Kind of milky, cloudy water

[dwright0723]

Hello,

I've recent swapped from a DE filter, back to my old sand filter last week. When I got everything back going, the water was a blue-greenish color. I dumped 1 1/2 cases of Chlorine in the water, plus 3 bags of the calcium chloride in, and some algaecide. I also vacuumed and brushed the walls of the pool multiple times. The water is now blue, but it has a hazy, kind of milky cloudy look to it. You can barely see the bottom of the shallow end, and not at all in the deep end. I've been backwashing it multiple times a day, as the filter pressure has been going from 10 psi to 19-20. I think I killed all of the algae when I vacuumed and shocked it, but again, I can't see the bottom. Do I just need to let the filter keep working, or is something else going on here?

FC: 5.0 PPM
PH 7.4
Alkalinity: 100 PPM
CYA: 25 PPM

 

[mas985]

When fighting algae, you need to follow the SLAM procedure: Pool School - SLAM - Shock Level And Maintain

 

[treatmentnerd]

In general, you're right on. Your algae is probably dead, and you simply need to let the filter clean it out. Sand filters can often take around two weeks to complete that process.

You're running below shock level for your pool though. If you haven't already done a complete shock and observed that your chlorine level doesn't drop more than 1.0 ppm overnight, you should. Shock level on your pool is around 11 based on the chart. http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/128-chlorine-cya-chart-slam-shock From what you're describing, the algae appears to be dead, but actually performing the test can provide the security of KNOWING that's it's all gone and that you're just waiting on the pool to clear up. (http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/136-perform-the-overnight-fc-chlorine-loss-test-oclt)

 

[dwright0723]

Ok. I'll bring the shock level back up, and see what I lose overnight! Thanks!

 

[kcindc]

Your CYA test result is a little confusing as CYA test results using the drop kit is rounded up to the nearest ten. Pool store test results and test strips are highly inaccurate. Did you get your results from one of the recommended test kits? Pool School - Test Kits Compared

I hope you didn't dump a lot of chemicals at once in your pool. Blindly dumping in a bunch of chemicals can ruin your liner and equipment. We don't believe in a one time dump, but rather a process of maintaining your FC at SLAM levels Pool School - Chlorine / CYA Chart until you pass the SLAM criteria:
CC is 0.5 or lower;
You pass an OCLT (ie overnight FC loss test shows a loss of 1.0 ppm or less);
And the water is clear.

 

[dwright0723]

Your CYA test result is a little confusing as CYA test results using the drop kit is rounded up to the nearest ten. Pool store test results and test strips are highly inaccurate. Did you get your results from one of the recommended test kits? Pool School - Test Kits Compared

I hope you didn't dump a lot of chemicals at once in your pool. Blindly dumping in a bunch of chemicals can ruin your liner and equipment. We don't believe in a one time dump, but rather a process of maintaining your FC at SLAM levels Pool School - Chlorine / CYA Chart until you pass the SLAM criteria:
CC is 0.5 or lower;
You pass an OCLT (ie overnight FC loss test shows a loss of 1.0 ppm or less);
And the water is clear.

I have a Kokomo(sp) kit, and the CA tube has a decent sized gap between the 20 and 30 mark, so I estimated.

The water is still really cloudy. When I was vacuuming, I'd notice that when I hit certain spots, algae would shoot back out the jets. Now I'm just getting a white powder shooting out. Shouldn't the filter be catching this? The sand I used in my filter is the Quikrete Pool Filter Sand. Anyone had any issues with this? Filter has been backwashed multiple times a day- whenever we see that it has risen to 20PSI. Only thing that I've noticed is that there appears to be a little bit of sand under one of the jets.. I can't see it because the water is too cloudy, but that's what it looks like and sounds like when I hit it with the vacuum. I checked the laterals before adding sand, and backwashed for a few minutes after I changed it... I'm wondering if something is going on at the filter..

 

[Jordy Verrill]

How long ago did you put the calcium chloride in? I used a couple pounds of it at once a few weeks ago because I was out of bleach, I had a bunch of it on hand, and my calcium levels in the water aren't very high, and it made my water milky/cloudy for a day and a half.

 

[dwright0723]

How long ago did you put the calcium chloride in? I used a couple pounds of it at once a few weeks ago because I was out of bleach, I had a bunch of it on hand, and my calcium levels in the water aren't very high, and it made my water milky/cloudy for a day and a half.

It was on Sunday.

 

[dwright0723]

So I started putting DE into the filter, and it started coming out of the jets. I took the top of the filter off, and there appears to be a layer of DE on the sand, unless it's something else... Not sure what's going on here...

 

[pooldv]

Sounds like it might be time for a Deep Cleaning a Sand Filter

 

[dwright0723]

Sounds like it might be time for a Deep Cleaning a Sand Filter

Even with new sand? I just changed the sand....

 

[kcindc]

You might have misaligned one of the laterals in the sand filter. You should definitely inspect the sand filter to make sure nothing is broken or out of place.

 

[pooldv]

No, if it was just taken apart then no deep cleaning is needed. Something is put together wrong.