Cloudy Blue Water After Swimmers

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Infodamoney

Infodamoney

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Bronze Supporter
Jun 23, 2017
47
Indian Trail, NC
So I had my pool crystal clear and my chlorine and pH have been in the correct ranges. I added shock last night, but it is still cloudy, I can see the bottom, but it's not clear like it was. My test results as of an hour ago are:

FC - 11.5
CC- 1.5
TA - 160
CYA - 120
CH - 775 ( Which I'm assuming is high)
pH - 7.5

I should mention I am a new pool owner and new to this forum, but I have taken the advice of others and purchased the TF-100 pool test kit. My pool is a vinyl liner and is roughly 17000 gallons.


Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Brian
 
Without a SWG.......your minimum FC level for that high CYA should be 14. You're even under the minimum level. I'd seriously consider replacing half the water if possible to get that CYA in a more manageable range. I'd take that FC to 19 and circulate. If it doesn't clear, you may need to SLAM it based on the CC levels. What kind of "shock" did you add and how do you chlorinate? Welcome to the forum.
 
woodyp said:
Without a SWG.......your minimum FC level for that high CYA should be 14. You're even under the minimum level. I'd seriously consider replacing half the water if possible to get that CYA in a more manageable range. I'd take that FC to 19 and circulate. If it doesn't clear, you may need to SLAM it based on the CC levels. What kind of "shock" did you add and how do you chlorinate? Welcome to the forum.
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I used supersonic shock and I have a chlorinator with tabs in it. I am thinking about starting to drain the pool this very second.
 
That chlorinator is probably why your CYA is so high. Hard forms of chlorine like granules and pucks (tabs) add CYA in addition to chlorine EVERY time you use them. Stick to liquid chlorine or bleach. They add nothing other than chlorine, so your CYA won't get out of control like it has with the pucks.

I would do a 60% drain and refill. That should bring your CYA down to around 50 PPM and then I would SLAM away. Add enough bleach or liquid chlorine to bring your FC up to 20 PPM and maintain it there as much as possible throughout the day. That will clear your pool right up.

That GLB Supersonic is adding calcium every time you use it. That's probably a big reason why your calcium hardness is so high. For a vinyl pool, you don't need any calcium at all, but too much can lead to scaling.
 
DeanP66 said:
That chlorinator is probably why your CYA is so high. Hard forms of chlorine like granules and pucks (tabs) add CYA in addition to chlorine EVERY time you use them. Stick to liquid chlorine or bleach. They add nothing other than chlorine, so your CYA won't get out of control like it has with the pucks.

I would do a 60% drain and refill. That should bring your CYA down to around 50 PPM and then I would SLAM away. Add enough bleach or liquid chlorine to bring your FC up to 20 PPM and maintain it there as much as possible throughout the day. That will clear your pool right up.

That GLB Supersonic is adding calcium every time you use it. That's probably a big reason why your calcium hardness is so high. For a vinyl pool, you don't need any calcium at all, but too much can lead to scaling.
Click to expand...
I am draining the pool as I type ?. Then to go buy bleach and remove the pucks from the chlorinator. How many gallons of bleach would raise the fc to 20?
 
For your pool size of 17,000 gallons, you need almost 3.5 gallons of 10% liquid chlorine or almost 4 1/4 jugs (121 oz) of 8.25% bleach. Walmart's Great Value bleach is very good and usually very fresh. Check the dates on the bottle. It will be coded like this: (17151). This means that it was born on the 151'st day of 2017. That would be May 31st.

Remember though, this is just the initial dose to get it up to 20. If there is algae and other nasties in your pool, they will use up that FC fast, so you need to test the FC often and re-dose to get it back up to 20. Several times a day is optimal at first. Once the pool starts to get clearer, the FC will hold for a longer period of time.

Calcium of 250-300 is fine. Just don't add anymore bags of shock (calcium hypochlorite) and you'll be fine. Much more manageable than when it's up near 800.:D
 
Would I need to have the FC at 20 if I drain and fill? I'm draining the pool now to help lower my CYA. Until I had swimmers on Saturday, the pool was very, very clear. There does not seem to be any other nasties that are in the pool, or at least I don't think so.
 

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Even if you drain, some algae may remain in the pool after a refill. After your refill, it would be a good idea to run the FC up to 20. It may be just a one day thing, but better safe than sorry. It will clear up quickly and then you can let the FC drop down to normal levels (6-8 and never lower than 4) on its own after you've passed the 3 criteria for the SLAM.

1) CC less than 0.5
2) pass an OCLT test
3) water is crystal clear
 
Thanks for the help. I am still in the process of adding fresh water and draining at the same time. I am going to do a test again tomorrow and see where the CYA sits, hopefully it's has gone down at least some. If it's still high (or higher than 50), I am going to keep draining and filling. Do people look at you weird or like a murderer when you are buying 10+ bottles of bleach, lol? :D I felt like I was getting some awkward stares!
 
Just to help you understand what probably happened to your pool- you had a lot of folks swimming. Swimmers use of FC via sweat, etc . The FC got too low and it lets algae take hold. All those tablets and granular products also were adding CYA and/or calcium when all you needed was chlorine. Liquid bleach is your new best friend!

If ever you plan another big pool party try to raise your FC up a bit first, and then immediately again after. Test! Test! Test!

Maddie :flower:
 
Thanks, I have read and read this forum and I think I finally have a good understanding of the pool calculator and the FC/CYA chart. I am currently draining my pool and filling at the same time. I let the water get below the first step and it appeared my liner was pulling away from the step, so I started adding water back, and am now doing a drain/fill process. I currently have my pump and filter turned off during this process. Overnight it finally turned green (Ugh!), but I am going to follow this forum to the T, so I'm not too concerned at the moment. I would really like to get my CYA down as far as I can, like 50 or so, so I can manage the FC better. Once I get the CYA down, I am going to start the SLAM process. I purchased 10 bottles of bleach so I can maintain it during this time. I am going to start adding the bleach once I get my CYA lowered. Thanks for this website and the people on it. I have learned a lot since I like to manage the pool myself. Thanks to ALL!!
 
Ok, so I have another issue and I am trying to figure out the best way to go about this. I am currently draining the pool and filling it with well water so I can get my CYA down to a manageable level. I know my water has some metal in it. I had cleaned the liner with Vitamin C and it looked great. Now that I am adding fill water back to the pool, I am seeing the staining basically happen before my eyes. Should I do a stain removal and getting the metal out before I go through the SLAM process? If I understand that process correctly, I want my chlorine at 0 and my pH around 7.2. Should I get my pool back to crystal clear by SLAMming and then go through the stain removal process or vice versa? Thanks again for all the continued help.
 
I believe there is a metal remover...maybe Pro Team Metal Magic?

That can deal with it without lowering the chlorine, not sure if you should
do that at shock levels though.

Someone more knowledgeable should confirm first.
 
Ok, so after two partial drains and refill, here are my numbers now.

FC - 4.5 (Getting eaten up real fast)
CC - 0.5
CH - 400 (Down 375 from op)
TA - 180
CYA - 110-120 (Maybe I'm doing the test wrong somehow? It seems that it's fairly easy and the water is really cloudy in that tube so the black dot disappears fast, below the 100 mark line about 110-120, I would guess.)
pH - 7.2

I guess my question now is, do I go ahead and start the SLAM process with the CYA still so high, or wait until after what feels like will be many, many more partial drains/fills? I am thinking my pool will just be getting greener and greener by the minute if I don't act fast with the chlorine. I am keeping my pump and filter off during the drain/fill process, so I just can't add bleach.

Thanks
 

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