cloudy and light green pool is not good for mothers day :(

[michmike]

hey guys,

i know this is something you see all the time in here, but for some reason i can't get my pool to get rid of the light green color/ cloudiness. 3 days ago i installed a SWG and the salinity test reports 3700ppm.
All my other chemicals are correct. I have been maintaining my pool myself for 2 years and this is my first time i can't get rid of this cloudiness [fyi i read all of the content here on tfp pool school]. My filter grids are brand new as of this past saturday. I have to say the pool color has improved but it is not clear yet. I have been running the pump 24/7 the past 3 days to get rid of this to no avail.

FC is a light high because of shock :5
Ph 7.5
TA 85
CH 300
CYA 40
Salt 3700
Phosphates: were 200 but i added 2 capfulls of phosphree on sunday, so it should be close to 0 now. My goal is to add 2 more capfulls on friday of phosphree
---> FYI all the above numbers are within limits of my SWG manufacturer. I know your site recommends CYA 70-80 but the SWG manufacturer says 30-60.

What else can i do to get rid of this cloudiness. i am thinking of setting the SWG to superchlorinate, but my FC is already high. I want to have the pool ready for mothers day because i have guests and I am getting desperate. the pool store people would try to sell me that "Free and Clear" product, but i am not so sure. i bought it before and it did very little.

 

[JasonLion]

Re: cloudy and light green pool is not good for mothers day

Welcome to TFP!

With CYA at 40, having FC at 5 is not high, it just about right for day to day use without a SWG, hardly anything close to killing off active algae, which takes something more like 15 to 20.

If you want to clean up the water quickly, bring the FC level up to 20 and run the pump 24/7 until the water clears up. Meanwhile, brush the entire pool and backwash/clean out the filter as needed.

Having CYA at 40 is going to cause a lot more PH drift and significantly shorten the SWG cell life. It might also cause problems around the hottest time of the year, unless your SWG is significantly larger than it needs to be.

 

[Bama Rambler]

Re: cloudy and light green pool is not good for mothers day

As Jason said, you need to be shocking. And don't try using the swcg to do it. You need a good amount of liquid chlorine to do it. It might take a few days to get it clear but if you'll start it now and keep after it you'll get it clear. Go back over the pool school article on how to shock.

 

[michmike]

Re: cloudy and light green pool is not good for mothers day

thanks guys for the replies and the welcome. I will do two thigns. Shock using liquid chlorine, adjust the SWG to superchlorinate and in a couple of days adjust the cya as well. i know i should not be adding CYA while shocking.

Jason, i will bring CYA to 70 then.

 

[michmike]

Re: cloudy and light green pool is not good for mothers day

hi everyone, the pool is almost sparkling clear. every day there was significant progress after i shocked it with so much clorox bleach.
thank you so much for teaching me that i have to shock based on my current level of CYA. Now it is time to raise the CYA.

I got two questions if you can help me out here as well.
-I already backwashed twice and i need to backwash again today. steadily the pressurise rises from 10psi to 18 psi overnight (10 hrs). Is that expected? i assume that eventually when the pool is clear i won't have to backwash more than once every 3-4 weeks. A lot of water is wasted on backwash as i have to keep it 5 mins on backwash and 30 seconds at least on rinse.
-if it got the pool to 20 FC yesterday, would it be safe to swim on sunday? that will be two days of 85 degrees plus weather here. I saw in the forum here that folks swim in FC10.

thanks again in advance and have a great weekend

 

[Bama Rambler]

Re: cloudy and light green pool is not good for mothers day

While clearing algae it's perfectly normal to have to backwash once a day or more. Once it's all clear you'll only have to backwash a few times a year.

Since your CYA is 40 ppm your shock level is 15 and it's safe to swim up to shock level for your CYA. So if it's down to 15ppm FC you can swim.

Don't ask me how high I would swim in

 

[madwil]

Re: cloudy and light green pool is not good for mothers day

Bama beat my post, I said basically the same thing...
FC at 30+ is safe for SWIMMING- just maybe drying to skin and damaging to swimwear
wouldn't recommend with younger kids, who frequently swallow copious amounts of water (intentionally or not!) although at that level would likely not cause more than mild diarhea...
I've discussed this before with health professionals- Chlorinated bath water is not hazardous, beyond drying out skin, unless you happen to be sensitive to it (like an allergy!)

 

[michmike]

Re: cloudy and light green pool is not good for mothers day

thanks guys !!! I will wear old swuimsuits on sunday
have a great weekend all.

 

[chem geek]

Re: cloudy and light green pool is not good for mothers day

Chlorinated bath water is not hazardous, beyond drying out skin, unless you happen to be sensitive to it (like an allergy!)

When the FC is around 40% of the CYA as is the case at shock level, this is equivalent in active chlorine (hypochlorous acid) level to an FC of around 0.6 ppm with no CYA. That's still less than the 1+ ppm FC with no CYA in typical chlorinated tap water and less than the 1-2 ppm FC (or more) with no CYA in most indoor commercial/public pools.

The concern regarding swallowing the water is reasonable since the FC is what matters in that case since it's total capacity and not reaction rate that is more relevant, but for oxidation of skin, hair, swimsuits, etc. it is the active chlorine level that is most relevant (at least until you get out of the water when the chlorine can continue to react, albeit slowly, so rinse off if you want to take care of that). The chlorine bound to CYA is not very reactive -- roughly 1/100th as reactive as hypochlorous acid at least for some types of oxidation (see this paper).

 

[michmike]

Re: cloudy and light green pool is not good for mothers day

thanks chem greek!

 

[madwil]

Re: cloudy and light green pool is not good for mothers day

How did Mothers Day work out? Hope everyone enjoyed it!

 

[michmike]

Re: cloudy and light green pool is not good for mothers day

yes they did. the pool was sparkling clear and no sign of algae since friday morning. thank you all so much for the help in clearing them out. i have been in here for a week now and I already know a ton of more stuff about my pool. I am glad i found this community!