Old Pool, New Owner

[jcwieser]

Hello,

This web site is GREAT! I have been reading and learning a lot on this forum. However I have not seen this question asked yet.

When we moved in to the house the pool had high CYA 200ppm and high CH 500ppm.

I drained the pool and refilled with fresh water. Had some cal-hypo, that I had used before, and didn't want to go to waste so I thought I now have low CH so it would be a ok to use Cal-hypo. I Added 16oz of Cal-hypo and now my water is cloudy and has stayed cloudy after 3 days. Is this normal? or what chemical would your recommend to get the cal-hypo to drop out.

FC - 1
CC- 0
Ph - 7.5
TA -120
CH - 150
CYA - 0

I know I need to rase my CH and have tabs in a floater to start adding CYA, but would like to know what I need to do to fix the problem with the cloudy water.

Thanks!

 

[polyvue]

I drained the pool and refilled with fresh water. Had some cal-hypo, that I had used before, and didn't want to go to waste so I thought I now have low CH so it would be a ok to use Cal-hypo. I Added 16oz of Cal-hypo and now my water is cloudy and has stayed cloudy after 3 days. Is this normal? or what chemical would your recommend to get the cal-hypo to drop out.

Welcome to TFP...

How long do you filter each day? It's possible that the addition of Calcium Hypochlorite (Cal Hypo) was just coincidental with your cloudy water. Your Free Chlorine (FC) is rather low and I'm wondering if you have the beginning of an algae bloom.

There's nothing you can do (or would want to do) to reverse the Cal Hypo... it should have added Calcium to your water (and your calcium hardness is within normal limits) and Chlorine -- and you could use more of the latter. Have you considered buying just regular 6% bleach (or higher concentrated pool chlorine) and using that to increase your FC?

 

[jcwieser]

My pool is around 20,000 gallons. I have added liquid bleach to boost Free Chlorine. My filter is running about 12 hrs a day currently; was running around 8 with out problems before draining the pool. I'm not rulling out an algae bloom, it did take me a while to empty and then fill the pool, but the water was clear before i added the cal-hypo and became cloudy after adding the cal-hypo.

Thank you,

 

[polyvue]

I would recommend that you perform an overnight Free Chlorine test, explained here, and post a new set of test results (before and after, so to speak.) Attempt to follow the procedure rather closely to get the clearest outcome. E.g., Don't start the test until dark and until any chlorine you've already added has had time to ciruculate so that it shows up on your "before" test.

Don't forget to remove any and all tablets or pucks from dispensers, also; you'll have a better notion at the end of the test whether algae is consuming your chlorine, and possibly causing the cloudy condition of the pool water.

Oh, one more thing. Don't add CYA (in any form just yet); it might obscure the test result. Once your cloudiness issue is resolved, then it would be a good idea to increase CYA to 30-50 ppm to help retain chlorine during the daytime.

Good luck :-D

 

[duraleigh]

It's odd that Cal Hypo would cloud your water with those test results.....there's nothing there that would indicate calcium precipitation and you put in very little.

It's pretty common for it to cloud locally if you broadcast it but then clear in just a few hours.

I'm on the same page as polyvue. Perform the overnight FC loss test (as prescribed in Pool School) and post those results.....that'll detect the presence of algae if it's there.

If so, you'll want to shock the pool and that'll clear it up nicely.....just do the overnight test first.

 

[polyvue]

20Kgal, IG, Plaster, Sand Filter W/Zeobrite, 1.5hp pump, Polaris 180

Another thought. Have you backwashed the filter? Just noticed that your system uses a sand filter with Zeobrite. I don't want to cloud the issue (sorry for the pun) but if the overnight Free Chlorine test demonstrates a chlorine loss of ~1 ppm or less--and the water continues to be cloudy--then this might be the next thing to look at. If you're curious about the discussion of Zeobrite on this forum, you can google it - see the Google Search prompt at the far left hand side at the bottom of this page.

:google:

 

[jcwieser]

Well it must have been some algae. Over two nights I added chlorine and would get little to no free chlorine. Added enought chlorine to shock, now my water is clear and I have about 8ppm FC From <1 ppm.

Thank you everyone for your help!

Current test results:

FC 8
pH 7.5
TA 120
CH 180
CYA (didn't test)

About the Zeobrite, I read many of the post on the forum and other websites about sand vs. zeobrite. I cant say that any of the post made me feel like zeobrite was better or worse than sand, just different. The contractor who put in the zeobrite, with a new filter, did not backwash it long enough, so I do have some fine dust from the zeobrite that I have been trying to get out of the pool. This mostly settles on the steps by the jets. I can say the zeobrite is doing a good job compaired to the 30yr sand filter with 5 of the 12 latterals broken. but i'm sure new sand in the new filter do just as well.

 

[polyvue]

Well it must have been some algae. Over two nights I added chlorine and would get little to no free chlorine. Added enought chlorine to shock, now my water is clear and I have about 8ppm FC From <1 ppm.

If you've already done an Overnight Free Chlorine test (with a result of ~ 1 ppm or less of chlorine consumed) and feel you're past this issue, you can add cyanuric acid (CYA) up to 25-30 ppm to protect the chlorine on a day to day basis.