Cloudy water...can't get it clear!

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E

Elle

0
May 16, 2007
62
Northern NY
I'm having some issues with not being able to totally clear my pool water. I accidentally let the water get green during a cold snap about 2 weeks ago and since then I can't get it to sparkle.
Here are my test results as of just a few min ago
FC 3
CC .5
TC 3.5
PH 7.5
TA 70
CYA 30 (it was 35 the other day but we got some heavy rain)

We run a swg for 2-3 hrs each day. And I have a sand filter that runs for about 8-10 hours per day. 24ft rounds pool.
Let me know what I should do first! Thanks so much.
 
Your CYA level is too low for your SWG. 70-80 is the proper range. But, don't bring that up yet, you need to shock your pool. Shocking is a process, not an item you purchase and dump in the pool.
pool-school/shocking_your_pool
You are at least failing one of the three parts of how you know your shock process is complete, your pool is not clear.
 
Ok I will bring to shock levels tonight before bed after the kids are done swimming for the day. If shock level of cya of 60 is 24 does that mean I need to double that then?
Thanks so much. I normally don't have issues with this and have been doing this method for quite a few years now but for some reason this year I'm not doing good! Lol
 
Safe when FC is less than shock level and more than the minimum FC level and water is clear and the CC is not more than 0.5ppm.

Sounds like you are trying to shock and swim at the same time.
 
Jbliz beat me..

For swimming, we recommend FC under your shock level (for your pool's cya level), which is 12 ppm FC for your 30 ppm cya. Also the bottom of the pool should be clearly visible.

I also generally do not swim when the CC level is above 0.5 ppm.

By the way, woodyp got your shock value from the cya/chlorine chart. Even with a swg, when you are not at the recommended cya levels the non-swg chart is valid as a guide.
 

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Thanks :) I can very clearly see the bottom of the pool...things are just cloudy. I just added a bit of bleach for now since the kids are still wanting to swim today..it's hot! So then tonight before closing up I will bring things up to shock levels.
That's good to know about the cya chart. I had just assumed to use the swg levels and not the regular.
When should I bring up my CYA levels? After the pool is clear all the way?
I added more salt today to and am wondering if that was affecting how well the swg is chlorinating the water. It needed a bag. Last summer I barely had to touch the water and only just shock occasionally but it seems that the swg isn't as effective as it used to be.
 
Elle said:
When should I bring up my CYA levels?
Click to expand...
After completing the shocking process. Make sure you pass all three criteria before stopping (in my sig as well).

Elle said:
I added more salt today to and am wondering if that was affecting how well the swg is chlorinating the water. It needed a bag. Last summer I barely had to touch the water and only just shock occasionally but it seems that the swg isn't as effective as it used to be.
Click to expand...
Focus on shocking for now and turn off the swg. Use bleach/liquid chlorine to shock.

Do you have a salt test?
 
I have the salt strips for testing the salt. I added enough to get it up to 3000. The SWG is done running for the day so I'll just shut it off and work with the bleach. My only dilemma is that tomorrow is supposed to be just as hot as today and the kids are home from school now. It's hard to shock and swim ;)
 
What swg do you have?

Once you get done shocking, if you salt level is at 3000 ppm and the swg is happy and producing chlorine, then I wouldn't worry about it.

As for swimmers, I don't like swimming in anything that has CC>0.5 ppm, some of the CC that might show up can be quite an irritant. Swimming can get in the way/slow down the shocking process. Sometimes it is better to just close the pool and do the shock process as fast as possible, so that you can get back to pleasant swimming ASAP. It is really a judgement call.
 
Thanks so much for all the quick replies! I really appreciate being able to come here and have my questions answered!
I think it's the Intex SWG and we've had it for I think 3 summers. I'm pretty sure that this is the 3rd one.

Yeah I guess I'll just have to decide on that...would be faster to clear it without the kids in it for sure. I'll just have to play it by ear for now. We have some cooler temps coming at the end of the week and so won't want to be out there ALL day. So I might just keep the FC on the higher end and shock and night and then really hammer it in a few days. It's not green or anything just cloudy so I can live with that a few more days as long as it's not getting worse.
 
Sounds like a decent plan. You could do an Overnight FC Loss Test any night to see if there is anything organic in the pool consuming the FC ... if you pass and your CC are not > 0.5. That is passing 2 of the 3 steps for shocking.

It could just be a little cloudy due to the high usage and an elevated FC level may take care of it and just keep an eye on it and see if the water gets worse.

BTW: Sand filters are the slowest at clearing cloudy water. You could try the trick of adding a little DE to maybe clear it up faster.
 
Is your intex putting out small bubbles in the electrode chamber still?

You can also test the intex output by getting a sample of water from the pool return while the intex is generating and comparing that water's FC level, to the FC level of the rest of the pool. The return water should be somewhat higher in FC (depends on the flow rate, age of cell, etc.). If it is just barely higher or the difference is not measurable, your cell either needs to be cleaned per the manual, or it is time to get a new one.
 
Qwaxalot -- why do you think they need to clean the cell? Do you have insight that we don't? I'm not saying it doesn't need cleaning, but without the OP answering some questions we can't just assume the cell needs cleaning.
 
@ Bama: OP said cell was three years old. I may be short selling OP, but I find it quite common that SWCG users don't clean cell often enough. Additionally OP seems to be having a problem establishing a Chlorine residual.

@OP: Have you ever cleaned the cell?
 

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