Cloudy water!

[jorivesud]

Hi,

Can you get cloudy water from excess organic only, but no algae?
My parameters have been like this for weeks:
FC = 5 to 6
CC = 0
CYA = 40
TA = 40
CH = 150
Salt = 3200
pH = 7.6


Water started to be slightly cloudy 2 days ago.
The only thing I can see, is that we have a lot, and I mean a lot of caterpillar (with its frass (caterpillar poop)) falling in the pool. This year is non sense for caterpillar.
Can it just be caterpillar and other organic debris?

I also had to clean the cartridge weekly because of pollen and other spring debris falling from trees, but this has calm down now.

 

[duraleigh]

Whatever the source, you have excessive organics. You have to SLAM the pool if you would like to clear it up.

 

[domct203]

Hi,

Can you get cloudy water from excess organic only, but no algae?
My parameters have been like this for weeks:
FC = 5 to 6
CC = 0
CYA = 40
TA = 40
CH = 150
Salt = 3200
pH = 7.6


Water started to be slightly cloudy 2 days ago.
The only thing I can see, is that we have a lot, and I mean a lot of caterpillar (with its frass (caterpillar poop)) falling in the pool. This year is non sense for caterpillar.
Can it just be caterpillar and other organic debris?

I also had to clean the cartridge weekly because of pollen and other spring debris falling from trees, but this has calm down now.

Have you performed an OCLT? A loss of FC greater than 1.0ppm overnight will show if foreign matter in the pool is consuming chlorine. Whether it is algae, bacteria, or other unwanted organic material is insignificant, The remedy is a proper SLAM

 

[jorivesud]

Have you performed an OCLT? A loss of FC greater than 1.0ppm overnight will show if foreign matter in the pool is consuming chlorine. Whether it is algae, bacteria, or other unwanted organic material is insignificant, The remedy is a proper SLAM

I did start a SLAM for that specific reason, I was all good for weeks, but started to see a little cloudy and lost some FC last night.
I was just wondering if others had to SLAM because of caterpillars and no algae.
I can only see this from caterpillars, since I never went under the minimum FC level, but caterpillars started to poop and fall like mad in the pool in the last 2 days.
I never saw that many caterpillars as this year.

 

[kcindc]

Regardless of the cause (caterpillars or algae) the treatment is the same, SLAM.

When you finish this SLAM keep your FC on the high side of recommended range to keep this from happening again. I have to keep my FC on the high side due to tree debris and a labrador retriever/otter mix who insists on dropping his dirty toys in the pool.

Your signature indicates you have a SWG, so you should increase your CYA level to 60 or 70 when you finish the SLAM. Pool School - Chlorine / CYA Chart

 

[jorivesud]

Regardless of the cause (caterpillars or algae) the treatment is the same, SLAM.

When you finish this SLAM keep your FC on the high side of recommended range to keep this from happening again. I have to keep my FC on the high side due to tree debris and a labrador retriever/otter mix who insists on dropping his dirty toys in the pool.

Your signature indicates you have a SWG, so you should increase your CYA level to 60 or 70 when you finish the SLAM. Pool School - Chlorine / CYA Chart

The reason for having my CYA at that level is because I have a lot a shade on the pool (many trees, from where these caterpillars are falling from...).
At that level CYA I run my SWG at 10-20% only to keep my FC level. If I was to increase it, I don't see what I would gain. I only see the I would need more bleach when doing SLAM.

 

[kcindc]

If you keep you FC high enough (run your SWG for the right amount of time and %), open you pool early, close you pool late, you will never need to SLAM.

Wait until your SLAM is over then increase your CYA to 60 or 70 per the TFP recommendation. SWGs need a different level of CYA due to the nature of constantly adding a small amount of chlorine throughout the day.