No hand grenade required, but still need some help. (leak?)

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Re: Stop me from putting a hand grenade in my pool (cloudy)

I think you'll find that your brushing did the trick - you mentioned that the clarity got worse when you did this. That could be algae remnants that may have had a biofilm protecting it a bit. I bet you see a marked improvement rather quickly now.
 
Anyone have pics of bad sand?

Anyone have pics of bad sand?

I decided to open up my filter today and look at the sand and it looks pretty normal to me. The sand is evenly distributed across the filter (with one small "dip"), but I don't think it's channeling or anything. Anyone have pics of what bad sand (or channeling) looks like?

I only opened it up because it seems like its depositing small portions of pale-ish sediment (likely to be bleached algae) near the returns. So, I figure either the sand has issues, or the sediment is depositing there as it circulates through the pool.

My filtering capability isn't exactly stellar since I don't have a drain. Two skimmers and that's it.

So......is it a filter or circulation issue?

Thanks!
 
Re: Anyone have pics of bad sand?

How did the sand feel? If you rake your fingers through it, the sand should easily pass through your fingers.

Channeling is when the sand is 'compacted' and a trough is made by the force of the water, all the way through the sand - looks like a Hollywood earthquake fissure (it's fairly obvious :wink: )

Sounds to me like you've got some very fine debris that is so fine as to bypass the sand in the filter, even though there is nothing wrong with the sand nor the filter. You might look into adding a small amount of DE to the filter to help catch it. [please see this article from Pool School!]

Please let me know how things progress :cheers:
 
Re: Stop me from putting a hand grenade in my pool (cloudy)

Here are pics of the sand. I really don't think there's anything wrong with it. Just decided to look while I was thinking about it.

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On a somewhat unrelated note, I have a small crack in both sides of the pump housing near where the water exits and goes to the filter. Would some Pool Putty seal it up or do I need something more specific?

Pics:

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A small amount of water comes through the cracks, but nothing incredibly significant.
 
Re: Stop me from putting a hand grenade in my pool (cloudy)

Some of my resolve is starting to waiver here, folks.

Another overnight FC test failed with no improvement in clarity.

Last night: 26.0

This morning: 22.5

What gives? There must be some other variable that I haven't addressed yet.


While I'm here, what is the best position to aim the jets in my type of pool for max circulation with no drain?
 
Re: Stop me from putting a hand grenade in my pool (cloudy)

Two things consume chlorine in your pool...

1. Sunlight (which you eliminate in the overnight test)

2. Organics (usually algae)in your pool.

You have algae in your pool. Your only option is to continue the high levels of FC until you have killed the algae and filtered out whatever else remains until your pool is crystal clear.

Searching for another parameter will only cause you to lose focus on the information above. Stay the course, focus only on keeping chlorine in your pool and running your pump 24/7 and you will be successful.

Your pics of the pump are so close up I can't really tell where the cracks are located on the pump. Perhaps others can interpret.

Your sand is fine.

Place your return nozzles so you get maximum "rotation" of the pool water. I like mine up just a little so I can see the rippling of the surface. Others don't. That's your call.
 
Re: Stop me from putting a hand grenade in my pool (cloudy)

Did you test the CYA after the drain or did you assume you drained enough for 50%? Your CYA may still be higher than you think. I ask because when I was dealing with high CYA in my pool a 1/3 drain did not lower the CYA measurement by 1/3. I have drained a total 3/4 of my water over several drain and fill cycles and still have a CYA around 90. I think someone explained that CYA increases exponentially and that is why you need to re-test CYA after a drain and fill. Also, if you look at the testing cylinder for CYA, as the numbers go up the space between markings decreases and numbers larger than 100 are not on the cylinder. Your CYA may have been higher than you thought to begin. If you re-test and find your prior CYA is correct, try bumping up the chlorine to mustard shock level for a couple of days. If you don't have the time to test and add chlorine every couple of hours while shocking, using the higher mustard shock level will keep the chlorine above regular shock level for a longer period of time.
 
Re: Stop me from putting a hand grenade in my pool (cloudy)

Just to reinforce what Dave said. Stay the course. It gets hard to do when it takes longer than we thought it would. Now's the time for some really strong POP (pool owner patience) :) . Keep pouring the chlorine to it and soon you'll start seeing it pay off. Don't get distracted just because it doesn't look like you're winning. I assure you that you are.
 
Re: Stop me from putting a hand grenade in my pool (cloudy)

The CYA test works exponentially. In practice this means levels >90 are really too close together to distinguish. You can dilute the sample to try to get a wider range, but even so it's not uncommon for extreme CYA levels to require a lot more water replacement than you thought at first.

Regardless of CYA level, though, an overnight FC loss means there is something in the pool for the chlorine to chew on, and you need to keep after it to kill it all.
--paulr
 
Re: Stop me from putting a hand grenade in my pool (cloudy)

It looks like you only raised the chlorine to shock levels on Sunday, two days ago, so that isn't very long. Usually it takes a few days to completely restore clarity to a cloudy pool. In cases where it starts out worse or where circulation isn't as good it can take a week or sometimes longer depending on the diligence of brushing, filtering, backwashing, etc. If you look at this post, you'll notice that at day 2 the water is cloudy from the dead algae, but that it was still not perfectly clear the next day and that it took another couple of days to clear up (day 3 wasn't shown; I believe the final was day 4). This was hit hard with chlorine along with brushing and vacuum to waste (but there was a lot of dead algae in this case).

I never saw a Calcium Hardness (CH) reading, so given your high TA and pH if the CH is also high then the water could be over-saturated with calcium carbonate. Did you ever do the CH test?
 

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Re: Stop me from putting a hand grenade in my pool (cloudy)

CH is actually low, oddly enough. It clocked in at 50.

The FC went down further during the day to 16.0, obviously because of all the sun. When its out, the pool gets full sun from about 10 am until an hour before sunset, so I can't wait to dump a gallon of chlorine in twice a day all summer. This Darn was so much easier when I was oblivious and lucky.

I put in a gallon and a half to bump it back up above shock levels. I'll test before bed and see how low it can go by morning.
 
Re: Stop me from putting a hand grenade in my pool (cloudy)

You're making progress now! Stay the course. Dump that chlorine in there and keep the FC up.

Longbowfosho said:
so I can't wait to dump a gallon of chlorine in twice a day all summer.
Click to expand...
Don't fret too much about that. I live just north of Mobile, get at least as much sun as you, keep my CYA at 50ppm and lose about 2ppm FC a day. That equates to about 2 quarts of 6% per day. Once you get things straightened out you'll see just how easy this path can be. And the added bonus is that You'll know exactly what's going on with your pool.
 
Re: Stop me from putting a hand grenade in my pool (cloudy)

I came home after a long day of flying to find........a significantly more clear pool! :whoot: :party: :rockon: :fro:

It is glorious. I added another gallon of chlorine this morning after I tested to make sure the FC stayed above 20.0 while I was gone, tested it once I got back and saw that it only dropped to 19.5 over the entire day. :cheers:

So, added another gallon to bump it back above 20 and I'll test it again tonight before bed.

The sheer relief of seeing a clear pool is liberating not only because its no longer cloudy, but I was seriously concerned that I had a circulation/filtration issue that was going to cost some serious $$$.

Regardless, I can't wait for the sun to keep heating up the water so my daughter and I can finally jump in!
 
Re: Stop me from putting a hand grenade in my pool (cloudy)

I've enjoyed your thread.
It's all starting to make sense to me too and I'm doing the happy dance as well.
Half the battle is trusting yourself that you NEED to go to walmart at 10pm for bleach because now at 12midnight it seems you are at shock level...

I can't wait for that good test kit.
 
Re: Stop me from putting a hand grenade in my pool (cloudy)

Its time to officially declare an end to this crisis.

Mission Accomplished! :cheers:

I'd like to thank the Academy, my mom and all the fine folks here a TFP for giving me advice and taking my money (for the test kit, lol). :sniffle:

Seriously though, thanks for all the help. This is a major weight of my mind.

The finished product (actually, it could still use a little more clarity, but I'll take it):

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Now that I've got the pool clear, I can focus on chasing down the cause of another pool problem.

Whenever I turn off one skimmer and try to vacuum to waste or use the Great White for a little cleaning, a ton of air is the result. I still have adequate (not great) suction, but the returns bubble and gurgle like a spa. I recently replaced the gasket between the reservoir and the pump as well as patched up a couple of cracks, but I'm still having this issue.

I'm assuming that an underground issue would cause it to introduce dirt into the pool and that's definitely not happening.

Other than obvious leaks, are there any other indicators on the equipment that I should look for?
 

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