cloudy pool is making me crazy

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I don't suggest following Heckpool's recommendation. That would raise your FC to about 80ppm! Way more than you need.His approach is to nuke the pool which we here completely disagree with. You don't know what kind of long term damage you're doing by raising the FC that high.
 
So your CYA is either 85 or 10...... tough. Your CYA number is going to determine how much chlorine you want to shock. It's probably best to wait for the kit before you hit it too hard.

You will want to keep some chlorine in the pool though. If the kit doesn;t come in for a few days you dont want to give the algae all that time to rebound. If nothing else keeping your FC at 10ppm while you wait will at least make the true shocking process easier when the kit arrives - and if your CYA is truely low (doubtful) you'll be shocking at a safe level.

Assuming your pool is 18K gallons - 1 gallon of 12% chlorine will raise your FC by about 7.
 
well got my kit in and did my first test. here go the results
fc 15
cc 0
ph 7.7
ta 280
ch 210
cya 60
pool is still cloudy what do you guys think?? whats my problem?? do the test seem right??
 
Congrats on the test kit. There may be a few parameters that tested high - specifically

TA - 260 There's a lot of discussion about the TA reagent. Did you wipe the tip of the TA reagent between drops? If not the drops can be a little small and you'll test high. Try it again and wipe between.

PH - with FC at 15 PH may be testing high as well.

Since you have 0 CC you should do an overnight chlorine loss test. When the sun is off the water tonight test your FC. In the morning before the sun hits the water test FC again. If you've lost less than 1ppm overnight then you've done a good job of shocking the pool. If you test FC tonight and it's low - 5 - 10ppm - then you should just bring it up to shock again. With a clean pool you'll expect to loose 1 to 3 ppm per day - not 5 or 10.

If you pass the overnight - we'll probably want to lower your Ph to 7.2 and then take a look at that filter.

If you can post a pic of the water we might be able to get a since of relative cloudiness.

What kind of filter do you have?
 
If your TA test results are consistently the same, and still at the 280 level, the cloudiness may be due to calcium carbonate precipitating in the water (see JasonLion's post of July 30) - based on your numbers, the calcite saturation index (CSI) is very close to the upper limit - are you also getting any scaling on ladders, steps, other fixtures in the water or near the water surface?

The other possibility is dead algae and organic material that needs to be filtered out and/or pumped to waste.

Or, could be a combination of both.

In any event, you're headed in the right direction, and the information you're getting from the test kit is clear (though your pool is not yet so :( ) .

Since your FC and CC values look good, and assuming an overnight FC loss test comes out acceptable, I think it's time to work on getting the TA lowered - see other posts below, Pool Calculator, and Pool School.
 
well the cloudiness has cleared up a little(i can see the shallow end and part of the slope). i do think its the cal-hypo that was affecting that. i will check the TA test again just to double check and try the overnight chlorine lost test tonight. i really dont know how scaling would look, if you could describe what i looking for i will check it out. for the overnight chlorine loss test, should i leave the filter running? i know to turn off my chlorine feeder. ill see what i can do about a photo.
 

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Congrats on the clearing :whoot: - this next part may be frustrating cause it'll take awhile to fully clear up. I doubt Calcium was the full story - though it's hard to say. How much chlorine have you been using the last week?

With any luck you're through the worst of it. Let's see how the overnight turns out. Post your FC number when the sun's off the pool. Good luck
 
Gentlemen, I think you all have missed something. The CYA is 60 -- so shock level is FC 24, not 15.

When I plug those values into the Pool Calculator, I get CSI of 0.63, but if the pH is testing high by 0.3 from high FC levels, then CSI is actually 0.33 and scaling is not something that ought to be the problem at this point.

I have no idea what actually controls the clouding due to calcium but CH of 210 is not a problem by itself I wouldn't think.

That brings us back to circulation and filtration as the culprit, along with not yet high enough FC. And a sand filter can be sort of slow.

It would be nice if you would add this info to your signature, go to User Control Panel top left, find Profile, and Edit Signature.

i have a 16ft x 32ft inground pool going from 3ft to 8ft it has a vinyl liner, a 1/2hp pump hayward, sand filter, and a erosion feeder.
Click to expand...
 
I know FC 15 is below shock - but Hem has been adding bleach without a test kit for most of the week. So who knows what's going on precisely.

Since our CC is 0 the overnight test will rule organics out of the equation. No? If we've lost most of our chlorine today or fail the overnight we can bring it up to shock and do it correctly. Really I was just attempting to gather data to help the OP resolve the issue as quickly as possible, am happy to consider other points of view.

Totally agree Calcium is not really the issue.

Either way - one more FC test will help resolve the issue.
 
Scaling will be a whitish-colored film over your fixtures and your liner, especially along your water line. It won't be slimy, but will feel a bit chalky. I did a quick search on "scaling" because I know I saw some very good photos of scaling, but couldn't find them. You can use the search function at the upper right area of the forum page and see a lot of good info on scaling.

You may not have scaling, but your pool water may be at just the right point in its chemistry to get some calcium carbonate precipitate floating in the water, which would give it a cloudy or milky white appearance.

With regard to the overnight FC loss test - I would keep the pump/filter running so that there is total mixing, but others may have other opinions on that. I know my tablet chlorinator can put chlorine in the water even when it is dialed down to zero, but yours may work better.

Anonapersona: his CC is zero, so I think his shock has done the trick - I suspect his FC level was higher before he received his test kit - but, lightingguy recommended an overnight FC loss test to confirm, which i agree is a good idea.
 
hemieli said:
retested TA and FC and CC, taking my time with the TA test, wiping the tip after each drop.
TA 190
FC 12
CC 0
came out alot better will check both again later
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Just to emphasize one point that has already been made: Overnight FC loss is the only sure way to eliminate the possibility that you still have organics to deal with. CC is not a reliable indicator.
 
TA sounds more realistic. No need to test TA too often. We'll work on lowering that after we're done shocking. But big picture it's low priority.

We've lost 3 ppm FC today.... kinda high. Perhaps one of the moderators will have a more informed opinion.

Next time you test FC do a ph test as well. Lowering the Ph to 7.2 will help the shocking process if we need to start that again. Do you have any acid on hand?
 
2 questions on the test kit.
when doing the TA test how red should the water get? just a little pink or full blown red.
same question for FC/CC test how clear should the water get?
it felt like my eyes where playing tricks on me. i would see clear then i would see a little bit of pink(very very light pink).
 
Extended Test Kit Directions

The above link is a handy reference for when you have questions about the tests. :goodjob:
It is a sticky in the "Testing and Balancing Your Water" Forum.

TA - Continue adding drops as long as the color continues changing. The final drop, that does not change the color any further, does not count.

FC - Continue adding drops until the color changes to clear. The pink color may become extremely faint before it goes away. Make sure that the sample goes completely clear.
 

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