Newish pool, cloudy water

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Cyclonic

Cyclonic

0
Mar 25, 2013
45
South Africa
Since I'm new to proper testing (and not the eyeball test I've used for years ;)) and still finding my feet, what is the general consensus on cloudy water?

My pool was renovated almost 8 weeks ago now.
White marbellite was used.
Municipal water was used to fill.
Left for 21 days without using a pool cleaner.
Up until Week 6 the water was crystal clear.
First rain and the pool turned a pale green - shocked and blue again.
Same story with second rain.
Water cloudy ever since the first rain.
Only chlorine used until now.
Surface clean.
Pool floor clean.

First chemical tests:

Chlorine < 0.1 ppm (I guess this is the biggest problem!)
PH > 8.2
Could not complete an acid demand test
I decided to shock with chlorine until I get the pH right

Care to hazard a guess as to how I end up resolving this?


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The very first thing to do, certainly before you shock, is to get the PH down to something more reasonable. PH should be between 7.2. and 7.8.

Then, get a complete set of water test results. Ideally you should have your own top quality test kit. Nothing can save you money nearly as easily as knowing all of your water test numbers. Failing that, get test results from a pool store. Without test results it is impossible to say what might be going on.
 
Forgot to mention I started Pool School as of 5 minutes ago. :D

Lowering the pH...is that by adding acid? Regards the test kit, pool supplies here in S.A. are very monopolised. Pretty much all I've seen is this kit, which I bought:

http://www.hth.co.za/index.php/hth-prod ... -equipment

It's the top product of course. Is a 4-way test kit good enough? I've got a pool shop which does test water so that's another option, if I get stuck.

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The HTH test kit does not contain the most important test ... the FAS-DPD chlorine test. Best to order the K-2006 or the TF-100 online (see link in my signature for a comparison)

Also, the values we recommend (pool-school/recommended_levels) may be different than what they are recommending. you have to decide which source of information you are going to trust as trying to mix the advice will lead to confusion.
 
No, the DPD chlorine test and FAS-DPD chlorine test are different. The DPD test measures FC and TC up to 5 (or perhaps 10) by variable steps, while the FAS-DPD chlorine test measures FC and CC up to 50 in steps of 0.5.
 
You will definitely need a better test kit. We recommend either the K-2006 or TF-100 from tftestkits.net. Are you located in the US? I ask because I noticed the link to the HTH test kit had a different country code (.co.za) on the end. You are going to need to decide who's advice you are going to follow, because they will be different. To clear up the cloudiness, we are going to need to know FC level, CC level, and CYA level. Your current test, I believe, only gives TC levels, which is not enough.
 

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For the majority of issues we manage with basic items like bleach / liquid chlorine, baking soda, muriatic acid (hydrochloric acid), most of which can be found in a typical grocery or hardware store in the U.S. About the only pool only items we ever suggest are CYA stabilizer and perhaps a metal sequesterant if required.
 
I'm pretty sure us saffers use pool-only products. I'm very interested in liquid bleach...I'm not sure they do it in bulk here so that it will be cost effective. Joining this board may turn out to be quite an eye opener for how we do pool care here.


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I tested my water again but not too thrilled with how dodgy the results are. For the chlorine test, the DPD tablet for one is always crushed inside the foil; secondly it doesn't want to dissolve. So it "appears" that the levels are still < 0.1ppm - honestly I'm not sure though.

For the acid demand test, pH is around 8'ish....table says I should add 375ml of acid but I will do that in the morning.


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Just a small update, due to the dodgy results from the HTH kit mentioned previously, I reverted to not testing at all. :( The pool remains crystal clear but may need some chemicals that I just won't know about without testing. I should pull up my socks!


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Frankly no. 8 out of 10 times the pool store uses test strips, which are pretty much worthless, even if a computer is interpreting them. The 9th time they use a good drop kit, but the 16 yr old behind the counter doesn't care or isnt paying attention, so who knows if those tests are accurate. Maybe the 10th time out of 10 they do it correctly and you can trust the results.

The second half of the problem is that most pool stores don't seem to understand the chemistry, specifically the CYA/FC relationship. They are simply dealers and follow the recommendations of their chemical distributors (who provide that fancy computer tester and also don't understand the chemistry or FC/CYA relationship).

Hands down, the simplest, most cost effective way to care for pool is to do it yourself using the principles we teach on this site.
 

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