the GREATEST!

 

[ericbevill]

Ordered... You guys will be hearing from me once I get it and start to figure out what I am doing.

 

[Divin Dave]

You made the right decisions in ordering that test kit and electing to take control of your own pool. You won't regret it.

One of the first things you can do to help the experts help you, is to create a signature and add your pool details to it. Most of us have done that.
Many of the water chemistry is depenent on volume, whethere its gunite, vinyl, or fiberglass etc. Its just real easy to look at a sig and use that inormation to determine what steps to take.

Ordered... You guys will be hearing from me once I get it and start to figure out what I am doing.

 

[Casey]

Hope you got the TF100 XL! It's the best of the best!

As duraleigh stated, it will require you to learn the TFPC (trouble free pool care). Knowledge is power. We are always here to help answer your questions but... we can not make you read Pool School or want to learn it. You have to do that on your own and want to do it. We don't have magic bullets here at TFP. Only Pool School and a very friendly forum.

Welcome. Your'e going to have a great summer after doing your home work in Pool School!

 

[ericbevill]

Well the good news is the day after I ordered the kit I had the pool perfectly clear again. After reading a post I gave an extended backwash a try and it was clear in a matter of hours. I did a backwash previously in troubleshooting, but I did another for 4-5 mins and for whatever reason that did the trick. The bad news is the results of my tests once I got the kit

PH: 7.8
CL: 5 (this was as high as the test went, but it appeared to be higher. In using my test strips that I had it looks about 9)
BR: 10 (same as with CL)
FC: 12
CC: 0
TC: 12
CH: 250 ppm
TA: 200
CYA: 80 (not sure about this one. I did the test as indicated and it was just off of the 80 mark. My strips and my last 'pool store' test shows this 100+) Should I believe in my results or assume that I took not being able to see the black dot any longer too literal?

I am going over to poolmath now, but figured I'd follow up with ya'll.

 

[Richard320]

You could have washed out a good bit of CYA with that extended backwash. Also, the CYA test is best done in indirect sunlight, and it's dark where you are, correct? Low light makes the dot disappear sooner.

You're lucky - you're close enough to get refills fast. i suspect you'll be burning through a lot of reagents when you're having fun with your Junior Scientist Playset.

 

[ericbevill]

I can see that... I think I was more excited seeing the UPS man than I have been in a while. Plus I work from home and the wife won't let me smoke cigars in the house so I am always by the pool. I am a computer guy by trade, but I will have all of this down before long.

FYI... I did that test under direct (indoor) lighting. And if I am not mistaken the more fluid that goes in before the dot disappears the lower the CYA as the number decreases as it rises.

Either way, I will play with it and figure out what I am looking at and like you said the refills are just across the state.

 

[ericbevill]

Well I did a lot of reading on this site last night. I am going to believe that I did my CYA test incorrectly because the test strips are at least in the ballpark with everything else I tested, but its the highest level of CYA and I came up with 80. I read somewhere else where @Richard320 mentioned to test it multiple times and come up with the common denominator until I figure it out so I'll do that this afternoon.

I also believe that I know why the CYA is out of scope after reading on many posts. I have an inline CL200 Chlorinator that has 3" silk tabs in it which I now believe to understand is a major cause of CYA. And to think I was excited to know the previous owner just left me $100 in tabs!

I'll retest as mentioned, but then it looks like I lose the tabs, partial drain/refill, test, correct other levels? Correct?

As for the Chlorinator can it be used with a better product or should I give it up all together for liquid? I think I know the answer, but figured I'd ask just the same
If I give it up do I need to take it out of line or can I simply remove the tabs? In other words does it actually do anything or does water simply flow through and over the tabs in which case I could remove the tabs and future problem prevented?

 

[timerguy]

Yeah, the previous owner of my pool left me with Big bucket of tabs and a 24lb box of shock. What I didn't know until a year later was he left me with 340 ppm cya and a recurrent algae problem.

 

[Richard320]

The pucks will last for years if you keep them in the closed bucket. They're real handy for vacations, so leave the chlorinator there, but empty. Also, you have that unknown natural phenomenom where water falls from the sky. Even in the summer. So you may lose some CYA through dilution, and those pucks are an easy way to raise it up again.