High Hardness & Cloudy water

[philsr24]

Our pump was out of commission for about 4 weeks. We got it replaced and everything is working well however we've been trying to get our pool balanced again. Our chlorine was non-existent (literally 0) and the pH was over 8 and then we got brown algae. We added some MA to get the pH down and its now around 7.2-7.4. We did a shock treatment to get chlorine levels up and kill the algae. I think all the algae is dead (haven't seen any come back yet) and we sucked it up through pool vac and then cleaned the filter. This afternoon I added a bottle of the My Salt Pool Cell protector (to try and reduce hardness). The chlorine level was at about 1 so I did another shock treatment (around 4pm today).

Now the issue is the water is cloudy (doesn't look like there is any algae). It was cloudy before adding the cell protector and doing the second shock treatment. The TCL & FCL levels are really high - at least 10 (but equal to each other) based on the test strips we have. Our hardness level is also really high (around 1,000). Not sure what we should do or what is causing the cloudiness. The balancing noted above, algae, shock treatments were done over the last 2 days.

My thought for Chlorine levels is that since 2nd shock was done around 4pm without much sun exposure, I will see the levels reduce after sun tomorrow - so will test again and see - good plan or should I do something else? Regarding the hardness, I need to add more salt to the pool (only at 2100 right now), would this also reduce hardness? If not, how do I reduce this? Regarding the cloudiness, how do I make the water clear again? Here are test results from this evening (about 4 hours after cell protector & 2nd shock treatment. Thanks!

Hardness 1,000
Total Chlorine 10+
Free Chlorine 10+
pH 7.2-7.4
Total Alkalinity 120
Stabilizer somewhere between 0-50 so likely around 25 or so
Salt 2,100
**SWG is not producing chlorine right now - not enough salt & water temp is too low - the chlorine feeder is empty but thinking I should put some chlorine tabs in it until water heats up.

 

[pwrstrk]

High Hardness & Cloudy water

I see you only have a couple of posts so Welcome to TFP !
First thing I'm going to say is we can help you clear your pool and get it balanced again.
Now with that said, I see that your using test strips to test your water. The problem here is they are not even in the ball park with being accurate enough to give you advice on what to do to get this fixed up. We simply don't trust them or pool store test results. To give you advice based on the results you have given would be a shot in the dark and nobody here is going to do that. We want to help you fix your problem not add to it ! For us to give you good accurate advice we need to have accurate test results to base our advice on.
So to help you get this headed in the right direction I strongly suggest you invest in one of these Test Kits. One of these kits is the right tool for the job. The one I use and suggest to get is the TF100. It's the best value. I would also get the XL option as you'll need the extra reagents to SLAM your pool. This will be the process you'll have to do to rid your pool of algae. While your at it take a look at the Speedstir. It makes testing, especially the CH test a lot easier. Since your on the west coast you can get this get at poolsupplyworld.com. It'll ship faster to you from there.
While you wait for the test kit to arrive spend sometime in Pool School reading. Here are a couple of good articles to start with.
ABC'S Of Pool Water Chemistry
This article on the SLAM Process, will have to be done to rid your pool of any algae that may be left over or still growing and make your water crystal clear. The process has to be followed to the T to work. So give it a couple of reads.
The short version is get the test kit. Do your homework in Pool School. When your test kit arrives post up a full set of test results and we can get you started on fixing this up for you. Don't add anymore pool store chemicals to your water. I can't stress enough about getting a good test kit !

 

[Divin Dave]

Hi there,
I 2nd what Jeff says. the test strips are extremely inaccurate. If you really want to take control of your pool, a really good reliable test kit is the ticket. It will be well worth the cost of it.

As for controlling CH, there aren't any magic cures. The only way to lower it is through dilution. In most cases, this means drain some portion of water and refill.