adding liquid chlorine creates white milky cloud- abnormal?

[goodkodiak]

When I add liquid chlorine to my pool there is a milky white cloud that appears and then dissipates within 15mins. Is this normal or should it still be as clear as it was before adding liquid chlorine.

 

[ScottL]

I see the same "reaction" and would also like to know if this is normal.

 

[duraleigh]

Posting test results may give us some clues as to what's causing it.

 

[woodyp]

Appears all over the pool, or just where you are pouring it in? How much time are you taking to add a half gallon or a gallon at a time? What kind of pool or other chemical numbers?

 

[JasonLion]

Usually that means that some combination of your PH, TA, and/or CH levels are too high.

 

[goodkodiak]

I have a 25000 gallon pool and its inground plaster. I add the liquid chlorine all at once right over the pool return nozzles. normally two jugs of 6% 182oz at a time. A white milky cloud forms and follows the route of the pool return water. It dissipates around 15 minutes and is clear again. If I add around 6 jugs the cloud will run along the route of the pool return and also along the bottom of the pool. I have the skimmers and the drain sucking right now. You can see my previous posts of all my levels at :

strange-results-while-i-shock-a-crystal-sparkling-green-pool-t23445.html

Thanks lion, I will check the tests you said again tomorrow morning and post those results.

 

[Richard320]

Just a hunch, here...

Bleach is very alkaline. There's probably a lot of calcium or something dissolved in the water. You create localized high pH and whatever it is precipitates out. Then as the cloud disperses, the pH equalizes, and it dissolves into solution again.

 

[goodkodiak]

Hello everyone. I got a chance to test my levels and they are as follows :
FC : 21ppm
CC : 0.5ppm
PH : 7.4
TA : 190
CH : 580...can this be correct?
CYA : 60

Well water CH : 130 - that I've been topping off with after backwashing a few dozen times.

Note : Pool is clear blue. no cloudiness.

When we bought the house the pool was more than 3/4 full of water. In the past six months I don't think I have added anything that would add to the CH, just bleach, polyquat, and some ph minus. Also should I get rid of the floater with the stabilized pucks in them ?

Thanks! Now let's get to the bottom of this milky white cloud.

 

[grumpygrampy]

It's the CH. Two yrs ago before BBB I had CH >1000 in my 8000 gal. pool and when I would add 10.5% chlorine my entire pool would turn milky for 24 hrs. The pool store told me it was normal, yeah, right!

 

[goodkodiak]

Ok, so it's the CH. Does the CH or any of the other levels hurt the effectiveness of chlorine. ie. when I see the milky white cloud is something happening to the chlorine, like diluting it or killing off some of it making a CC number register?

 

[JasonLion]

The chlorine is just fine, but you are at risk for calcium scaling. You should work on lowering your TA level (or CH if that is practical). You don't want TA and CH to both be high at the same time.

 

[goodkodiak]

Ok, I may need some help or assistance from anyone who has done this before. I have a submersible pump if I need to drain the pool. If I need to lower the TA first then how should I go about this. Sorry, but I may need some steps to do this right.

 

[dmanb2b]

You can drain some 1st if your water costs are not too high. If they are...The key is to keep you PH below 7.8 at all times, to avoid scaling. High TA promotes PH rise.

Here is the article from pool school on lowering TA

http://www.troublefreepool.com/pool-school/lowering total alkalinity

If you plan on replacing some water...do that 1st....then work on adjusting TA

 

[goodkodiak]

Sounds good...is the waterfall from my spa to my pool enough aeration? Or should I add something else into the mix?

Thanks!