10 ft. small intex - foam and cloudy water! help!

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dolly3186

0
Jun 12, 2017
9
Tyngsboro, MA
Hi there,

I am a brand new pool owner of just this season. I'm having trouble recently with my very small, 10x30 Intex pool for my kids. I have a sand pump that I bought (which was VERY expensive!) from the pool store, because the filter that came with the pool was absolute garbage. However, since having the new sand pump, my pool hasn't really cleared up too much, still looks the same, and has foam on top whenever the filter is running. I haven't added any algaecide, which is what I've heard can cause that.

My main problem is that the pool water is slightly hazy, dull or cloudy. Not green, but blue cloudy. I have the test strips only and everything looks okay today. I went to a pool store yesterday and had my water tested professionally. These were my results: (again, i'm a newbie, so sorry if this isn't how it should look!)

free chlorine: 0.14
Total chlorine: 2/46
pH: 8
hardness: 40 ppm
alkalinity: 107

The pool guy had me add some pH Down as well as calcium for the water hardness...? I added what he said and my pool is still cloudy.

I'm sure it's fine for my kids to swim in, but I really want to get it clear and shiny! Any advice on what I may be doing wrong? And did I waste my money with this expensive pump? Doesn't seem to be any better than the Intex cartridge one, and now it's pushing foam in the water. Agh!
 
Do you know how the store got those results, what test did they run? Do you know you're CYA level?

GIVEN those results though, first thing you'll need to do is get some chlorine in there asap. Are you using liquid chlorine? If not, buy some and get FC up around 5-10ppm and get a test for CYA. You're proper free chlorine level depends on CYA level so we need to know that.
 
They had me bring in a water sample, and then they put the water into different small vials and put them in some type of machine. Not sure honestly, I didn't ask what type of test it was. :/ Also, would the CYA level be on this print out they gave me from the pool store? I did add chlorine as soon as I got home yesterday after the test. The guy told me to add about a cup of shock, which I did.

- - - Updated - - -

Is CYA the cyanuric acid level? Sorry, yes, that's on here at 10 ppm.

Also, I honestly feel like I'm adding chlorine ALL. THE. TIME, whether it's in tablet form or shock form. Is that normal? This is such a small pool.
 
Welcome to the forum!

Please read this article - Pool School - Guide for Seasonal/Temporary Pools

It will suggest you drain your water, clean the pool with a dilute bleach water, refill, and follow steps to maintain its chemistry. You will need a basic test kit that the article describes.

This is a Temporary / Seasonal pool. The pool store sold you things you did not need. Follow the article in Pool School.

Take care.
 
dolly3186 said:
They had me bring in a water sample, and then they put the water into different small vials and put them in some type of machine. Not sure honestly, I didn't ask what type of test it was. :/ Also, would the CYA level be on this print out they gave me from the pool store? I did add chlorine as soon as I got home yesterday after the test. The guy told me to add about a cup of shock, which I did.

- - - Updated - - -

Is CYA the cyanuric acid level? Sorry, yes, that's on here at 10 ppm.

Also, I honestly feel like I'm adding chlorine ALL. THE. TIME, whether it's in tablet form or shock form. Is that normal? This is such a small pool.
Click to expand...


Assuming those results are correct (which they may not be) the reason you are adding chlorine all the time is because you have no CYA aka stabilizer, aka Cyanuric acid. Your chlorine is being consumed almost immediately by the sun or any algae blooms that are starting. Cyanuric acid or CYA protects the chlorine from being consumed immediately. If you go to pool math at the top of the page it will tell you how much CYA to add based on the volume of your pool and how much chlorine. You should use regular ordinary household bleach.
 
And don't waste any more money on calcium - it is not required in a vinyl pool. One more reason to avoid pool stores!
 
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