Stubborn cloudy water after shock

[kahugley]

Hi! I'm rather new here and have learned so very much from this site. I have a small 15ft round metal frame pool (42" deep) with an Intel 633t pump. I shocked the pool to get rid of algae about a week ago and I think it's all dead because my water seems balanced but I'm having a hard time getting it clear. It's still quite cloudy and I've been running my pump 24/7 changing the filter whenever the water pressure seems to slow dow. Maybe I'm not changing the filter often enough?

FC 5
CC 0
TA 120
CH 210
CYA 0

 

[Donldson]

Welcome to TFP kahugley!

Assuming by shock you mean a 1-time addition of chlorine (did you use a powder or liquid?) then you probably still have some stuff lurking that is constantly dying and keeping the water cloudy. The SLAM procedure keeps FC high enough long enough to kill off everything so that problems don't continue. Also if your CYA is zero then you are loosing a lot (or all) of your FC to the sun during the day so as that drops the algae has time to jump back up.

A few questions will help us get an idea where you stand. What are you using to chlorinate regularly, tabs, liquid, powder? Also what are you testing with? A SLAM is highly dependent on good test results so what kit you are using is very important.

One more thing, please add the state to your location. Advice is often regional and there is a Greenwood in almost every state.

 

[kahugley]

Used ultra shock powder in the bag to shock it (4 bags total over the course of 3 days) and I have been using liquid chlorine up until now. I just put 5 1" tabs of tri chlor in a floater to make it easier to keep the chlorine level up.during the day. I live in Indiana and I'm using a Taylor k2006 test kit to test my water. I really don't want to spend more money on stabilizer this late in the game since my kids start school Wednesday. After that the pool will really only get used on the weekend for the rest of the season.

 

[Texas Splash]

The good thing is that you have one of the best kits out there (Taylor K-2006). The bad things are using tablets and pool store bags-o-shock w/ tri-chlor to manage your FC and CYA. Adding stabilizer ($15 at Walmart) is easy to do and you'll have a reliable CYA target in a week after it's dissolved and assimilated with the water. In the meantime, regular liquid bleach needs to be the mainstay of your sanitation and daily pool routine. As Donaldson said, your small amount of FC is getting exhausted so fast that algae is taking-over - or beginning to as evidence by the cloudiness. Remember, running the filter more is not going to clear poor water chemistry or algae.

I would urge you to take the following steps:
- Add granule stabilizer w/ a target of 30 CYA via the sock method ASAP
- Adjust your PH to 7.2 in preparation for a SLAM procedure
- Implement SLAM to eliminate cloudiness/pending algae bloom with a "constant" FC SLAM level of 10 per the Pool School - Chlorine / CYA Chart

Maintain the SLAM until you pass all 3 SLAM criteria.

 

[Husky25]

Shock is a process, not a product.

In the TFP system, it is called SLAM (Shock Level And Maintain). In other words raise your Free Chlorine level to "Shock" level and maintain as best you can until your pool clears up, lose only 1 ppm FC (or less) over night, and have .5 combined chloramines or less. Find shock to CYA level here. It is much easier to maintain the shock level with Liquid Chlorine. Find how much chemical to add relative to other chemicals here.