Water seems a little cloudy...

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carlos31820

carlos31820

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LifeTime Supporter
Nov 22, 2010
413
Midland, Georgia
Ok, I'm a new pool owner. We've only used the pool twice. Yesterday, there were about 10 people in the pool for several hours. I noticed that the water was somewhat cloudy when everyone got out of the pool. Today, the water still seems a bit hazy in the deep end. I tested the water this evening and here are the numbers...

FC: 1.5
CC: 0
pH: 7.8
TA: 60
CYA: 30

Is it normal for the pool to look a little hazy after a heavy bather load? Before the pool party yesterday, the FC level was 3.5.
 
Does the low FC make the water hazy-looking? Sorry for the newbie questions. I'm about to post a youtube video showing the water passing in front of the pool light...

Edit... Here's the Youtube video. It's best to watch it in HD 720p quality to see in detail.

[youtube:aslh4hku]8X9kaN31yvw[/youtube:aslh4hku]
 
Hey Carlos...no such thing as a newbie question :lol: With low FC and CYA at 60, there is very little active chlorine available to oxidize bather waste (sweat, bodily fluids) coupled with typical outdoor contaminents, hence the hazing. Tried looking at the video, but it is marked private.

Also, forgot to mention that it's not a bad idea to keep the filter running longer after a pool party.
 
lightingguy said:
You would also probably benefit from uping your CYA into the 60 range and targeting a FC number closer to 4 or 5. It should help your SWG keep up with the demand better.
Click to expand...

I'm conflicted by this... the manual for my SWCG states the water chemistry should be kept as follows:

FC: 1-3 ppm
CC: None
pH: 7.4-7.6
CYA: 10-50 ppm
TA: 80-120 ppm

Why the discrepancy between the Jandy specs and the TFP recommendations?
 

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carlos31820 said:
I'm conflicted by this... the manual for my SWCG states the water chemistry should be kept as follows:

FC: 1-3 ppm
CC: None
pH: 7.4-7.6
CYA: 10-50 ppm
TA: 80-120 ppm

Why the discrepancy between the Jandy specs and the TFP recommendations?
Click to expand...
Jandy said:
4.4 Chemistry You Need to Know
1. Chlorine Stabilizer (cyanuric acid) is needed to maintain proper levels of chlorine. Most unstable chlorine is destroyed by the UV radiation from the sun within 2 hours. Chlorine stabilizer should be maintained between 50 - 75 PPM. See Table 2, page 20. http://www.jandy-downloads.com/pdfs/H05675-RevE.pdf
Click to expand...

The Jandy ei does say 10 to 50 ppm for cyanuric acid. Use 50 ppm.
 
Well. I'm somewhat confused. Fearing an algae outbreak as suggested by some last night, I added all the chlorine I had in hand and set my SWCG to 100% and left the equipment running all night.

Before I went to bed, FC was 9, CC was 0. This morning, FC is 10.5, CC is still zero but the water looks slightly improved than last night but about the same. To complicate things, a huge thunderstorm rolled through as I finished testing this morning now so I'm sure that's not going to help any. I also tested CH last night and it's only at 60 (vinyl pool). pH is 7.8.

Why is the water cloudy yet my CC is at zero? CCs only go up for organic matter but not other things (oils, suntan lotion)?

Btw - I'm using the TF-100 FAS DPD test. Will a ph of 7.8 contribute to the haziness? I guess it wouldn't hurt to bring it down to 7.4 or so.
 
Carlos,

I suggest you leave the water chemistry alone for now and let the pump and filter clear your pool. It will take longer than you like but it will happen.

Secondly, you should perform an Overnight FC loss test to see if you are still consuming excessive chlorine. Read how in Pool School.

Cloudy water after a large bather load is a very common issue and it will almost surely work itself out if you keep your pump running 24/7. The best lesson to take from this is to anticipate the large bather load and up you FC prior to that.

A pH of 7.8 is okay and that is not the reason for your cloudiness. Thunderstorms, unless you get runoff INTO the pool, do not change things that much and generally, you can disregard them.

You must take ALL your water parameters into account to get a "snapshot" of your water's condition. When I look at the numbers you have posted, I see a pool within guidelines that simply suffered from an extra bather load. Allow 24/7 filtration to correct it for you.

All the advice above assumes you pass the overnight FC loss test.......if you don't then you'll need to shock
 
Carlos, I too am suprised you did not get a CC reading especially on March 14th. You should have gotten at least some pink color in the CC test. Just to be on the safe side would you step through the process of how you test for CC and also state how old you TF-100 kit is.
 
benavidescj said:
Carlos, I too am suprised you did not get a CC reading especially on March 14th. You should have gotten at least some pink color in the CC test. Just to be on the safe side would you step through the process of how you test for CC and also state how old you TF-100 kit is.
Click to expand...

TF-100 kit is fairly new. Ordered it last January.

I'm testing for CC following the TF-100 instructions (using the Speedstir as well). 10ml of water, add scoop of DPD powder, stir.. then add the reagent (R871? - cant remember, I'm at work) one drop at a time counting the drops... divide # of drops by two to get my FC. For CC check, add five drops of reagent (R003? - again not sure of the number)... remix... if it turns pink, there's CC so add R871 again to see how much CC there is... however, when I add the last reagent the solution remains perfectly clear which should indicate no CC.
 
duraleigh said:
Carlos,

I suggest you leave the water chemistry alone for now and let the pump and filter clear your pool. It will take longer than you like but it will happen.

Secondly, you should perform an Overnight FC loss test to see if you are still consuming excessive chlorine. Read how in Pool School.

Cloudy water after a large bather load is a very common issue and it will almost surely work itself out if you keep your pump running 24/7. The best lesson to take from this is to anticipate the large bather load and up you FC prior to that.

A pH of 7.8 is okay and that is not the reason for your cloudiness. Thunderstorms, unless you get runoff INTO the pool, do not change things that much and generally, you can disregard them.

You must take ALL your water parameters into account to get a "snapshot" of your water's condition. When I look at the numbers you have posted, I see a pool within guidelines that simply suffered from an extra bather load. Allow 24/7 filtration to correct it for you.

All the advice above assumes you pass the overnight FC loss test.......if you don't then you'll need to shock
Click to expand...

I think you may be right about the bather load, because the water was very cloudy when the pool party was over. It cleared up some but I guess it used up all the FC in the process before I could clear it all the way.

It looked better this morning. I've read about doing the overnight FC loss test and will try it tonight if it still looks hazy. Thank you for all the help. You guys are great.

I have learned my first of many lessons, I'm sure. Increase FC before a heavy bather load.
 
If people had lots of suntan lotion or did not rinse off before entering the pool, then such lotion and skin oils can make a pool cloudy. Having the FC be too low didn't help since it wasn't high enough to oxidize some of this bather load fast enough and may also have been low enough to let algae start to develop (though that would take a little time -- if the water was cloudy immediately after the bather load, then that's from the bather load itself).

Chlorine oxidation and filtration will clear the pool though it can take some time. People sometimes use clarifiers to speed up the process, but obviously that's a cost vs. time tradeoff and normally is not necessary.

And yes, you are right that CC measures chemicals that have combined with chlorine, but won't measure chemicals that don't form combined chlorine. Suntan lotion has different chemicals, but the most visible ones in the pool are not particularly soluble and don't react much with chlorine. They generally get filtered out. My wife swims in the pool every day (well, she will once our swim season starts) and there is always a film of suntan lotion right after she is in the water and eventually clears with filtration. When I clean my oversized cartridge filter once a year, it is mostly filled with what appears to be suntan lotion -- same basic flesh-tone color and consistency. It's obviously a chemical that does not break down very much from chlorine.
 
Thank you for the detailed response Chem geek. Im really thinking its a bather load issue because I had been checking FC daily and it had been hovering between 4-5 ppm until the day we swam when it was around 3.5 ppm.
BTW - The bather load consisted of six small kids using sun screen and four adults. Im sure the small kids pee in the water as I don't remember any kids taking a bathroom break and were in the pool over 3 hours.

My mistake was not increasing FC right before or after the pool party which was Sunday. It was last night - Monday - that I noticed the water was fully filtered as I expected.

I'll check the water after work and will do the overnight fc loss test just in case. Im very thankful for all the help found here. Im learning a lot.
 
Went home for lunch. FC is still holding at 10ppm, CC at zero. Water looks MUCH improved.

Here is a cell phone photo looking at the drain in the deep end (8 feet).

1300209831239.jpg
 

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