Water Clarity

[mamasproject]

Pool company just completed an "acid bath" on the pool to remove plaster blooms on a dark grey finish. They returned on Monday and jumped soda ash into the pool to raise the pH level...how much I don't know. Now the water is cloudy. On the first day it looked like skim milk. I tested the pool water and the calcium hardness is up to 400 ppm. I turned on all our equipment (finish company was using a temporary pump to avoid damage to our equipment), and the water is still cloudy after 24 hours of circulation. So here's my question...did the soda ash cause the cloudy water or is it from the high calcium levels? We were told to keep the CH at 250. How do I lower the CH? Or will it start to even out?
Thanks for any input on this!


21x40 IG Gunite with Maui Gem Quartz finish
Pentair DE Quad filter

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

Water replacement lowers CH.

It's possible with everything going on that it's just the PH - what is that reading? You will need to post a full set of results so we can advise you better....

 

[chem geek]

The combination of higher pH, Total Alkalinity (TA) and Calcium Hardness (CH) causes the water to become cloudy. The higher CH alone wouldn't normally be a problem (400 ppm is not that high), but their adding soda ash to raise the pH also raises the TA as well -- probably not a wise move on their part as they could have used Borax or lye to raise the pH with about half the rise in TA. Unless the TA and pH are high, the cloudiness may dissipate over time.

I'd test the water to see the pH and TA levels. If the pH is too high, then use acid to lower it. If the TA is too high, then that can be lowered by the procedure described in Lowering Total Alkalinity. If your fill water is low in TA and CH, then you could just do a partial drain/refill to lower TA and CH at the same time.

 

[mamasproject]

Pool test results as of this morning are....

PH...7
TA..40
CH..400
FC...0
TC..0

PB had me add 12 lbs of Alkalinity plus to get the TA up to 80-100

 

[Bama Rambler]

Those numbers look a little askew. Where/how did you get those numbers?

With those numbers your water shouldn't be cloudy.

If the numbers are correct you should see it start to clear up soon.

 

[mamasproject]

I got those numbers from testing the water using the Taylor test kit the pb gave me..or should I say...I paid for! :-D
I have been testing for days and the results are the same. Today I turned up the chlorinator to get more chlorine in the pool. Still waiting for the water to clear! The water was clear until the soda ash was added...just wondering how many days until it clears up! Hopefully the water will look better tomorrow!



21x40 IG Gunite w/Maui Gem finish
Pentair Quad DE filter

 

[chem geek]

Well I don't know how long the FC was at zero and you didn't report a Cyanuric Acid (CYA aka stabilizer or conditioner) level, so I hope the cloudiness isn't algae growth. Yes, adding a pH Up product can produce some cloudiness, but if it is persisting in spite of lower pH and TA, then I suspect this might be an algae bloom developing, though I hope I'm wrong.