Confused - Cloudy/Algae/Chlorine/Levels Correct

[jonnyrr77]

Love the site and use it often. Post rarely but need a lesson. My water gradually started getting cloudy starting 2 weeks ago. Weather was mild when it started but I did have a point where chlorine level got below 1. I quickly remedied it and chlorine has been good since. Recent water test at pool store had my levels at:
FC 4
TC 4
Salt 3300
Calcium 230
CYA 25
Alkalinity 80
pH 7.6
Phosphates 300

It was reccommended I put 11lbs of CYA. I hate spending all that money so put in 8lbs. It has been a few days so it should full dissolved into water. Would guess my current CYA level is about 60.

Now, my pool still looks cloudy. Just a touch of aqua/greenish blue. Hard to see a definitive green, but when brushing the sides there is a cloud of something that is stirred up. So, I unfortunately decided I needed to treat the pool for algae. I dumped in 7.5 gallons of chlorine last night. Typically when I do this, the pool may remain cloudy but the agua greenish tint is gone (dead algae). This morning, I feel the pool is just about the same. The tint is still there. I don't have enough experience to tell me if there is algae or not. There have to be other reasons the water is cloudy and I want to learn what may be causing mine. How do I know if it's algae or not? What other causes should I be aware of? Thank you very much for help.

 

[Casey]

How about we start off with the ABC's of Pool Water Chemistry.

You should also invest in a reliable test kit so you can test the water daily and not depend on the Pool Store, whose test are not only unreliable, but they also try to see you chemicals you don't need. You can look at the test kits here :arrow: Test Kit Comparison. The TF100 will be the best value as you will get more reagents and test out of it than you will the K2006.

 

[hyperionguy]

Edit: Yeah, what she said. lol

You can find out if anything is growing in your pool by performing the OFCL test http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/136-perform-the-overnight-fc-chlorine-loss-test-oclt

Sounds like for sure something is in there, but this test will tell you.

When I plugged your numbers into pool math it appears that you put in the right amount of bleach to get you to 24ppm which is the shock level for CYA 60 (assuming it was 8.25% bleach). But a one-time shock is not the same as a SLAM. If you fail the OFCL then you will have to SLAM. The "M" being the important part--- maintain! http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/125-slam-shock-level-and-maintain-shockingl

 

[jonnyrr77]

Thank you for the responses. I do have the K-2006 testing kit but don't trust my readings on the CYA. Rarely depend on the pool store but needed CYA so thought I'd have them check all levels while we were there to compare. I have the ABC's of pool water chemistry printed off and with my kit for a while now. My main question is, I am treating my pool like it has algae so I started the SLAM process with a bunch of bleach. I don't want to do this unless I have to, so is there a way to confirm the cloudiness of my water is something other than algae before starting the process? Should I perform the OFCL test before starting the SLAM process to confirm there is something going on? What are some other causes of an onset of cloudy water? I want to develop more of an understanding so that I can be more prepared to diagnose these issues in the future. Thanks.

 

[jblizzle]

Cloudy water is nearly always due to a chemistry problem ... either FC too low allowing algae to start or rarely high CH & pH levels.

Raise the FC up to shock level and do the OCLT and see what happens.

BTW, the CYA test is the one that the pool stores are notoriously the worst at. Trust your results. There are videos on the tftestkits.net site for doing all the tests.