Cloudy and discolored after TONS of rain

[MaxnCryssie]

Hi there! We're new to pool ownership and maintenance, but have been successful our first 3 months using the BBB method. We test our pool once a week (or more if we use it more). We've been able to maintain relatively perfect levels until about 2 days ago. After lots of use with family and friends visiting, we had 2 days of heavy rainfall and today we woke up to a greenish/yellow cloudy pool. This has taken us aback as we have had the most gorgeous clear water for almost 3 months. I checked our levels and the chlorine was a little low, but the acid and alkalinity were normal. We noticed a lot of yellow "stuff" on the bottom of our pool...after reading up on Mustard Algae, we have decided it is likely pollen. So...we vacuumed the bottom, backwashed for 5 minutes, added fresh water, and added the chlorine, muriatic acid and baking soda that our test indicated. I am hoping this clears things up.

We do have a few questions though...

1. Should we have put conditioner into the pool again? We put it in when we first filled the pool, but we aren't really sure how often this needs to be added.
2. Would something as simple as a pool cover have prevented this? It has rained before and rained a lot, but this is the first time our water has ever gone yucky!

Any insight would be appreciated

 

[tim5055]

The first comment I have is that you need to,be testing more than once a week.

What test kit are you using?

Can you provide a full set of test readings

FC
cC
pH
cH
TA
CYA

 

[Texas Splash]

Hello again and welcome! I'm going to piggy-back on Tim's note above. TFP always encourages that you do your own testing via one of the TFP-recommended test kits (i.e. TF-100 link below) since accurate test readings serve as the foundation for everything you do from this point forward and the advice you receive on this site.

Golden rule - Avoid the pool store for testing, advice, or products. You simply won’t get the advice/service you deserve and you will waste money on products your pool doesn’t need. Do not add anything to your pool other than what is advocated by the TFP site or its experts. You’ll have a happier pool, spend less time maintaining your pool, and probably save lots of $$ in the process. Please take a moment to read the following short articles from this site that you see linked in my signature below:

Pool School, Recommended Levels (for YOUR pool), PoolMath Calculator, SLAM, and the Chlorine/CYA Chart - These links will be your handy references with TFP.

Also, if you haven’t done so already, please verify that all of your pool information is accurate and/or loaded in your “signature” which can be accessed in your TFP profile. That information is valuable to TFP readers as they try to assist you. As for your two specific questions above:
1. Conditioner (aka stabilizer) is generally added at fill-up to a specific level (see charts below) based on your pool and type chlorinator. It contains your "CYA" level. Some is required to protect your free chlorine, too much is bad. You don't just add it arbitrarily, only when it's low.
2. Nope. More than likely you got away with clear water for a while until your free chlorine (and possibly CYA level) got out of hand. That's where the "recommended" test kit comes-in. Anything less (pool store, test strips, generic test kits) falls-short of giving you the accurate readings you need.

If you have any more questions, just re-post to this thread or ask.

 

[MaxnCryssie]

We're using the JED pool tool's 4-in-1 test kit (model 00-486). It tests Chlorine, Bromine, pH, acid demand and alkalinity.

Our readings are:

FC = 3.0
CC = 3.0
pH = 7.8
TA = 70 ppm

My test kit doesn't measure calcium hardness or CYA. Looks like I'm going to get the recommended test kit asap.

According to the chart, the readings are within normal range (except the TA right now is 10 ppm low), but the water is still a greenish/yellow tint (it's not really cloudy anymore, but the water is not clear).

I've included 2 pics of what the pool looked like last week and 2 of what it looks like today.

- - - Updated - - -

Thank you, Texas Splash! I will review all of that and update our profile!