confusing clouds

[dickeystorm]

I vacuumed using my leaf bagger/hose. This generated big white clouds making it impossible to see the bottom. The water was clear when I started. In the past my crawler has picked up small white crystals also.

My CH is on the high side and I recently replaced my DE filter elements which had numerous holes along the edges.

What is this stuff? I'm going to let it settle and vacuum through t6he filter tomorrow in hope of getting rid of it.

Thanks.

My numbers:
FC=4.5
CC=0
pH=7.6
TA=180
CH=410
CYA=80
T=79F

 

[JasonLion]

From your description, it sounds like you stirred up some dust on the bottom of the pool, which is now in the water and will presumably settle out again over the next day or two.

Your TA and CH levels are both high, which puts you at risk for calcium scaling and could also cause calcium clouding. I suggest you start by lowering PH to 7.2 right away, and then work on lowering either TA or CH or both. Actually, this could be the source of your current clouding, or there might have been calcium dust that was settled on the bottom of the pool that got stirred up.

By the by, your FC level is also a bit low given your CYA level, unless you have a SWG. Without a SWG, and with CYA at 80 FC should be between 6 and 10.

 

[dickeystorm]

Thanks for the reply. I was thinking along those line but wanted the experts opinions

I added bleach since my FC was low and I'm working on lowering the TA and CH. How long , or how many cycles, does it take to get the TA down? I have done one cycle so far but didn't see any change in TA.

Could the "dust" be dead algae? I opened to a green mess a few weeks ago but it cleared within a week.

 

[JasonLion]

Yes, dead algae often bleaches out to white and can form a dust that will stay suspended in the water for several hours when stirred up.

Lowering TA often takes quite a while, many cycles, days or weeks depending on how much aeration you have.