New to this…cloudy water…please help!

[Mcleans16]

Hi all! TFP has already been so helpful for me. I’m a new pool owner (bought our house last summer with existing in ground pool) and I’m trying to get the balance right. We had our vinyl liner replaced about a month ago, so the pool was filled with brand new water. It looked great at first, but now it is cloudy. Shallow end looks ok from the side of the pool, deep end you can see the bottom but not clearly. Under water when looking through the water is cloudy.
I have ordered and used for the first time the TF-100 kit. Results are:

ph. 7.2
Fc. 4.5
Cc 0.5
Cal. 225
Alk. 110
Cya 60

filter has been running mostly 24/7 for the past several days with no change. I’m thinking my FC is too low for the CYA but any guidance you all can provide would be very welcome! Thanks so much!!!

 

[cowboycasey]

Welcome to TFP

Great job grabbing a great test kit... Looks like your not in bad shape but you will probably have to do a SLAM Process

Tonight do a Overnight Chlorine Loss Test to see if you need to SLAM, with cloudy water and .5 CC I would say you will...

with a CYA of 60 you are low.. think of it this way.. Chlorine / CYA Chart - Trouble Free Pool in this chart the minimum is a cliff, you never ever want to drive off the cliff.. you really do not want to be near the cliff...

the target is where you want to be.. start by adding liquid chlorine to the high target number, for you that is 9FC.. in 24 hours as long as your level is above 6 you are good, take FC back to 9 and do this every day...

SLAM at CYA of 60 is 24 FC, the more you keep it at 24 FC the faster the SLAM will go.. I test every 2 hours during daylight hours...

I hope this helps and you will soon see just how clear your water can be...

 

[Oly]

With the seasonal daily FC demand at the peak now there is no room to leave your water below adequate sanitation levels. Algae is taking up residence in your pool water and you will be playing catch up. Confirm with an Overnight Chlorine Loss Test and if so this is your plan to correct things. SLAM Process

 

[Mcleans16]

With the seasonal daily FC demand at the peak now there is no room to leave your water below adequate sanitation levels. Algae is taking up residence in your pool water and you will be playing catch up. Confirm with an Overnight Chlorine Loss Test and if so this is your plan to correct things. SLAM Process

Thanks so much for the guidance. I’ll do the OCLT tonight with the expectation to start SLAMing the pool tomorrow.

 

[Mcleans16]

Thanks so much for the guidance. I’ll do the OCLT tonight with the expectation to start SLAMing the pool tomorrow.

So I ran the OCLT. I added LC yesterday in the afternoon and last night my FC measured 11. This morning FC is 10. Had about 12 hours between last nights test and this morning. So not a huge drop. Water still looks the same.

should I raise it to shock level today anyway just to be sure? Or run another OCLT tonight?
Could it be a circulation/filter issue? I hope not.

 

[Bperry]

So I ran the OCLT. I added LC yesterday in the afternoon and last night my FC measured 11. This morning FC is 10. Had about 12 hours between last nights test and this morning. So not a huge drop. Water still looks the same.

should I raise it to shock level today anyway just to be sure? Or run another OCLT tonight?
Could it be a circulation/filter issue? I hope not.

Do you have the poolmath app? Or can you calculate your CSI another way? I had some cloudy water even with plenty of FC and found that it went away when I dropped my CSI from slightly positive to slightly negative but lowering the pH a little and doing a SLAM. But if you’ve been low on FC, then that would be the first plan of attack.

 

[Lilypad]

Be sure you are brushing the pool daily. Clean your filter when pressure rises 25% over your clean
pressure. Please fill out your signature so we know all the info about your pool. It is very helpful
for anyone helping you out! Welcome to TFP!

 

[Mcleans16]

Do you have the poolmath app? Or can you calculate your CSI another way? I had some cloudy water even with plenty of FC and found that it went away when I dropped my CSI from slightly positive to slightly negative but lowering the pH a little and doing a SLAM. But if you’ve been low on FC, then that would be the first plan of attack.

Thanks. I used the pool math app and my CSI is currently -0.39.

 

[Bperry]

Thanks. I used the pool math app and my CSI is currently -0.39.

I’d recommend going to the SLAM process page and reading through it. It’s not a one and done type of thing. You’ll need a lot of liquid chlorine. If you lost 1ppm FC overnight, that’s within the range of ok. But I still might start the SLAM process and then do another OCLT to check.

 

[cowboycasey]

I would SLAM for a couple days and do another OCLT.. remember you pass on all 3 things...