Chlorine drop test cloudy

[JenniferMarie90]

Hello my friends. Like many of you, I'm working to get my water in shape for summer.

lately when I perform my chlorine drop tests, the red disappears but the water is very cloudy. It didnt used to appear so cloudy. Any cause for concern? I will say my salt levels for my SWG are kind of high, not sure if that could be it.

 

[an1vrsy]

How does the pool water look? Is that cloudy?

Over the months when our water was cold and your SWG wouldn’t generate chlorine, how did you chlorinate the pool?

Post up a full set of results from your kit. But for your question, my vial of water isn’t cloudy when I am done with the fas-dpd test.

 

[Newdude]

Hey JM and Welcome BACK!!!!

Get us a good pic of the cloudy sample. Also one of the 0870 powder.

 

[JenniferMarie90]

Hey JM and Welcome BACK!!!!

Get us a good pic of the cloudy sample. Also one of the 0870 powder.

Hey new dude,
Good to be back except for a few issues as always lol and feeling bad bothering y’all.

Here are the requested pics. Now that I recall, the powder is new I bought it last year at the end of the summer BUT one of the chemicals in the pack leaked you can tell by the lid. I forget which one but perhaps that’s the cause because once I add the powder, before the R0871 it looks cloudy to my eyes.

During the winter I just used liquid chlorine and my water in the pool itself looks great to me.
Pics of water before powder.
Water with powder
Water with powder and R0871
Opened powder
Perhaps I need to order a new powder that hasn’t been leaked into?


Also, different note but I noticed one of my waterline tiles is cracked. It’s not popping off or anything, I have no idea how it happened but how “bad” is one tile cracked?

 

[wireform]

So how many drop till ot went clear, divided x2 = your Fc. Did ulyou do the CC test?
You'd need the full set of new test results to give us a complete picture.
FC
CC
PH
CH
TA
CYA
Salinity

 

[Newdude]

and feeling bad bothering y’all

HOGWASH!!!! Don't matter when it is. There's a few people sitting around bored just waiting for a question to come in. Help them out anytime and they'll return the favor.

Water with powder and R0871

That's weird. I was using an older dpd powder that wasn't quite as discolored and clumped as yours, but was most of the way there and the sample was still clear at the end.

Meh. It's cheap to replace and it's important so I'd get a new one.

have no idea how it happened but how “bad” is one tile cracked?

Ok. I LOVE our game. You ask about how something looks and I ask for pics. Your turn.

 

[proavia]

Sometimes older R-870 will cloud up the sample. I've had it happen and the test results were still accurate.
So instead of going from pink to clear, it goes from cloudy pink to cloudy clear.
Of course, if you're ever in doubt just buy new reagents.

Do you use a Speedstir or SmartStir stirring device. If not, put it on the list to order one.

Add your test kit to your signature too.

 

[JenniferMarie90]

Sometimes older R-870 will cloud up the sample. I've had it happen and the test results were still accurate.
So instead of going from pink to clear, it goes from cloudy pink to cloudy clear.
Of course, if you're ever in doubt just buy new reagents.

Do you use a Speedstir or SmartStir stirring device. If not, put it on the list to order one.

Add your test kit to your signature too.

HOGWASH!!!! Don't matter when it is. There's a few people sitting around bored just waiting for a question to come in. Help them out anytime and they'll return the favor.



That's weird. I was using an older dpd powder that wasn't quite as discolored and clumped as yours, but was most of the way there and the sample was still clear at the end.

Meh. It's cheap to replace and it's important so I'd get a new one.

Ok. I LOVE our game. You ask about how something looks and I ask for pics. Your turn.

HOGWASH!!!! Don't matter when it is. There's a few people sitting around bored just waiting for a question to come in. Help them out anytime and they'll return the favor.



That's weird. I was using an older dpd powder that wasn't quite as discolored and clumped as yours, but was most of the way there and the sample was still clear at the end.

Meh. It's cheap to replace and it's important so I'd get a new one.

Ok. I LOVE our game. You ask about how something looks and I ask for pics. Your turn.

gotta keep you on your toes! Lol see below for pics of crack. It’s hairline but goes all the way to the bottom of the tile.

 

[JenniferMarie90]

Sometimes older R-870 will cloud up the sample. I've had it happen and the test results were still accurate.
So instead of going from pink to clear, it goes from cloudy pink to cloudy clear.
Of course, if you're ever in doubt just buy new reagents.

Do you use a Speedstir or SmartStir stirring device. If not, put it on the list to order one.

Add your test kit to your signature too.

Good idea to add it to my sig, will do. And I don’t have one of those but maybe I’ll I’ll order that with my new powder. Is it worth the $$?

 

[JoyfulNoise]

What is your salinity and CH?

 

[proavia]

It is worth the money. Makes testing much easier and much more consistent.
I haven't heard anyone who has one said they wished they didn't order one.

 

[proavia]

Now that Matt mentioned CH and salinity - I recall when my CH and salinity were high is about the time my R-870 would cloud the sample.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

There components in the R-0870 powder that are sensitive to CH and TDS levels. It doesn’t affect the actual test but it will affect the turbidity of the resulting mixture. At low TDS and CH, the water will be mostly clear. As you go higher in CH and TDS, a precipitate forms that can start to cloud the water. Most of our East Coast friends get the pleasure of having very soft water to work with …

 

[JenniferMarie90]

What is your salinity and CH?

Currently having issues measuring salinity. Posted on the SWG thread about that today. Can’t tell if it’s 4000 or 5000. I know it’s too high due to husband adding too much salt when we emptied and filled last year. And I’ve never ever been able to get a good CH reading. Always turns purple no matter all the tricks I try but I did install a water softener on my fill line last year.

I’m waiting for the day my pool is trouble free lol I’m like two seconds away from hiring this out after botching it for 3 years now

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Currently having issues measuring salinity. Posted on the SWG thread about that today. Can’t tell if it’s 4000 or 5000. I know it’s too high due to husband adding too much salt when we emptied and filled last year. And I’ve never ever been able to get a good CH reading. Always turns purple no matter all the tricks I try but I did install a water softener on my fill line last year.

You need to get your salt levels down and you’re seeing purple because you likely have very high CH. If you take a pool water sample and dilute it with distilled water in a ratio of 1 part pool water to 3 parts distilled, your CH will be 4x lower. Then you can used the extended CH test directions to get an accurate read. The extended directions add some R-0012 initially to the sample to grab any metal ions that may be solution (iron or copper) which can interfere with the CH test colors. So if you do those two modifications, you can likely get an accurate reading on your CH.

The water softener isn’t going to lower your pools CH, it’s only going to keep from adding anymore CH. You need to drain and refill with fresh water to get the CH lower. You should consider draining your pool water down 50% and refilling. That will likely get your salinity back to a correct value.

 

[JenniferMarie90]

You need to get your salt levels down and you’re seeing purple because you likely have very high CH. If you take a pool water sample and dilute it with distilled water in a ratio of 1 part pool water to 3 parts distilled, your CH will be 4x lower. Then you can used the extended CH test directions to get an accurate read. The extended directions add some R-0012 initially to the sample to grab any metal ions that may be solution (iron or copper) which can interfere with the CH test colors. So if you do those two modifications, you can likely get an accurate reading on your CH.

The water softener isn’t going to lower your pools CH, it’s only going to keep from adding anymore CH. You need to drain and refill with fresh water to get the CH lower. You should consider draining your pool water down 50% and refilling. That will likely get your salinity back to a correct value.

In the middle of the summer though? I know that’s dicey with pebble and being 100 degrees here. I feel crazy having to drain again the second time in 3 years. I’m not adding anything to the pool to increase the CH I’m just already dealing with higher CH water due to being in Vegas. I drained last year and filled with regular hose water and installed the softener before I did (as per advice here) to get ahead of this CH issue so I’m just having a hard time understanding how other people in Vegas deal with their pools. Are they draining every year too? Even right after we filled the first time, the readings were always purple :-( even when I knew without a doubt the CH was fine…
I apologize for sounding sad and confused, I’m just feeling like I’m sort of failing at this and I hate failing at anything! But there’s a lot of expensive equipment at stake so I’m freaking out a little bit.

 

[JenniferMarie90]

You need to get your salt levels down and you’re seeing purple because you likely have very high CH. If you take a pool water sample and dilute it with distilled water in a ratio of 1 part pool water to 3 parts distilled, your CH will be 4x lower. Then you can used the extended CH test directions to get an accurate read. The extended directions add some R-0012 initially to the sample to grab any metal ions that may be solution (iron or copper) which can interfere with the CH test colors. So if you do those two modifications, you can likely get an accurate reading on your CH.

The water softener isn’t going to lower your pools CH, it’s only going to keep from adding anymore CH. You need to drain and refill with fresh water to get the CH lower. You should consider draining your pool water down 50% and refilling. That will likely get your salinity back to a correct value.

Here’s the salinity tests I did today trying to troubleshoot my issues