Pool won't clear no matter what. Tired of fighting with it.

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If you mix the CYA reagent with pool water and the dot never disappears, that means you have no measurable CYA in the water.

It's important to test with your own kit and not use pool store numbers.
 
reggiehammond said:
If you mix the CYA reagent with pool water and the dot never disappears, that means you have no measurable CYA in the water.

It's important to test with your own kit and not use pool store numbers.
Click to expand...
Thank you. I'm so confused at this point I think I am going to completely drain the pool and start over. So tired of fighting the numbers and chemicals. Everything seems out of whack. I want a good starting point and when I fill it back up, I'll only use my new taylor k2006c and listen to folks on this forum. My goal is to only have to use minimal chemical and keep a clear, safe pool to swim in with little maintenance. I'll repost in a few days when I get it refilled and see what the test kit says. I need a fresh start. This thing has kicked my butt all last summer and now this summer. I spoke to the previous owners and they said the same thing I've heard a million times..."just throw a little shock in it and you'll be good.. it's easy" 🤬
 
I don't know that you really need to drain, but I feel there's still something missing from your testing. Can you post a new set of numbers as the following:

FC
CC
pH
TA
CH
CYA
TEMP

It might be that you simply need some CYA and the SLAM Process, which you're going to need to add and complete anyway once you refill. Might be much simpler than you expect.
 
It’s up to you if you want to drain, but I don’t think you need to. Take a deep breath, get a full slate of test results and post them, and we will walk you through. Because you know your CYA is zero, I would start getting your CYA up to 30. You can use PoolMath to calculate how much. Once you get your CYA number up (also known as chlorine stabilizer), the chlorine you add will hang around long enough to deal with your algae, and you’ll see your water start to clear.
 
I also want to chime in and say trust the process as advised by TFP - you probably don't need to drain! Put the numbers requested here, and the experts can help you out. 8 years ago, they helped me turn a black/green swamp into crystal clear and sparkling. it took about 3 weeks, but we got there, and it was awesome! Ignore everything the pool store or random people have "helpfully" told you. Pretend you're just opening the pool, you haven't been to the store, all you're doing is taking some numbers and reporting them here to see what people advise, and then move from there.
 
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reggiehammond said:
I don't know that you really need to drain, but I feel there's still something missing from your testing. Can you post a new set of numbers as the following:

FC
CC
pH
TA
CH
CYA
TEMP

It might be that you simply need some CYA and the SLAM Process, which you're going to need to add and complete anyway once you refill. Might be much simpler than you expect.
Click to expand...
I will do that. I did drain it yesterday down to about 10-12" of water and have been filling all day today. I'm 1 inch from the bottom of the skimmer now. I'll continue to fill tonight and post those numbers tmw and we'll start over. At least the water is clear....for now.
 
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Ok so I was able to sneak out on lunch and go test my pool. I did drain and refill yesterday. I had the pump off while refilling. The water was clear. I did put about 3/4 gal of chlorine in it before going to bed and turned pump on overnight. Woke up this morning and water was cloudy again. Not as cloudy as I can barely see the bottom now, but still cloudy. Has me wondering if the pump is on the right settings. When I first replaced my sand this season, I backwashed. The water came out clear. I then turned filter to "rinse" and then brown water came out. When we bought the house, there was no sticker on top of the filter anymore so I had someone from the pool store come out and put new sticker on it last year.....ANYWAY....Here are the results of the taylor test today...I feel like I got the test kit down more correctly now...

FC 3.2
CC 1.4
PH 7.9
TA 210
CH 160
CYA 50 ...this time it was cloudy and I could watch the dot disappear. Maybe I used the wrong reagent the first time i don't know.
Temp...I don't have a temperature gauge in my pool but will get one.

So replaced 90% of water as of yesterday. Clear when pump is off and water settles, water still cloudy when pump is running. What now?
 
brettbandlow said:
Has me wondering if the pump is on the right settings.
Click to expand...
I’m new to pool care but I’m pretty sure the cloudy water has nothing to do with the pump. Your CC is 1.5 and should be 0.5 or less, so that means you need to slam.
www.troublefreepool.com

SLAM - Shock Level and Maintain

We’ve all had to deal with a green pool. Clear algae from your pool with a SLAM! Read here to use shock level and maintain to clear your pool.
www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com

For CYA of 50 you’ll need to bring your FC up to 20 and hold it there until your CC is 0.5 or less. Read through the link above, it seems daunting but it’s really not hard.
 
rd783 said:
I’m new to pool care but I’m pretty sure the cloudy water has nothing to do with the pump. Your CC is 1.5 and should be 0.5 or less, so that means you need to slam.
www.troublefreepool.com

SLAM - Shock Level and Maintain

We’ve all had to deal with a green pool. Clear algae from your pool with a SLAM! Read here to use shock level and maintain to clear your pool.
www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com

For CYA of 50 you’ll need to bring your FC up to 20 and hold it there until your CC is 0.5 or less. Read through the link above, it seems daunting but it’s really not hard.
Click to expand...
Thank you. So my PH is a little high, so add muriatic acid then should i perform the oclt tonight before I begin to slam?
 
brettbandlow said:
Ok so I was able to sneak out on lunch and go test my pool. I did drain and refill yesterday. I had the pump off while refilling. The water was clear. I did put about 3/4 gal of chlorine in it before going to bed and turned pump on overnight. Woke up this morning and water was cloudy again. Not as cloudy as I can barely see the bottom now, but still cloudy. Has me wondering if the pump is on the right settings. When I first replaced my sand this season, I backwashed. The water came out clear. I then turned filter to "rinse" and then brown water came out. When we bought the house, there was no sticker on top of the filter anymore so I had someone from the pool store come out and put new sticker on it last year.....ANYWAY....Here are the results of the taylor test today...I feel like I got the test kit down more correctly now...

FC 3.2
CC 1.4
PH 7.9
TA 210
CH 160
CYA 50 ...this time it was cloudy and I could watch the dot disappear. Maybe I used the wrong reagent the first time i don't know.
Temp...I don't have a temperature gauge in my pool but will get one.

So replaced 90% of water as of yesterday. Clear when pump is off and water settles, water still cloudy when pump is running. What now?
Click to expand...
90% replacement and still CYA 50 - that's surprising. But may explain your issues in that your CYA was unmanageably high to start with...

Using CYA 50, raise FC to SLAM levels after dropping pH to 7.2. Your TA is sky high, so your pH will rise quickly, but that's something to deal with after SLAM is completed.

SLAM Process
 
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I’ll let someone else confirm, but I would say no because your CC is already over 0.5 so no point waiting

7.9 isn’t too bad honestly, mine constantly hovers at 7.9 it seems, but if you wanna add some acid to drop it I don’t see why not, I would

I guess my main concern for you is keeping the FC at slam level during the day if you have to be at work (I noticed you said you had to sneak out during lunch to check the pool)

I’ll let others chime in on how to SLAM if you cant check FC middday, I guess you just do the best you can
 
reggiehammond said:
90% replacement and still CYA 50 - that's surprising. But may explain your issues in that your CYA was unmanageably high to start with...

Using CYA 50, raise FC to SLAM levels after dropping pH to 7.2. Your TA is sky high, so your pH will rise quickly, but that's something to deal with after SLAM is completed.

SLAM Process
Click to expand...
I kinda thought so too. I asked previous owners and they never checked it in 3 years and I didn't either. I noticed my TA went up after re-filling. Is that normal with tap water?
rd783 said:
I’ll let someone else confirm, but I would say no because your CC is already over 0.5 so no point waiting

7.9 isn’t too bad honestly, mine constantly hovers at 7.9 it seems, but if you wanna add some acid to drop it I don’t see why not, I would

I guess my main concern for you is keeping the FC at slam level during the day if you have to be at work (I noticed you said you had to sneak out during lunch to check the pool)

I’ll let others chime in on how to SLAM if you cant check FC middday, I guess you just do the best you can
Click to expand...
I own a business so sometimes i can get away but not always. I'll just have to make it happen. I also have a 16 yr old at home for the summer so worst case i can show him how to do it once during the day. Just want to make sure I know what I'm doing first.

So tell me so I'm sure, how do I know what SLAM level is exactly based on the FC levels?
 
Check the SLAM chart on this page
www.troublefreepool.com

The Free Chlorine and Cyanuric Acid Relationship

Managing your cyanuric acid and Free Chlorine levels is key to stabilizing your pool. Learn how these two items affect each other.
www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com

Find your corresponding CYA and then look at the SLAM FC level

CYA 50 = 20 FC for slam

So you’ll hold at 20 until -

Once all three of these criteria are met, you have completed the SLAM process and can allow the FC to drop to normal levels.

  • CC is 0.5 or lower
  • AND your overnight chlorine loss test shows 1.0 ppm of loss or less
  • AND pool water is crystal clear with no visible sign of algae (dead or alive) on floor and walls
 
Over this weekend, try to test and dose every 1-2 hours. The first few days, the more you can do it, the faster SLAM will go. Your 16 year old can 100% learn to test FC and add chlorine.

Test your fill water from tap for TA and CH - should correlate to your pool water pretty closely right now.
Your TA is only slightly lower than mine - but I'm on well water.
 
Just brushed walls and vacuumed. Added 2 quarts of muriatic acid according to pool math calculator. Will wait until sun goes down to test fc level and do a oclt overnight and begin slam in the morning if ph is in range. Can't thank you all enough for putting in the effort to help me. I was clueless before but starting to understand.
 
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