I have a salt cell system with a PH of 7.6, total alk 210 (Just had heavy rain) Chlorine is off charts. I had a bad Algea bloom and treated with shock to no avail. I ran bio guard banish. My pool went from green to blue cloudy like the bottle says. But I never went back to clear. I have tried clarifier as well as shock, it has gotten me nowhere. It has been 7 days now and I just had a recommendation from the pool store to do a flock so I did.... NOTHING. Still blue and cloudy.
Went from green to blue cloudy and cant get it back.
- Thread starter imbradm
- Start date
Welcome to TFP!
Please post a complete set of water test results. Without more information there isn't much we can comment on.
Please post a complete set of water test results. Without more information there isn't much we can comment on.
10,500 Gal Above ground Vynyl, 1/2 hp pump w/sand filter, intex salt generator. 7.6 PH, Total Alk 210, chlorine above 5 (that's as far as my tester goes) What other info do you need?
Welcome to the forum! 
We also need to know what your stabilizer level (Cya Level) is. So you need a kit that can give you that parameter. This is very important to know, because you have to have a certain amount of FC to compensate for what the Cya level is in you pool.
Even though you have added shock, it does not mean the pool had been completely and thoroughly "shocked". It is quite possible that you have not added enough FC, especially at 5 PPM to get a complete kill of all Algae. It does sound like you have killed some perhaps, but not all.
What shocking TRULY means, is that all the algae present has to be completely killed. This can only happen when you elevate the FC level (Free Chlorine) and hold it at a high level for a period of time. There is no set period of time for any given pool or situation, each is a little different. Here, we call doing that a SLAM procedure. It's our word for a true shocking of the pool.
As for the "clarifier", these can sometime cause your cloudy problems to worsen, and it's why we rarely, if ever suggest using them.
To complete a SLAM you need a test that can range very high in the test for FC. Not sure what kit you have, but I would strongly suggest purchasing a TF-100, or at the very least a FAS DPD kit, Cya test Kit, and a good, basic pH drop test kit.
Clearing a pool of Algae bloom can almost always be cleared by a SLAM procedure with no need for anything else like "claifier".
To obtain the tests, and find out how to do a SLAM, simply click the links in my signature line and read up on them. Please begin by reading the ABCs of Pool Chems First. Absorb that, and move on to the others. We are here to help when you have questions and if you follow this info, you're problems will go away. It all sound like a lot of info, but it doing this is just a matter of keeping high FC and filtering as you will read. When you are done, you'll be amazed how easy it was to get done. I assure you, it will work.
We also need to know what your stabilizer level (Cya Level) is. So you need a kit that can give you that parameter. This is very important to know, because you have to have a certain amount of FC to compensate for what the Cya level is in you pool.
Even though you have added shock, it does not mean the pool had been completely and thoroughly "shocked". It is quite possible that you have not added enough FC, especially at 5 PPM to get a complete kill of all Algae. It does sound like you have killed some perhaps, but not all.
What shocking TRULY means, is that all the algae present has to be completely killed. This can only happen when you elevate the FC level (Free Chlorine) and hold it at a high level for a period of time. There is no set period of time for any given pool or situation, each is a little different. Here, we call doing that a SLAM procedure. It's our word for a true shocking of the pool.
As for the "clarifier", these can sometime cause your cloudy problems to worsen, and it's why we rarely, if ever suggest using them.
To complete a SLAM you need a test that can range very high in the test for FC. Not sure what kit you have, but I would strongly suggest purchasing a TF-100, or at the very least a FAS DPD kit, Cya test Kit, and a good, basic pH drop test kit.
Clearing a pool of Algae bloom can almost always be cleared by a SLAM procedure with no need for anything else like "claifier".
To obtain the tests, and find out how to do a SLAM, simply click the links in my signature line and read up on them. Please begin by reading the ABCs of Pool Chems First. Absorb that, and move on to the others. We are here to help when you have questions and if you follow this info, you're problems will go away. It all sound like a lot of info, but it doing this is just a matter of keeping high FC and filtering as you will read. When you are done, you'll be amazed how easy it was to get done. I assure you, it will work.
- May 22, 2013
- 2,796
- Pool Size
- 12000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Aqua Rite (T-15)
welcome to the forum
+1 and in addition to it working it will be much less expensive to do it this way rather than running to the pool store and "trying" a 20-40 dollar bottle of something one after another until one of them works (clarifier, floc, algaecide, ....
It may sound a little complicated but with a little reading you catch on pretty quick. Best thing to do is look at a couple of other threads here from people who ended up here with swamps or threatening to fill the pool in and went through a SLAM and have a blue sparkly pool.
+1 and in addition to it working it will be much less expensive to do it this way rather than running to the pool store and "trying" a 20-40 dollar bottle of something one after another until one of them works (clarifier, floc, algaecide, ....
It may sound a little complicated but with a little reading you catch on pretty quick. Best thing to do is look at a couple of other threads here from people who ended up here with swamps or threatening to fill the pool in and went through a SLAM and have a blue sparkly pool.
Your TA level is quite high. I suggest working on getting TA down. High TA can cause cloudy water in some situations.