Help with Stubborn Cloudy Green

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madyogi

madyogi

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Bronze Supporter
Jun 20, 2016
225
Little Rock, AR
So, I hate to post a similar post to last year, and I really thought things would be better this year, as it is my second year opening our pool, but the water is more stubborn this year. I can post pictures a little later if necessary, but I have been doing everything roughly the same as last year, with much less success.

I opened the pool two weeks ago yesterday, and spent about 3 days raising the water level, adding CYA, and adjusting pH. Got CYA to between 25-40, but that test is a tough one for me to interpret. Pool store says 25, but my tests show more like somewhere between 30-40. pH is good and stable. I have had the FC between 12-16 for over 10 days now, and I've been brushing daily. I have been running our Polaris 360 almost non-stop for the past three days as well.

The water has changed very little since opening. It's less dark green, but still distinctly green and I have to work hard to see the bottom even in the shallow end.

Is there any reason I would not be seeing daily progress at this point, given the general chemistry? What else should I be looking out for? Am I simply lacking patience?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! And again, I can post pictures a little later if that would help.
 
I have a suspicion the FC/CYA balance is slightly off for the SLAM, along with perhaps some residual junk in the water from winter. A couple questions:
- Are you running the pump and filter 24/7?
- Was the pool covered over the winter?
- Do you recall what products, if any, were added in preparation for closing last winter?
- How are you chlorinating the water today to reach the elevated FC level?

That was more than a couple wasn't it. :wink:
 
Thanks for the quick response. To answer your questions:

- Yes.
- Yes.
- Just jacked it up to SLAM level with liquid chlorine then added one aquapill, that's it.
- Chlorinating with 10% concentration liquid chlorine from Home Depot. Don't seem to lose much throughout the day.

All that said, I am also suspicious of the FC/CYA balance, but it's difficult to get a handle on, because I added like 6 lbs to bring it up, and levels vary between the kit test and the pool store test, so I don't know.

Does having the chlorine too high for the CYA mean it won't clean things as much? The CYA has to be between 25-40. But then again, I'm out of the testing chemical at the moment because I've tested it so much!!

I'm a bit frustrated. Thanks in advance for sticking with me and helping me out!

Texas Splash said:
I have a suspicion the FC/CYA balance is slightly off for the SLAM, along with perhaps some residual junk in the water from winter. A couple questions:
- Are you running the pump and filter 24/7?
- Was the pool covered over the winter?
- Do you recall what products, if any, were added in preparation for closing last winter?
- How are you chlorinating the water today to reach the elevated FC level?

That was more than a couple wasn't it. :wink:
Click to expand...
 
Does having the chlorine too high for the CYA mean it won't clean things as much?
Click to expand...
Actually the opposite - too low of an FC and it won't work well. That's what concerns me. I would definitely disregard the pool store CYA test. I know it's tough, but you have to. They just aren't reliable.

So you added 6 lbs of stabilizer which should add about 35 ppm of CYA to whatever might have been in there before when you uncovered. In your first post you mentioned getting a CYA result of 25-40, was that before or after adding the 6 lbs?

Can you also tell me exactly how you added the stabilizer? Granules right? Not liquid?
 
Yes, it was virtually nothing at opening. Added the granular CYA in a sock in the skimmer basket over the course of 2-3 days. Last test I ran a few days back was between 30-40 ppm, though it's hard to tell when/if that dang dot disappears completely :) I also dumped some water by vacuuming on waste just after that last test, but it wasn't much.
 
As KIMKATS introduced me to the term here. P.O.P. or Pool Owner Patience... Lol.

I'm fighting a clear green pool myself over here due to my air pillow deflating, and my cover cable snapping over the winter, allowing leaf debris in the sides of the pool over the winter.

I would suggest bumping the FC SLAM levels to 20 ppm. I just raised mine today from FC 16.5 ppm. to 20 ppm, and the pool changed from a clear green to a turquoise hazy blue. I couldn't take an CYA reading due to being out of reagent.

The truth of the matter is you are going to have to either filter out or floc out the finely suspended particles in the water. I recommend triple filtration. I use a skimmer sock with my cartridge filtration, and a Duda Diesel 5 micron bag attached to a 90 deg elbow on my return jet to filter out all the fine suspended particles. You will be rinsing these items quite frequently, since they will be loading up from all the dead algae, until the pool clears.

My starting clean pressure is typically 9 psi. With the duda diesel bag on it goes from 10 psi to 20 psi in no time.

If you have a power washer accessible, and you get the duda diesel bag, you want to turn it inside out and power wash blast all the fine crud out of it. If you dont, than just do your best with hot water and your spray jet in your sink.

What is your CC or combined Chlorine?
 
Ha! I remember needing some extra P.O.P. from last year, but this seems to be going on forever with no noticeable improvement. Just did a chlorine test and found 16 FC with .5 CC. Jacked my SLAM level up to 20. It's dark now, so I'll retest in the morning.

I fear there is a fair amount of sediment floating around, as well as whatever algae needs to be cleared up. I didn't have to deal with the duda bag or skimmer sock last year. What is the monetary buy-in for something like that?
 
Skimmer socks you can get at you're local Leslie's or pool store in a 5 pack for about $15 bucks. I probably use about 1-2 a season, depending on if it gets torn or not.

The duda diesel bag is something experimental that someone on here suggested to me 3 years ago as a secondary means of filtration.

The bag should run about $5 to $9.
They are really meant for filtering oil in commercial applications but suit water just fine. They come with a metal or plastic ring, that I have just cut off, and I reattach the fabric to a 90 deg elbow with a hose clamp.

Here is a link on ebay.
You want single polyester felt heat treated, not coated, bag size 4" x14",
I would choose between 5 and 1 micron. That's up to you. Keep in mind the finer the micron, the more back pressure and psi you will be incurring on your pump from the resistance of the finely woven material, and depending how much particles in the water you catch. So keep an eye in you're pressure gague every hour or so. You may have to throttle back the inlet and return valve to you're system to keep the clean operating psi from being too high or too low with that resistance.

Here is the eBay link.

Welded Industrial Filter Sock Bags Plastic Ring Flange Water Liquid Oil WVO Fuel | eBay

You can order a slime bag which is meant specifically for pools that accomplish the same exact thing, but I feel they are inferior, and a waste of $$$ $20-30.

At least with the duda diesel bag you can select your micron level depending on your needs.

Here is another little tip I realized on here from last year. When you allow any filter to dry out after cleaning, the fibers slightly shrink, allowing better filtration, even if temporary.
 
Do yourself a favor and don't buy skimmer socks that are $15 for just 5 of them (holy crude that's expensive!). Amazon sells Disposable Hair Net, Spun-Bonded Polypropylene, White, 100 per Bag for $6.55. That's only $0.06 per "skimmer socks" these work just as good as the Pool $tore socks, are literally a fraction of the cost, and will probably last you for dozens of seasons. The mesh in them is fine enough that when I was dealing with oxidized iron in my pool, they were turning brown from capturing some of it.
 

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The hairnets are big enough that they fill the inside of my skimmer basket and wrap around the entire outside too. And you don't have to deal with cleaning them out, just pull them off the basket and toss in trash, lol.
 
Good ideas. Thanks! I'll order the hairnets today. Tested FC this morning, it was 17.5. Added two quarts 10% liquid bleach to get it back to 20. Looks the same.

Anything else I might prepare myself to try? I really need to get this thing ready by May 19, if at all possible!
 
The more debris you can get out of the pool the better. I vacuumed daily until I had a day where I didn't get anything up. Keep the SLAM going and keep that filter running. You have 10 days (targeting the day before it needs to be ready). Going to come down to SLAM and Filtering. Take pics daily around the same time so you can keep a visual log of the changes. I know for me, it seems I hit a couple of days where I don't see much change except for chems and backwash requirements.. you have to trust your test results and keep going.. there is a clean and clear pool waiting for you at the end of this tunnel.
 
Quick question on vacuuming: If I pull out the old school vac that runs through the skimmer intake, does it make sense to go through that process on waste, knowing I'll have to add more water and probably throw off chems like CYA in the process, or should I just run it all through the filter and just keep an eye on the PSI, backwashing as indicated?
 
You can do either really. If the algae is not as thick as before and mostly dead white stuff, going to filter is fine then you can do a simple backwash. But if you are concerned about heavier stuff still at the bottom that you might not be able to see, straight to waste might be better, then re-check your chemicals (pH, CYA, and FC) afterwards.
 
Pretty consistent overnight chlorine loss, from 20 to 17.5 ppm again last night. Bumped back up to 20, and I'm going to start vacuuming on waste for the next few days at lunch to see if I can't kickstart this thing into clearing. 9 days left!

Hairnets should be in tomorrow, and I'll put one over my skimmer basket when they get here. Would it make sense to also stick one in the basket in my pump?
 
Hey all, I was looking around the forum just now and found this: http://www.troublefreepool.com/threads/73192-Deep-Cleaning-a-Sand-Filter

I've never done this before, and this will be our third season in the house. Couple of questions:

  1. Would doing this likely speed the clearing process? (I assume this is a resounding yes, but wanted to ask anyway).
  2. Given that everything is up and running, what is the best way to prepare the filter for this process without making it too difficult to get back up and running afterward? I assume I would close all my valves (coming from the main drain and skimmer, and going out to my returns), then depressurize the system by unscrewing the pressure valve. At that point, would I then be safe to take off the multiport and stir up the sand and perform the hose overflow operation?

Anyhow, just trying to see if this would be worth the effort at this point, and if I have all the logistics straight. Down to 9 days until I'd like it to be clear, so I'm up for anything that might speed up the process! Of course, I also don't want to mess anything up at this point. It doesn't look too complicated, but having never done it, I want to make sure I have all the steps down.

Thanks!
 
If you've never done a deep clean before, or the history of that sand is in question, then it certainly would be a good thing to do. It is a little work since you have to get access to the inside. IN addition, filters are plumbed, connected, and set-up differently, so each takes a bit of thinking ahead of time. But once you're in, you're in! We always highlight however, when you start to dig down to get access to the lower part of the filter for your hose, pay close attention to the center standpipe and laterals. While you hope to stir-up the sand to remove any compacted materials, the last thing you want to do is damage a lateral. So do it when you can take your time.
 

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