Cloudy water in small pool

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Dr.Mary

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LifeTime Supporter
Jul 17, 2010
17
Brooksville, FL
Water is very cloudy, can barely see bottom. This is after a green algae mess that has been cleaned up with chlorine tablets and salt clorinator. Just beginning with pool Thought SWG and small pump that came with pool was enough. Have upgraded the pump to 2500, added chlorine tablets, shocked pool, and now have cloudy water. HELP. First time with pool. I think hubby is watching this play out. Love pool. Don't want to give up. If I can keep this pool going, my bid for larger pool in a few years will come to fruition.

Dr. Mary, Brooksville, FL
1) 3800 gals Intex pool, 16 x 42
2) Cartridge Filter 2500 gal. (Intex)
3) AG Pool

Test Results! Test Results! Test Results! (Walmart test strips) Have no more money at this time to buy better strips. Maybe later.
Total Hardness: >250
Total Chlorine 3
Free Chlorine 3
Bromine 6
PH 8.4
Total Alkalinity 180
Stabilize 100
 
Your stabilizer is way too high for your pool! Your pH and TA are also way too high. For now we need to drain about 1/3 the water to get the stabilizer level down to around 70 since you are using a SWG. You can run with stabilizer around 100 but it will require you keep the FC around 13.

You need to add 20 ounces of muriatic acid to bring down your TA and pH.

After you drop the pH and TA, bring the FC up to 13 and run the overnight test to see if you need to continue shocking the pool. My assumption is that you still need to shock. Using the pool calculator your shock level is 25. You will not be able to shock with your SWG alone. Use liquid chlorine or 6% bleach to raise the FC to 25 and keep it there until you pass the overnight test.

Also, be sure to clean the cartridge frequently. It is good to have a couple of extra available so you can swap them out and clean one while the other is in the filter. Run your filter 24/7 until your pool is clear.
 
By the way, test strips are junk. You need a high quality test kit such as the TF100 or a Taylor K2006. The K2006 is available from a variety of online stores. If such a kit is out of the question at this time, then the HTH 6 way drop based kit at Walmart is your best bet. A good test kit is essential for staying in control of your pool.
 
Dr.Mary said:
been cleaned up with chlorine tablets and salt clorinator. Just beginning with pool Thought SWG and small pump that came with pool was enough. Have upgraded the pump to 2500, added chlorine tablets, shocked pool,
Click to expand...

why are you using chlorine tabs and a SWG? As mentioned your CYA is way, way too high and likely caused by the tablets and/or shock.

In the future after you get your CYA down to around 60-70, shock with bleach only or have you checked to see if you can run the SWG on max and see if it reaches shock levels?
 
Water is very cloudy, can barely see bottom. This is after a green algae mess that has been cleaned up with chlorine tablets and salt clorinator. Just beginning with pool Thought SWG and small pump that came with pool was enough. Have upgraded the pump to 2500, added chlorine tablets, shocked pool, and now have cloudy water. HELP. First time with pool. I think hubby is watching this play out. Love pool. Don't want to give up. If I can keep this pool going, my bid for larger pool in a few years will come to fruition.

Dr. Mary, Brooksville, FL
1) 3800 gals Intex pool, 16 x 42
2) Cartridge Filter 2500 gal. (Intex)
3) AG Pool

Test Results! Test Results! Test Results! (Walmart test strips) Have no more money at this time to buy better strips. Maybe later.
Total Hardness: >250
Total Chlorine 3
Free Chlorine 3
Bromine 6
PH 8.4
Total Alkalinity 180
Stabilize 100
 
Cloudy water after shocking is normal, it is the dead algae in the water, it may take a couple of days for your filter to remove it, just keep the filter running and clean/backwash it often. You probably want to do an overnight chlorine loss test (turn off your SWG for the test, make sure your FC does not drop by more than 1 ppm overnight dark until dark) If it does you did not shock long enough.

Ike


p.s. don't add any di-chlor or tri-chlor based pucks, tablets, etc to your pool your CYA/Stabilizer level is already too high and they will just make it go higher, if you need supplemental chlorine for shocking use bleach or liquid chlorine (the only practical way to lower CYA is water replacement)

p.p.s. your pH is too high you need to add acid to bring down, best option is muriatic acid, or you can use dry pH down. a little goes a long way
 
I am a little slow with this. THanks for the responses. I need it in steps. Should I shut off the SWG and/or take the chlorine tablets out. Not sure if the SWG can work hard enough to handle job. Really don't know what I am doing.
Is this the plan. Step 1. Drain the pool down 1/3. (Then do I add water back?) Step 2. Add 20 ounces of muriatic acid (May I use the dry acid instead and if so how much (worried the muriatic acid might effect my lung function). Step 3. Use bleach 6% (how much?) Step 4: Run overnight test. Thanks.
 
My SWG is reading low salt. Should I shut it off for now and use the PH down. I need to pick up the dry acid from the store but kind of need the steps to follow such as do I 1st drain the pool down to 1/3. I am so helpless with all of this but really want to learn. Thanks
 
You can use dry acid, but wait until after you drain and refill the pool and your shouldn't need as much. The blue type in my post above are links you can click on to read more about the subject.

Your plan of action:
1. Drain pool by 1/3 and refill with fresh water.
2. Re-test your water and post the results here. We will help you decide what you need to do for the next step after we see your results.

Keep your SWG off only when you are doing the overnight test. You will need to supplement your chlorine when you shock the pool. Take the chlorine tabs out and dispose of them. Do not use them again this season. If you have more, they will keep indefinitely as long as they are stored in an air tight container in a dry location.

EDIT: You have 2 threads going with the same title. I will ask a moderator if they can combine them, in the mean time try to post on just one of the two threads so we all stay on the same page. Thanks!
 

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I ordered the TF100. Since I do not have it right now, I will need to test the water with the strips from Walmart tonight after the pool fills and then again in the early am. I will submit the results tonight and then again tomorrow. As soon as the better test kit arrives, then I can follow more closely what is going on in the pool.

Dr. Mary, Brooksville, FL
1) 3800 gals Intex pool, 16 x 42
2) Cartridge Filter 2500 gal. (Intex)
3) AG Pool
 
Previous test results:
Total Hardness: >250
Total Chlorine 3
Free Chlorine 3
Bromine 6
PH 8.4
Total Alkalinity 180
Stabilize 100

Current results
Total Hardness: 250
Total Chlorine 3
Free Chlorine 3
Bromine 3
PH 7.8
Total Alkalinity 180
Stabilize 50

Dr. Mary, Brooksville, FL
1) 3800 gals Intex pool, 16 x 42
2) Cartridge Filter 2500 gal. (Intex)
3) AG Pool
SWG
 
If I remember my college chemistry right, regarding your lung concern over the muriatic acid, this is HCL, when added to water you primarily end up with an OH ion and a CL ion (in other words a hydroxide group which lowers the pH and a bit extra chlorination).

Ike

p.s. If I am wrong I am sure someone will correct me
 
Thanks for the info although my understanding is low. I am guessing that you mean I don't need to worry about the muriatic acid. I do have some ph down (granules) on hand so I could use that first. I am waiting to hear about my next step after replacing 1/3 of the water. I will check the chemistry in the early daylight. I am not sure what to begin with after I test the water so hopefully a step by step process will get me through it.
 
Strip this morning looks very much like last night.
Total Hardness: 250
Total Chlorine 1
Free Chlorine 3
Bromine 6
PH 7.8
Total Alkalinity 180
Stabilize 50
I am assuming i should turn the SWG back on (which is reading low salt). Not sure what to do after that. Thanks for all your help!
 
Dr.Mary said:
Previous test results:
Total Hardness: >250
Total Chlorine 3
Free Chlorine 3
Bromine 6
PH 8.4
Total Alkalinity 180
Stabilize 100

Current results
Total Hardness: 250 This level is fine

Total Chlorine 3 Add 1 jug of 96 ounce unscented bleach to raise pool to shock level.
Free Chlorine 3
Bromine 3 Ignore, you are not using bromine

PH 7.8 Add 16 ounces of muriatic acid or22 ounces by weight of dry acid to drop TA to 100 and pH to 7.2
Total Alkalinity 180

Stabilize 50 Leave it as is for now until your test kit comes.


Dr. Mary, Brooksville, FL
1) 3800 gals Intex pool, 16 x 42
2) Cartridge Filter 2500 gal. (Intex)
3) AG Pool
SWG
Click to expand...

1. add 96 ounces of unscented bleach in front of the water return. Retest in 2 hours and add more bleach if needed to keep pool at shock level of 16 ppm.
2. add 16 ounces of muriatic acid or 22 ounces by weight of dry acid
3. keep pump running 24/7
 
Dr.Mary said:
I am assuming i should turn the SWG back on (which is reading low salt). Not sure what to do after that. Thanks for all your help!
Click to expand...

Why can't you go buy some more pool salt?

If you don't have proper test strips just put in small batches at a time until the SWG stops reading low salt. Add maybe 2 pounds at a time, wait a few hours for it to fully dissolve before adding more and then stop once the SWG is happy.
 
If it all possible, can you take a water sample (within an hour) to a pool store in your area just for a test(they will not charge you for this)? Don't buy anything at this time and post those results so we can compare how the test strips are reading.
 

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