New Here, Having Troubles with Cloudy Water in Intex Pool

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xJO98

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Aug 11, 2009
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Hi everyone, I'm new here and I'm having some big problems with cloudy water in my Intex pool. It's a 14x42 with the tubular supports.

This is the second season we've used this particular pool and third season we've had an Intex pool. As I said, last year was the first season with this particular pool and had no issues with the water (I'm on city water and it's not hard). I set it up in early June this year in the same spot, same trees dropping leaves, etc. New filter in the pump, new water everything was good, just had to patch a few small holes in the vinyl.

This past three weeks, things have gotten bad. My wife was adding some chlorine (granular), she didn't put in very much and the water went cloudy. I checked the chlorine and pH levels with the typical yellow and red dye test kit and the levels were good.

Tried giving it a couple of days, the cl and pH levels dropped but it was still cloudy, so we tried shocking it (granular). No luck and we've used granular shock before with no issues. Added some pH to bring it back into the 7.0 range, cl level was good, still cloudy. Washed out the filter let the pump run, no luck.

So two Satuday's ago I brought a sample to my local pool shop. They analyzed and found nothing out of the ordinary and recommended a good clarifier. So I bought a bottle from them, put in what they recommended, ran the filter, come out the next day, still cloudy. Added more clarifier, next day, cloudiness didn't even budge.

So we let the pump run all night again and my wife threw in another shock unbeknownst to me, no help. I pull out the filter again, now I notice this off white creamy looking substance on the pleats. It washes right off with the hose, put the filter back, the next day, it's back again. I did some looking on the net and decided to try an algaecide. No help, I just let the pump run and even after a couple of days, it looked like the algaecide was just sitting on the top of the the water like an oil slick.

Pull the filter, the creamy substance was back again. So this past Friday I set the pool to drain out. Saturday morning I go check on it and there is maybe a foot of water left. It was pretty much clear now and I found piles of white crystals. I stirred up one of the piles and the water went clouder than ever.

So I agitated all of the chemicals that hadn't dissolved and opted to start refilling the pool in hopes that the new water would dilute it out. I even bought one of those pool vacuums that you hook up a garden hose to to create a suction and the debris gets sucked into a filter bag in hopes that this would agitate the undissolved chemicals even more.

Put a brand new filter in and continued to let the filter run. Here we are today and the Dang water is still cloudy even after my efforts of trying to agitate the bottom every day with this vacuum setup. I check the filter today, off white creamy substance is back yet again. I washed it off, filter looked brand new, put it back in, checked it an hour later and the substance was coming back.

I checked my cl and pH levels and they were in the tank so even though everything I've read on the net leads me to believe my pool is overtreated at this point, I had to add cl and ph to at least bring it safe levels to let my son swim in it.

I'm ready to stick a screwdriver into the side walls and put this thing out of it's misery. What should I do??? I've never had to run the filter continuously before, now it's constantly going and not helping from what I can tell. Help me!!!!
 
Welcome to TFP.

My recommendation is to stop using all powdered chemicals except stabilizer (CYA) if at all possible. Use bleach for chlorination and shocking. The filter in your pool will really struggle with the powdered chemicals.
 
The term shock on a product is more confusing than anything. Bleach or liquid chlorine is what you need, but you also really need some water test results to know how much to add. I highly recommend you read pool school in the upper right hand corner, especially the article named read before you post and the ones under pool chemistry.
 
Can you post the test results the pool store gave you, particularly CYA.

Or if you can have them test again, and post more recent results, a full set would be helpful, and we can advise you better.

I recommend you replace the filter every 2-3 days until the water clears up.

If the water is cloudy to the point you can't see the bottom, I don't think anyone should swim in it, from a safety standpoint.
 
I don't have the test report anymore unfortunately. I talked to the pool shop today and they definetely think the cause is the pump/filter is not big enough for the amount of water in the pool and short of completely draining the pool to empty and getting all of the particulate off of the pool floor, it will never clear up. They also told me if I keep the chlorine and pH levels normal, there shouldn't be any concern about letting people swim in it. I may just bring another sample in on Saturday to see what the results are again.
 
Intex filters are especially bad, and can sometimes take weeks to clear up the water. But that is only one of several things that might be happening. If you could post a full set of water test results we can give you much more specific advice.
 
Unfortunately I agree about the Intex pump/filter systems. My pool came with the "1500 GPH" system. Perhaps in some far away universe this thing will move 1500 GPH, but in my pool it is nowhere near that. You can't even feel the flow of water with your hand 6" in front of the return port. And this with a new filter. Consequently I run the filter 24/7 to keep the water clean.

After scouring Craig's List and Ebay for a deal on a used sand filter system I have decided to take another route on a new system I found at Leslie's here :

http://www.lesliespool.com/browse/H...lter-34HP/D/30100/P/1:100:6000:600010/I/42193

42193.jpg


For about $250 I can pick up a new sand system with a warranty and is what I'm going to do.

Good Luck with whatever you decide.

Jim
 
Time depending, I'm going to bring another water sample to the pool store on Saturday to get readings to post here. That's a nice looking pump, I'm just having a hard time spending more on a pump than I did on the whole pool! :-D I do see that the pump has to be a big part of the problem though.
 

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ok, I took a new sample to the pool store today. Now here's the funny part, I haven't run the filter in almost three days and the water is starting to clear up on its own. Not as much of the particulate at the bottom, I can actually see the bottom. So here's the results:

FC - 0.1
Total Chlorine - 0.2
Combine Chlorine - 0.1
Total Alk - 46
pH - 7.8
Calcium - 63
CYA - 8
Copper - 0
Iron - 0
Total Dissolved Solids - 0
Saturation Index - -0.62


now on the chlorine an pH levels, I haven't added any chemicals to the pool in a few days. They recommended I shock it, so I bought a bottle of liquid shock and put it in along with another new filter. We'll see what happens, I'll check the levels with a test strip tonight although they don't check for CYA.
 
xJO98 said:
ok, I took a new sample to the pool store today. Now here's the funny part, I haven't run the filter in almost three days and the water is starting to clear up on its own. Not as much of the particulate at the bottom, I can actually see the bottom. So here's the results:

FC - 0.1
Total Chlorine - 0.2
Combine Chlorine - 0.1
Total Alk - 46
pH - 7.8
Calcium - 63
CYA - 8
Copper - 0
Iron - 0
Total Dissolved Solids - 0
Saturation Index - -0.62


now on the chlorine an pH levels, I haven't added any chemicals to the pool in a few days. They recommended I shock it, so I bought a bottle of liquid shock and put it in along with another new filter. We'll see what happens, I'll check the levels with a test strip tonight although they don't check for CYA.
Click to expand...

Was the liquid shock 12.5%? You added the entire bottle at once? That's too much FC.

I checked the Intex website to try and find your gallonage. They don't list a 14 x42 but a 15 x42. it's listed as approx 3800 gallons. A jug of 12.5% chlorine would raise the FC level to 32!

If your CYA is only 8, your shock level is 10, not 32. If you overchlorinate you can bleach out the liner of the pool.

If you read recommended levels in Pool School:

Your CYA should be 30-50 and then maintain the FC according to that level, using the CYA chart.

Your TA should be increased a bit, probably 90 is a good target. Use baking soda. This will also raise up your PH, so you'll need some acid to lower the PH down to 7.4 Once your TA is in the recommended range your PH should be more stable.

Do you know how to use the Pool Calculator to determine how much of each chem to add for your size pool? You don't want to overdose the pool on chemicals.

There is an article in Pool School for Intex-type pools. Usually if it's not an issue when there is a problem we advise that you have the option to drain and start over, so that's something to consider. I know you drained once already, so if you want to try to re-balance the water yourself, a good test kit of your own is ideal. At the very least you need an HTH 6-way drop-based test kit, if you don't already have one.
 
No I didn't use the whole gallon bottle of shock, I only put in 5 oz. I estimated my pool at worst case to be 4000 gallons. Today with the 6 way test strips, my total chlorine and free chlorine levels were low, my pH went from yesterday's high reading to below 7.0, alk read at a good range. I don't have a way to test CYA with my kits at home. The water is finally clearing up some, you can see the bottom finally. I've got a 3" chlorine tablet in a floater in the pool now to bring the chlorine level up and I added some pH plus (pre-dissolved this time) to bring the pH level, it's around 7.4 now. I also added some pre-dissolved liquid clarifier. I have to stay on top of the filter, it's still getting the rest of the grime out and the off white creamy substance I was getting is now a dark dirty substance that washes off with a garden hose.

I don't want to jinx myself but it looks like I'm finally heading in a positive direction (fingers crossed). I think once I get the levels balanced out with what I have, I'll switch to BBB as recommended here. Hopefully it stays on the mend, I really don't want to have to drain the pool again.
 
Got up this morning and the water was very clear. I put in some pre-dissolved pH because it was around 7.0 and a little more clarifier. The filter was nasty again today so I changed it out again and may have to change it two days a week until the swim season is over.

It's time for me to wander over to the BBB section here to figure out how much bleach I should be using. Thanks everyone.
 
xJO98 said:
...The filter was nasty again today so I changed it out again and may have to change it two days a week until the swim season is over...
Click to expand...

FYI, I'm having good results taking the filter out and spraying it off with a garden hose nozzle. I do it about twice a week and can usually get it very clean and white again. I'm still changing it every two weeks though until I replace the whole system.

Glad to hear your getting cleared up!

Jim
 
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