Still have cloudy water...

[Mid-West Infidel]

I opened the pool a month ago, and have had cloudy water every since. After opening, of course I vacuumed to waste, got chems. right (including adding some stabilizer/conditioner), and double shocked. Started adding bleach, but could never get any FC. 9+ quarts of bleach later (this was a week ago, over the period of about 11/2 weeks), still no FC.
At the beginning of the week, I was told at my pool store that my phospahets were probably high. I put in a Sparkle Pill and a bottle of PoolTonic, both floculants. I waited 24+ hours and backwashed & rinsed. The backwash was milky looking at first, then cleared. So, I've done this (backwashed) 3x now, getting milky water at first, and still have cloudy water in the pool.
A little background- My winter cover is one of those that supposedly allows water to seep through. In my opinion all it is, is a giant tea-bag, allowing decaying leaf water to seep through... Resulting in the water looking like a light tea when I took the cover off.
With all the water used vacuuming and backwashing, I've exchanged at least 1/4 of my pool water.

Anyway, my current chems. are as follows:
Alk 110
pH 8.0
CH 90
CyA 35
FC <.5
CC 1

I used the stabilizer for CyA, and bleach for saniter. No tablets. Also used Baking soda to get the pH up, but went a little high. I use a Taylor test kit.

Any ideas how to get some FC in my pool, and clear the cloud?

 

[MarianParoo]

I am a little confused by all that.. Please stay out of the pool store.

What is your pH with YOUR kit?

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Knowing pH is the next priority. Then if you promise to trust your testing, we can get rid of the cloudy!

 

[Mid-West Infidel]

Sorry, I just edited it. The pH is now 8.0, a little high. It was down to 7.2 and I added baking soda.

 

[MarianParoo]

Okay. Baking soda raises both pH and TA. Next time you want to raise just pH, use 20 mule team borax instead.

Sorry to tell you this, but you need to use muriatic acid to lower your pH to 7.2-7.4. Once you do that, we can start clearing that water.

Have you added any liquid chlorine/bleach since the 0.5 test?

 

[Casey]

How are you test 1000+CC?

 

[Mid-West Infidel]

I will add the muratic momentarily.
No recent chlorine added.

 

[Mid-West Infidel]

I'm glad you asked. It made me recheck my method... CC is actually 1
Sorry.

Thanks!

 

[MarianParoo]

Okay. Add 5ppm of liquid chlorine bleach for now (1/2 hour after adding first MA). Then check your pH. Let us know when it gets to 7.2-7.4.

do you know how to calculate your dosage for 5ppm?

 

[Mid-West Infidel]

How do I know what % this stuff is? It says absolutely nothing...
Just trying to figure out how much to add.



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Okay. Add 5ppm of liquid chlorine bleach for now (1/2 hour after adding first MA). Then check your pH. Let us know when it gets to 7.2-7.4.

do you know how to calculate your dosage for 5ppm?

Yeah, PoolMath tells me 140 oz. of 6%

 

[MarianParoo]

Get some chlorine in there while I try to figure it out. No ingredient or percent at all on the bottle?

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Does it say Klean strip GREEN? If so, that is 20%.

In the future, you can google the product name with "MSDS" following it, and you can get the chemistry (usually).

 

[MarianParoo]

Oh! FC dosage! Go to PoolMath at the top of this page. Then input your pool volume in gallons. no commas. Then go to the bottom for suggested goal levels and put in troublefreepool, vinyl, and bleach. Then put in all your current numbers in both the now and target columns. Then, change your target FC to 5. Go to the right of FC target and put in the percent bleach and the jug size. Then hit calculate at the top and scroll over the quantity of bleach. It should tell you how much to add. Here's a PoolMath tutorial: Pool School - PoolMath

 

[Mid-West Infidel]

Ok, it's telling me another 140 oz of 6% bleach. Where did the boat-load of bleach I already put in, go? LOL

Oh! FC dosage! Go to PoolMath at the top of this page. Then input your pool volume in gallons. no commas. Then go to the bottom for suggested goal levels and put in troublefreepool, vinyl, and bleach. Then put in all your current numbers in both the now and target columns. Then, change your target FC to 5. Go to the right of FC target and put in the percent bleach and the jug size. Then hit calculate at the top and scroll over the quantity of bleach. It should tell you how much to add. Here's a PoolMath tutorial: Pool School - PoolMath

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Get some chlorine in there while I try to figure it out. No ingredient or percent at all on the bottle?

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Does it say Klean strip GREEN? If so, that is 20%.

In the future, you can google the product name with "MSDS" following it, and you can get the chemistry (usually).

Thanks. I should have figured that out!
PoolMath tells me 33 oz of 15.7% I put 16 oz in and will have to check and adjust in the am.

 

[MarianParoo]

Some of the bleach disappeared to UV (sunny or overcast). The rest went to killing off "bad stuff". It can take a bunch of chlorine to clear your water, but once it's clear, it's not so bad.

Sounds like you're headed to bed. Can you get some FC in there before you go?

 

[Mid-West Infidel]

Some of the bleach disappeared to UV (sunny or overcast). The rest went to killing off "bad stuff". It can take a bunch of chlorine to clear your water, but once it's clear, it's not so bad.

Sounds like you're headed to bed. Can you get some FC in there before you go?

Actually, I'll have to do that in the AM too. I used up everything I bought at Sams club. I figured those 3 big jugs would get me by a while!
Appreciate your help!!!

 

[MarianParoo]

Get a bunch... And keep it cool and out of the sun.

 

[Casey]

Yes, you're going to need a bunch. This is my stock of 12% for this summer and I'm not even SLAM'ing. I keep it in a cool dark basement that has central air.

 

[Mid-West Infidel]

Wow!

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Ok, I did part of a dose of muriatic acid last night. Down to 7.8 pH now, and added another cup.
Waited 30+ minutes and just added 3-qts. of 8.25% bleach.
Picked up some 20 Mule Team Borax while at the store, just for future use.
We'll see how she looks in a few hours, after baseball practice and group motorcycle ride.

Re-reading posts from last night, home brews and pool math don't mix well!

This is going to kill me if the problem all along was not enough bleach... My chems. were perfect after opening, except FC. I "assumed" with proper CyA levels and adding over 3-qts. of bleach to start, and still having no FC, I had problems. Then, the cloudiness also made me think I had "phosphate" problems.

 

[MarianParoo]

Let us know your new numbers when you get home (if you want a double-check or anything).

 

[Mid-West Infidel]

So now I am at:
Alk 100
CH 50
pH 7.8
CyA <30
FC 1.0

My thoughts are to add more muriatic and to 7.2-7.4, and then some more bleach! Will add more stabilizer once I get some FC in there.
Sound right?

 

[MarianParoo]

I would get the FC up to 7ish first. Wait a half hour and then do the MA. You can start the stabilizer anytime, but oy add enough to raise you by 10 as there may be some in there already. Was there any cloudiness in the vial when you did the CYA test?