Slightly Cloudy Water??

[Mesamav]

Hi everyone.
I'm somewhat new to pool ownership. I moved from the Oregon coast last June and got my house in Mesa Arizona last July.
Absolutely love having a pool to cool off with but I have a few questions.
A couple of months ago, I decided I wanted to heat the pool but I didn't want to buy a conventional heater because of the cost both with buying the thing and of course all the energy it takes to heat a pool. I ended up buying a solar cover and I made some solar heaters. I quickly got the water temps to the mid 80's and I actually have to leave the heaters off most of the time or the water gets too warm. I'm thrilled with how well the solar heaters work.
Anyway, as I was heating up the water, I forgot to up the chlorine and ended up with a green pool. The pool store wanted to sell me all kinds of expensive stuff so I took your advice on here and I cleaned up the pool in a week or so. The water is clean, I can see the drain very well but the water isn't sparkling. If I turn on the light at night, the pool is a little cloudy. I have been brushing and vacuuming at least once a day to make sure all the algae is gone. I'm still getting a lot of stuff off the sides and bottom when I brush the pool. It looks like a fine dust when i'm brushing this.
Is this normal?
I've got a plaster pool built in the 80's. It's my understanding it was re-plastered a few years ago.
Sand filter.
I tested my water this morning and here is what I came up with.
FC 2 to 4
PH 7.2
TA is about 40
CH is about 400
CYA is kind of weird. A few days ago, I got 40 but I tested this morning and it was 90. What's up with that?

The water here in Mesa is extremely hard to begin with.
So is my water ok and am I doing ok on my pool stuff?
How often should I brush and vacuum the pool?

Thanks in advance for your input.

 

[JohnT]

Your chlorine is too low for a CYA at either 40 or 90ppm. At 40ppm CYA you should be at 5ppm, but never less than 3ppm, and for 90ppm CYA, you should be at 10ppm and never less than 7ppm. See the Chlorine CYA Chart


If you aren't already doing so, run your pump 24/7 and brush the pool daily. Adding a few doses of clarifier might speed it up once you have the chlorine at an appropriate level.

 

[Mesamav]

Thanks for the reply.
With my CYA at 90, should I just drain a good part of my water and re-fill?
Also, I read on here that I can put in a cup or so of DE with my sand filter. That worked wonders. Just sayin'.
Great info on here.

 

[duraleigh]

If you have confirmed your CYA of 90, yes, drain about 35% or so and get it down to 50.

 

[Mesamav]

I've emptied some water and got the CYA down to 60 or a little below. The water around here is very hard but I've managed to get the CH down to 450 or so but I can't seem to make the cloudy water clear.
It's not very cloudy. Can't really see it during the day but when the pool light is on, you can see it pretty well. The drain is clearly visible but I can't quite get the water "sparkling".
Any ideas? Should I break down and buy some clarifier??????

 

[duraleigh]

visible suspended particles can be seen in virtually EVERY pool at night. You will probably spin your wheels trying to get rid of them.

 

[Bama Rambler]

You can try adding a little DE to your sand filter and see if that helps clear it a little. As Dave said, you're always be able to see particles in the water when the light is on. Even a DE filter leaves small particles in the water.

If you decide to try floc, let us know what it was and how it worked. I'm keeping a log of which ones work and which don't.

 

[Mesamav]

I just want to finish this thread off.
I drained about 18 inches of water and re-filled. I got my CH down to about 400 and my CYA to 45 or so. I added a little DE to the filter, did the clarifier thing and my pool is amazingly clear. It might be my imagination but with some of the CH gone, the water seems to feel better as well but maybe I'm hallucinating.
Thanks again to all on here. My pool is magnificently clear and sparkling and I'm using far less chlorine than I was before to maintain my recommended levels.
Thanks so much. You guys are awesome.

 

[Bama Rambler]

Which clarifier did you use?

 

[Mesamav]

It's "Ultra- Brite" from Leslies. Relatively inexpensive and it seems to work well. When I use that though, it doesn't seem to filter out the haze, I'll get a lot of stuff that settles on the bottom and I vacuum it up but it does seem to clear things up quite a bit.