Looking for advice to clear Cloudy Water

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D

dizzle

0
Jun 1, 2014
27
Minneapolis
We bought a home, which was in foreclosure, a couple of months ago which came with a pool. The pool was winterized for the last two years(at least) and we had it open 6 weeks ago.

Following are some of things we have done so far
Pool people put the new filters and opened the pool. We Shocked the pool with liquid Chlorine (13% ) about 16 Gallons (8, 4, 4 ) in total and took out lot of debris with Pool Leaf rake and manually vacuumed it and got the PH under control however the pool was cloudy. Shocked it with Lithium Shock and then sprayed with Revive to get all the Organic particles to settle and vacuumed it again. Clean the Cartilages 3-4 times in the last six week. We got another water test done last week and the Total dissolved solids were 2100 and were asked to drain 25% of the Pool. We did that and got the water tested again. Following are today result with Water still cloudy. ( we have been running the Pump 24/7 )

Free Chlorine .1
PH 7.5
Total Alkalinity 179
Calcium Hardness 171
Stabilizer 15
Copper .2
Iron .0
Total Dissolved Solids 1200

Just added Proteam Metal magic to reduce the copper. Idea is to balance the Copper first, then Adjust PH and Alkalanity, then add more chlorine. We have talked to few pool stores over the last six weeks and got different range of recommendations and not sure which one to follow. I have been reading TFP forum from last couple of days and I am hoping I will get some expert opinions from the knowledgeable people here to see if we are on the right track

Thanks
 
I feel like a broken record but...

The key is to get your own accurate test results and then take care of only what needs taking care of. Order a proper test kit - I suggest the TF100 since that's what I use - and post up results and we can walk you through it. You can be done with the pool stores -- except for obscure pieces of hardware -- for good and have sparkling clear water from here on out.

What you're describing sounds like the pool store people are just spinning the Wheel of Fortune at your expense.

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The one thing in your pool chemistry you can be certain of is that the pool will need chlorine. If it's cloudy now, it will be green again before you can test otherwise. I would suggest you add 5 FC every day, which works out awfully close to one 121 oz jug of 8.25% clorox. Don't expect it to do anything but keep it stalled there. And yes, run the filter. Maybe some of the cloudiness will filter out.
 
Still waiting for the Kit. In the meanwhile I have another question. It rained a lot over the weekend in Minneapolis like 4+ Inches and I got water behind my liner which caused it to bubble. The water is receding now and bubbles are going away ( there are still some wrinkles ) at the same time pool water have also gone down like 2-3 inches. Is this normal or I might have a leak now in the pool?
 
Just added Proteam Metal magic to reduce the copper. Idea is to balance the Copper first, then Adjust PH and Alkalanity, then add more chlorine. We have talked to few pool stores over the last six weeks and got different range of recommendations and not sure which one to follow. I have been reading TFP forum from last couple of days and I am hoping I will get some expert opinions from the knowledgeable people here to see if we are on the right track

What Richard said: What you're describing sounds like the pool store people are just spinning the Wheel of Fortune at your expense.

This was a reply to someone else but I'm thinking you could benefit from it too.

No way around it, you need to do some reading. Start here in pool school : http://www.troublefreepool.com/conte...etting-started

They don't say "shock" here, it's SLAM. Here is the how to: http://www.troublefreepool.com/conte...tain-shockingl

When you go to SLAM your pool you'll want to know the CYA level and use this table to figure out what level of FC you need to maintain. http://www.troublefreepool.com/conte...art-slam-shock

If you start to follow the TFPC recommendations here you will not be needing or using the tablets (guessing you are talking about the 3" chlorinating tabs). http://www.troublefreepool.com/threa...-for-Beginners

Her is a link to the calculator to figure out how much of what to add to your pool to get it blue and keep it sparkling. http://www.troublefreepool.com/calc.html

Link to the recommended (and less expensive) chemicals to use instead of the $$$ pool store stuff: http://www.troublefreepool.com/conte...pool-chemicals

If the pool is maintained you shouldn't need to shock. What you do is:
Daily
Look at the water, notice the clarity and color.
Test the chlorine level and adjust if needed.
Test the pH and adjust if needed.
Examine the skimmer(s) and clean if needed.
Use a leaf rake to remove any surface debris.

That should get you started. From here on out, when in doubt ASK !!
 
I just wanted to update our pool liner issue. Our liner actually went back to normal over the past few days. I guess there was no leak after all because we have not lost anymore water. It was some sort of weird illusion I suppose that the bubbles were so big that it pushed some on the water in the pool up, then once the bubbles started going away then water level came down but has stayed level.
Anyways. we just started testing at home now and got our kit
Here are the numbers:
.5 FC
1.5 CC

CH 150 ppm
Alkalinity 300
PH 7.5

CYA im still trying to figure this test out I think it was 30? but last week we had pool store test our total dissolved solids and it was 1200. We have recently drained pool 25% and refilled with fresh water.

What should we adjust first? pool look more blue but still cloudy. What should we do first?
 
TDS itself is a meaningless number that pool stores somehow still believe is relevant in any way. TDS is anything that's dissolved in your pool. Calcium, salt, cyanuric acid, borates, whatever's left of a beer that your rowdy neighbor spilled in there yesterday. You get the point. Lump all that together in one number and it tells you nothing about the chemical balance of your pool. In a salt water pool, there's over 3000 TDS because there's more salt in there to keep the SWG running properly. Should all people with SWG lower their TDS? No, it's necessary. TDS is a test remnant from when testing for CYA was unavailable (from what I recall...).

It's the individual components of TDS that you test for individually that give you useful information about how to balance your pool.

If you look at this list of relevant chemicals and levels, TDS is not there, because it tells no relevant story about your pool. ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry

CYA can be a tricky test but you can dump the sample back into the squeeze bottle and retest several times. It's good practice and and average of your results gives you more confidence in the number.

Read more on the SLAM - Shock Level and Maintain and read as much of the rest of all the stuff in the Pool School link up top and let it sink in. Then read some more. :) It's a lot to absorb but it's all great information. Asking questions on what you learn will get great answers from the excellent experts here.
 

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Time to SLAM the pool.
Might help if you can post a picture of the pool/water so we can "see" what it is you're looking at.
 
I started Slamming last night and got the FC to 8 this morning, added more chlorine in the morning to bring it to 12 according to the Shock Level per CYA 30.

I am adding some pictures to give a sense of what we dealing with. In the morning the clarity was little better, I Vacuumed it which reduced it a little bit.

Other issue we are facing is the Filter pressure has increased to 25 from last few days. before our water drain that it was 18 consistently. The pump might run with some air since water went down below skimmers. Our Cartridges are only 7 weeks old ( adding pics ) and I have cleaned them three times this week to rule them out without any results. Not sure should I wash them with Muriatic Acid. Any other ideas?
 
I cleaned them again and its still 25. But FC dropped to 1.5 instead of going up after I added the Chlorine in the morning. I tested twice to rule out the Testing error and both time it came around 1.5. Is this Normal?

Should I keep Going with Slamming?
 
dizzle said:
I cleaned them again and its still 25. But FC dropped to 1.5 instead of going up after I added the Chlorine in the morning. I tested twice to rule out the Testing error and both time it came around 1.5. Is this Normal?

Should I keep Going with Slamming?
Click to expand...
If your CYA level is low, you will lose a lot of chlorine really fast to the sun. Did you ever get a reading on that?
 

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