Water Balanced Now Cloudy After Adding Pool Perfect PhosFree ???

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That’s what the PhosFree phosphate remover does - it reacts with phosphates and forms a fine suspended precipitate.

You don’t have a signature or any equipment listed so it’s hard to advise you on the situation. But you need to continuously filter the pool water and then backwash or clean your filter once the water has cleared up.

Clearing times can vary depending on your filter type.
 
Matt covered it, but moving forward I'd stop using the PhosFree. Most of us don't follow phosphates at all.

Looking at your numbers I am going ot assume you have the pool store testing, which is why they sold you PhosFree.

If you read around TFP you will see that not much credence is given to pool store testing. While you would think that a "professional" would be the best, unfortunately in most cases it is quite the opposite. Between employees who blindly trust the word of chemical sales representatives and high school kids working in the pool store for the summer you end up with poor results from their testing.

We base our pool care system on accurate testing and only adding what the pool needs, when it needs it. To do that we advocate that every pool owner buy and use an accurate test kit. I'm not sure if you have one. If you do, stop going to the pool store and use it. If you don't you need one. If not they will keep selling you things you really don't need.
 

Pool School

www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com

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Swimming Pool Test Kits Compared

What pool test kit should I buy? Why not use test strips? Our recommended test kits will pay for themselves in no time!
www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com

FYI - the above links are necessary if you’re interested in following the trouble free methods. Your pool water, if the testing is accurate (it isn’t), wouldn’t qualify as crystal clear to the thousands of members here. I‘d recommend staying out of the pool store, firing your maintenance company if you have one, and getting serious about the pool. It’s SUPER EASY to maintain a pool in north Texas.
 
Thanks everyone, I did have my water tested at the pool store. I do have a kit at home and I need to use it instead of using the pool store. I did not purchase the phosfree at the pool store not that it matters but I bought it online.

I use bleach, borox and baking soda and HC acid but I find it hard to keep the phosphates under control even when following the TFP recommendations for maintaining crystal clear water.
 
texaspoolman57 said:
Thanks everyone, I did have my water tested at the pool store. I do have a kit at home and I need to use it instead of using the pool store. I did not purchase the phosfree at the pool store not that it matters but I bought it online.

I use bleach, borox and baking soda and HC acid but I find it hard to keep the phosphates under control even when following the TFP recommendations for maintaining crystal clear water.
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Basic consensus among the experts here: Why care about phosphates (algae food) if your water is inhospitable to algae (proper FC/CYA management?)

Post up a full set of results; once FC is below 10ppm, I’d be real curious about actual pH. You really want to be in the 7’s to avoid potential damage.
 
texaspoolman57 said:
Thanks everyone, I did have my water tested at the pool store. I do have a kit at home and I need to use it instead of using the pool store. I did not purchase the phosfree at the pool store not that it matters but I bought it online.

I use bleach, borox and baking soda and HC acid but I find it hard to keep the phosphates under control even when following the TFP recommendations for maintaining crystal clear water.
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I haven’t worried about phosphates in the three years I’ve owned our pool and plan on never worrying about them. Just ignore phosphates and chlorinate your pool following the chart
 
texaspoolman57 said:
I use bleach, borox and baking soda and HC acid but I find it hard to keep the phosphates under control even when following the TFP recommendations for maintaining crystal clear water.
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As Reggie & BPerry noted, you'll find that here at TFP, the majority of members don't test or worry about phosphates. It's more of a pool store quick sell product. So except in very unique situations, we generally don't address phosphate testing or control. A body of water can have a high phosphate level with no algae and beautiful crystal clear water. Of course you certainly have the right to test and treat for phosphates if you wish. If you do, we recommend that you test with a proper test kit like the Taylor K-1106, and use a quality/concentrated phosphate remover like Orenda 10,000 or Seaklear.

Phosphate Removers - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com
 
What I have found is that even with balanced water, high phosphates contribute to algae growth and even with balanced water I still get algae growth here in Texas.

The other thing I should mention is that my pool is surrounded by grass and plants......and I mow once a week so I think that contributes to the elevated phosphate levels
 
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texaspoolman57 said:
What I have found is that even with balanced water, high phosphates contribute to algae growth and even with balanced water I still get algae growth here in Texas.

The other thing I should mention is that my pool is surrounded by grass and plants......and I mow once a week so I think that contributes to the elevated phosphate levels
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My pool is also surrounded by lots of growing stuff and I’m constantly cleaning it out.

I think the issue is maybe what you have been taught to considered “balanced” water isn’t actually very good if it encourages algae growth. If you instead follow TFP recommendations you won’t need to worry about algae or phosphates.
 
What I have found is that even with balanced water, high phosphates contribute to algae growth and even with balanced water I still get algae growth here in Texas.
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A properly managed TFP pool has no algae.....period. TFP does not include phosphates as one of the items you must check or control to maintain an algae free pool.

You may certainly manage your pool water however you like but there are literally thousands of us that have algae free water (many in Texas, too). You should give TFP a try :)
 
SO before this all descends into another argument about "phosphates are bad" versus "phosphates can be ignored" (which will never be a settled issue), lets just go back to the OP's numbers -

Phosphates - 1143ppb

Let's just start off by saying that that specific number screams pool store testing. We all know that pools stores rarely, if ever, get their testing correct and a number with that kind of precision, especially in light of the analytical chemistry that underlies the phosphate test, is completely bogus. Even the best photometer testing should only give phosphate readings to the nearest 100ppb precision, eg, 1000, 1100, 1200, etc. Anything more precise than that is just not possible with a standard phosphate test. Also, 1000ppb IS NOT considered high or treatable except by pool stores. There was a time when pool stores would tell customers that you should treat phosphates when they over 1500ppb. Then that number moved down to 1000ppb. And nowadays, pool stores basically tell you to treat phosphates at any level and, preferably, add their phosphate remover weekly. AT this point, they shouldn't even waste their time on testing and they should just ring up a bottle of PhosFree for every customer that walks through the door. They obviously don't care anything about the science.

And, to be realistic, anything under 3000ppb has never been considered to be a problem with TFP managed pool. Do high phosphate levels contribute to increased likelihood of algae growth, sure. But below a certain threshold the effect of phosphates on the lifecycle growth rates of algae is minimal. We have had member pools with phosphate levels above 20,000ppb, and they were perfectly able to maintain an algae free pool. So, if a person wants to treat for phosphates as some insurance against algae growth or incase your FC drops too low, ok, its your money and time and your pool. But it's almost never necessary as long as the FC/CYA ratio is kept at the correct levels.

Also, in this specific instance, a pool with a lot of vegetation around it is subject to fertilizer exposure, grass clippings, and/or runoff during rainstorms. Neither of those are good for pool water management and surface runoff into a pool can easily contaminate it with algae and other biologicals. Landscape improvements are expensive but, around the perimeter of a pool, they are necessary. I would suggest finding ways to limit the exposure risk with all of the landscaping around the pool.
 
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