- Jun 13, 2013
- 224
Hey everyone. This is the first time I've ever had water clarity issues for this long, and I'm at the frustration stage now. For years and years, following the same BBB maintenance routine my water has been sparkling clear with little effort.
However, my pool clouded over a few weeks ago. I thought it was just a low PH issue (the PH *was* low) so as usual I just added a dose of Borax and things seemed to come back into balance, but the water never cleared. . I had my water tested at 2 different pool places for comparative purposes (because I don't have a great test kit....I know, I know...but due to typically zero issues I've never *needed* a great test kit) and everything showed balanced except my alkalinity which is on the high side, but no more so than I've had in years passed which I typically didn't concern myself with too much.
So, I hit the pool with bisulph which didn't put a huge dent in the TA (still high), but of course brought the PH down, although it's since come back up to a reasonably normal level. However...although the clarity has improved, it's far from sparkling, and the haze/cloud is getting on my nerves. This is also the first time ever I've had to use acid in my pool - typically thanks to BBB my maintenance amounts to keeping my chlorine levels stable and adding a small amount of borax once every week or two to bump PH levels that typically seem to bleed downwards in my pool.
So... should I hit the pool hard with bisulph again to rapidly get the TA down to the "normal" zone, and then aerate for a few days to work the PH back up? The weather here is forecasted to be crappy for the next few days so leaving the cover off and putting the fountain on one of the jets to go for maximum aeration wouldn't be an issue.
Like I said...I've never worried much about TA as it's never caused me any issues, but given as how everything else seems to be in check I'm left with the assumption that my very high TA is the cause for my cloudiness issues?
Low CL or the beginning of an algae bloom can be safely ruled out - I watch my CL levels carefully.
Thanks everyone.
However, my pool clouded over a few weeks ago. I thought it was just a low PH issue (the PH *was* low) so as usual I just added a dose of Borax and things seemed to come back into balance, but the water never cleared. . I had my water tested at 2 different pool places for comparative purposes (because I don't have a great test kit....I know, I know...but due to typically zero issues I've never *needed* a great test kit) and everything showed balanced except my alkalinity which is on the high side, but no more so than I've had in years passed which I typically didn't concern myself with too much.
So, I hit the pool with bisulph which didn't put a huge dent in the TA (still high), but of course brought the PH down, although it's since come back up to a reasonably normal level. However...although the clarity has improved, it's far from sparkling, and the haze/cloud is getting on my nerves. This is also the first time ever I've had to use acid in my pool - typically thanks to BBB my maintenance amounts to keeping my chlorine levels stable and adding a small amount of borax once every week or two to bump PH levels that typically seem to bleed downwards in my pool.
So... should I hit the pool hard with bisulph again to rapidly get the TA down to the "normal" zone, and then aerate for a few days to work the PH back up? The weather here is forecasted to be crappy for the next few days so leaving the cover off and putting the fountain on one of the jets to go for maximum aeration wouldn't be an issue.
Like I said...I've never worried much about TA as it's never caused me any issues, but given as how everything else seems to be in check I'm left with the assumption that my very high TA is the cause for my cloudiness issues?
Low CL or the beginning of an algae bloom can be safely ruled out - I watch my CL levels carefully.
Thanks everyone.