Turbidity issue

[hAltonJones]

I've been caring for my pool water for a couple of years. It's normally so clear, you have to look twice to be sure there's water in the pool. However, when it rains heavily, the pool takes a hit. About three weeks ago, I had an algae bloom - not too bad - but bad enough. The chlorine level was low, but not depleted.

I shocked the pool and for the past couple weeks, I've had chlorine levels high enough to do the white laundry in the pool. All I'd need is a bit of starch. Still a hint of algae, but mostly under control.

The problem is turbidity. The pool water seems to be rather turbid. I can see the bottom of the pool (eight feet), but it's not close to normal. The filter seems to be in "normal" condition. The vacuum is gleefully running all over the pool.

Any thoughts?

 

[JoyfulNoise]

What kind of filter do you have?

If you've followed the SLAM procedure for your pool, then you'll eventually reach the stage in the process where all of the algae is dead and your filter is simply taking time to clear the water. Sand filters are very slow at this stage of the process but can be "goosed" with a little DE to help speed up the clarifying process. Cartridge and DE filters are faster at clearing the dead algae but they will usually load up quickly and require a lot of backwashing to keep up the filtration.

At this point, it's just time...(brushing and vacuuming help too....)

 

[VinDeeLoo]

You said you shocked your pool. What type of chlorine are you using? What are you keeping your fc at?


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[hAltonJones]

In this instance, I used CLOROX brand "Pool and Spa Shock PLUS". Sodium dicloro-s.triazinetrione. Free chlorine is 20 to 25 ppm.

 

[VinDeeLoo]

You are adding extra gunk by not using liquid chlorine. You are also adding cya.


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[ned8377]

I have had the same problem with turbidity when using powdered shock instead of liquid chlorine or bleach.

 

[VinDeeLoo]

You need to check your cya.


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[hAltonJones]

CYA is no doubt running high. I would expect a commercial shock formulation to anticipate that problem, but I'll pay closer attention to it in the future. Thanks for the comments.

 

[Swampwoman]

Hi Halton. I see you do have a post history here, but I'm not sure you've yet accessed the TFP method of pool care. Its based on testing with a kit that can read cya and high FC (Taylor k2006 or TFT-100 at TFTestkits.net) so that you dial in the correct [fc/cya][/FC/cya] to avoid ever getting algae, or if you do, and in your case, following the SLAM Process protocol.

I've provided the links so you can refresh a bit and get back to sparkly clear water. Cheers to clear!

 

[triptyx]

CYA is no doubt running high. I would expect a commercial shock formulation to anticipate that problem, but I'll pay closer attention to it in the future. Thanks for the comments.

They do not "anticipate" that problem. In fact, for pool owners such as you and me who live in arid climates, they massively exacerbate the problem since we do not partially drain and close our pools at the end of the season, and do not (normally) get rain measured in feet that can exchange water and keep the CYA levels under control. This results in a pool with 200+ CYA, and it seems like no amount of chlorine you add can get rid of the resultant algae. To give you an idea, when I purchased my house last April, the pool that came with it had around 300ppm of CYA. I had to maintain nearly 25ppm FC just to keep algae from growing! The levels of chlorine it would have taken for me to get rid of algae would have been astronomical. Luckily the pool was clear, so I was able to drain/refill it, and go to liquid chlorine to keep the CYA in check.

Solid chlorine just about always adds either CYA or Calcium to your pool. Dichlor is CYA - and if your CYA is high, even 20-25 FC may not be enough to get rid of algae. Saying that you have "a hint of algae" means two things. 1: You have algae, any lapse at all in maintaining the correct levels will result in an out of control pool situation for you. There is no such thing as "a hint of algae" - if you can see it, you have a ticking time bomb. And 2: A hint of algae means a pool that may not be sanitized, allowing bacteria and viruses to survive to infect people who are swimming.

Please, take a minute to really read through pool school and understand it, and get some correct numbers from your own, trustworthy, testing kit, so that we can help you to figure out how to get your pool back to awesome.