After pool party water care

[Hurricane Gio]

We had a large pool party on Saturday with a total of 28 bathers. The TC was 5.5 and .5 CC before the party and all other stuff was balanced.

About midway the water became cloudy so I assumed it was getting dirty and chlorine was dropping. a few hrs after I checked the levels and TC was 2 and .5 CC.

So I moved my SWG up from 2% to 5% and just tested again 24hrs. TC is now up at 3.0 and .5 CC.

Now, the water is clear and feels good. Should I just bump up the % to say 6-8% or shock the pool with bleach?

How long should I give the SWG to generate enough chlorine to get back up to me normal levels of 3-5?

I want to make sure that Algae does not break out due to low chlorine.

I am hoping and assuming that I shouldn't have to shock but give the SWG time. But how long is the big question.

Thanks

 

[257WbyMag]

I don't see any reason to shock. Do just like you did and run the SWCG cell at a little higher percentage until things normalize.

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

Or bump it with a little liquid.

 

[bk406]

Sounds like you did just about right. My water gets a bit cloudy sometimes if we have a full pool. I think its mostly just stirred up dirt, particles, etc. I've never noticed a big drop in FC. The way to check after something like that is to do an overnight chlorine loss test. Measure the FC after the sun goes down and the SWCG has been off at least 30 minutes . The next morning, before the sun hits the pool and the SWCG comes on, check the FC. If there are no issues with organics, the FC shouldnt have dropped more that 0.5 ppm.

 

[JMarch]

I've noticed that often with having lots of guests over for a swim, sunscreen is almost always a culprit for cloudy water- especially if it's a sort of white/grayish cloudiness.

To avoid the sunscreen hassle/mess, we usually do most of our swimming before 10 AM or after 4 PM or a night. If we do swim midday, we usually skip the sunscreen and limit exposure to 30 minutes.

When company comes over for a swim, they tend to want to come midday and slather a whole bottle of sunscreen and then immediately jump in the water before it's had a chance to absorb. That tends to instantly make the surface filmy, the water cloudy, and they sunburn anyway. We try to educate- sometimes it helps- often it doesn't- they just can't wait to get in the water.

Personally, I LOVE slipping into an 88 degree pool on a warm, balmy night when the water is crystal clear and turn on the pool light. But if the water's cloudy from sunscreen, the pool light makes it look like someone poured milk in the pool- ugh.

 

[JasonLion]

With a really large number of people swimming, the water gets cloudy from "stuff" coming of the people, dirt, dead skin cells, perspiration, etc. Depending on how good your filter is, it can take a couple of days for all that stuff to get filtered out.

 

[Hurricane Gio]

With a really large number of people swimming, the water gets cloudy from "stuff" coming of the people, dirt, dead skin cells, perspiration, etc. Depending on how good your filter is, it can take a couple of days for all that stuff to get filtered out.

It actually cleared in 4 rs. But the filter went from clean to dirty in one day!