Cloudy Pool

[barneeb]

Hi everyone,

I have recently moved to a property with a pool and have been working on balancing chemicals and replacing broken equipment. The pool was green when we got it and contained a lot of organic matter. After clearing that up the pump sadly died. I decided to replace it and the sand filter (as the original had a broken multiport valve, laterals, pressure plate etc...was pumping a heap of sand directly into the pool and losing a lot of water out of the waste port).

Good news was that I got it clean and reasonably balanced before the pump went out.

However, after replacing equipment two days ago and vacuuming the pool with the new equipment, it became VERY cloudy to the point that I can't see more than 2ft (60cm) deep. I have been running the filter for about 10 hours a day since with no luck.

The pool company recommended some flocc to try and clean it up, which I did this morning and ran the pump for a good 8 hours after, but still no luck.

Also, the borate seems VERY high, considering how much water we have lost cleaning and such.

Here are the pool levels:
FC: 2.38
TC: 2.62
CC: 0.24
PH: 7.9 (a little high, resolving that)
CYA: 76
Hardness: 122
Alkalinity: 118
Copper: 0.1
Iron: 0.1
Borate: 232
Salt: 5300

Any thoughts would be great.

 

[atttech-2]

Welcome to the forum good to have you here

well I see two things right off the bat to take a look at, first off your test results look suspiciously like pool store testing given that the kits we recommend don't measure levels down to the hundredth. We stress the importance self testing with a recommended test kit. pool store testing is often unreliable for a host of reasons I won't go into.

Assuming your test results are accurate you should be maintaining a FC level of no lower than 6 ppm given a CYA of 80 based on THIS chart. Since your FC is low and the pool is now cloudy your will likely have algae and need to SLAM you can find the info on SLAM under the Pool School section / Solving problems / Defeating Algae. SLAM is a one time process that can take several days to complete but if done correctly the algae will be gone the pool clear and all without the need for flocc or weekly shock treatments. Head over to the Pool School section and do a bit of reading on our recommendations, most of our members don't have a pool service as our methods and theirs don't often complement each other so it comes down to a choice have them manage the pool or take control yourself.

Good luck if your want to take control and SLAM get a recommended kit do some reading and ask questions along the way I am sure others will jump in shortly with suggestions.

 

[pooldv]

Welcome to TFP!

Clear Choice Labs sells a test kit with the CYA and FAS/DPD chlorine tests that we recommend.

 

[barneeb]

Thanks for the replies, I have indeed purchased the Clear Choice Labs test kit and will test it again today to get my own readings. I will post with a follow up after work and continue to read through info on here as I have been doing over the last two weeks.

One thing that got me was the Borate level, which is showing Borate: 232. I know this is a pool shop test, but should I be concerned? I didn't add any to the pool at all.

 

[pooldv]

Well, I do know that borates are safe up to 200 ppm. So, probably ok.