Tricked into buying ALUM for phosphates and now water is cloudy

[coletjd]

Very happy I found TFP as I have been reading reading reading for the last couple of days and learned more in a week than I have for the three years I have owned this pool and consulted with the pool store "experts". Long story short I purchased a home in 2011 with white fiberglass pool that was a foreclosure and it was questionable if the pool was maintained correctly. When the cover was opened we were pleased that everything looked good and had the local pool contractor come out and open and test. From 2011 thru 2013 we had many fun days in the pool playing in the sun. I will confess that I was not minding the balance and maintenance as much as I should have because I naively depended on the SWG taking care of everything.

This year when I opened this pool it was stained throughout but severely with a brown ring on the waterline and also right below the skimmer. I used a Regal Stain Out product and it worked great however my chemical chemistry was completely out of whack. Foolishly I entrusted on the local hardware store with a HTH water tester and purchased about $120 worth of junk which I followed the directions ever so carefully to transform my beautiful crystal clear pool into a dark brownish yellow green pond in about an hour. I had to use 3 bottles of the HTH Metal Out that did eventually clear it up but it involved more Stain Out and Metal Out that were both Regal products. After a few weeks of tyring to balance I had 2 different big name stores tell me the root of all my problems was my 2500ppb phosphate levels. I now know this is not the root cause but I have already wasted about $50 on Phosfree and also about $65 on ALUM from Leslies. Leslie's told me that my level was probably because of the stain and metal control I used. My water was not even close to balanced before the ALUM but I put it in about a week ago and it is still cloudy. I have cleaned the cartridge filter quite a few times in the last week.

My question is how can I get rid of the cloudiness the ALUM caused? I cannot backwash or waste as my cartridges are in line with my pump. My water chemistry is gradually getting better and my FC is starting to hold as posted below but the water looks worse than it ever has.


6-28-2014
FC - Free Chlorine = 0.2
PH - Acidity/Alkalinity = 7.6
TA - Total Alkalinity = 125
CYA - Cyanuric Acid = 35
CH - Calcium Hardness = 403
Salt = 3200

7-1-2014
FC - Free Chlorine = 7
PH - Acidity/Alkalinity = 7.2
TA - Total Alkalinity = 80
CYA - Cyanuric Acid = 70
CH - Calcium Hardness = 380
Salt = 3200

Thanks in advance

 

[Isaac-1]

Ok, lets take this a step at a time, how are you testing, and how did your CYA go from 35 to 70 in less than a week?

 

[coletjd]

I have a blue devil water test kit that I used and have also been using the HTH strips along with the Aquacheck strips. I have a TF100 on order but I figure combination of these should be able to get me started.

I put in about 3.5 lbs of dry stabilizer throughout the week by sprinkling some in the pool and also through a sock that was put in the skimmer.
The 35 CYA reading was confirmed with the pool store testing and aligned with the strip testing. The increase to 70 is s an estimation on "half way" between the ranges used on test kit from 50 to 100 but yes I understand the potential inaccuracy.