Hi from Fresno Cali - Frustrated with cloudy water

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dar-lita

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Jun 29, 2010
18
I am not new to the site, but am returning.

I have an Intex 18 x 48 AGP with an Intex SF20110 Sand Filter. I really like having it, because in the San Joaquin Valley, it gets really hot here.

I recently opened it up and the water was cloudy and there was a lot of dirt at the bottom. I think this was originally from the hub piece getting broken. I replaced the hub piece and screwed in the fingers. I put the filter together and added new sand. I know that its hooked up correctly. I drained the pool (I know, that is probably something I shouldn't have done because of the liner) and at the bottom there was a layer of sand/dirt and about 1/2 inch of water, but I thought that all was good. I ran my hose in the pool to try to flush out the layer of sand/dirt and refilled the pool. After it was filled, I saw the water was still very, very cloudy. I added a chlorine floater and also added algaecide and also added clarifyer. I ran my filter to get going, but now all I have is very cloudy water.

I took my water to leslie's and added what they told me to. I also bought a floc and added it to the pool. I still have aweful cloudy water and am VERY frustrated. :x I can't remember the last time my water was crystal clear.

I used the test trips I have at home by HTC and here are my readings...
T Hardness = 200
Chlorine = 1/2
PH = 7.5
Alkalinity = 240
Cyranic Acid = 0

HELP!
 
:wave: Welcome to TFP!!!

Wow, you have been adding a lot of stuff that we would not have recommended as they are not needed (algaecide, clarifier, floc ....)

I suggest starting by reading through Pool School a couple times (button at the upper right of the page).

Then, you need to go through the Shock Process and to do that properly you need one of the recommended test kits ... strips are worthless and pool store testing is not much better.

You need to get some CYA into the water to protect the chlorine and then follow:
Shocking Your Pool

I will say it is a bit odd that the water was cloudy after a complete re-fill :scratch:
 
Hi Jason:

Thanks so much for responding so quickly. Please let me know what testing kit you recommend and where to order.

I really want to learn and am not very knowledgeable about pool chemestry. I really like it when steps are one, two, three (easy to understand). It is very frustrating with my water issue, and I am pretty busy with work and family, but I want to get a handle on it! I want to enjoy my pool this summer. Do you think I need to drain some of the water out of the pool and start from scratch?

I appreciate all of your advice or anything else you could let me know.
 
Definitely no need to replace water at this point.

Really the best kit on the market is the TF100 (see the link in my signature for a comparison with the K2006). In that link you will also see at the top a link to the West Coast distributor of the TF100 ... that is what I would recommend to get you a kit the fastest.

While waiting ... read read read ... and ask questions as they come up.
 
Oh, here is a good one. I have an Intex SF20110 Sand Filter. I want to hook up a vaccuum hose to the inlet to the filter, but find that there doesn't seem to be enough suction to vaccuum and I will have to end up using the annoying hose pole variety. Any suggestions to get more suction out of the filter. I take off the strainer cup that screws on the incoming port to the filter and it feels like there is pretty good suction. Any ideas for hoses that I should get or vaccuum heads that are good for vinyl. The only hose I have is from a prior unit (wanda whale) that I had ordered. It is pieces that connect together. I am going to print out the full pool school so that I can refer and read over and over. Thanks again!
 
That has the 2650 GPM pump that people seem to like, I am not too familiar with the Intex equipment, so hopefully someone else can offer their thoughts.

If the suction is lower than normal, then the impeller could be clogged. Or if the filter is high, then it could be dirty restricting the flow.
 
By George I Think I Don't Have It....

Hi All;

I'm a newbie and am trying to conquer my mountain (pool), but my journey isnt going so well.

Ok here is my scenario...

Started with cloudy water. Added stuff I shouldn't have and water was milky and cloudy. I emptied it down to a foot from the bottom and refilled. I checked it this morning and got happy :-D because I saw the side of the pool, but there was still dirt on the bottom. When I got home from work today, I attempted to hook the vaccuum hose up to the inlet to the filter after I primed the hose, but it wasn't working, so I tried the regular vaccuum connected to the water hose. The water got cloudy again. :grrrr: I couldnt even attempt to vaccuum because I couldnt see the bottom. I turned on my filter and tested the water. Here are my levels.

CHLOR = 0
pH = 7.5
ALK = 200
CAL = 200
CYR = 30

Will I ever see crystal blue again? :(

Help!
 
Re: By George I Think I Don't Have It....

dar-lita:

I was looking over your other post from Introduce Yourself (hi-from-fresno-cali-frustrated-with-cloudy-water-t58913.html) and you've got a lot of work ahead of you.

First, were you able to get a good (TF100 or K-2006) test kit yet? You need one to make it through the shocking process that was already suggested and for additional balancing afterwards.. (pool-school/shocking_your_pool)

You have zero chlorine and your water will never clear unless that level is increased as instructed. You will need a lot of liquid chlorinator (bleach) to get your water cleared up.
 
Re: By George I Think I Don't Have It....

Hi There:

Thanks for the response. I want so badly to get this right, but feel overwhelmed with it all. I have a chlorine floater in the pool right now. I also had some powder power pro from Leslie's. I threw in one whole bag. I bought the 6 test kit at Walmart and tested the water. I do have bleach but the bottle doesn't say what percent. i will keep my filter running 24/7. Maybe it might help. Any advice is greatly appreciated so I dont end up with bald spots from pulling my hair out.... :)
 
Re: By George I Think I Don't Have It....

I just bought a house with a pool too. Similar problems. There aren't any shortcuts. Read Pool school. You need to get your chlorine up, but don't just dump anything in there. I made a few mistakes but I'm on the right course now after proper reading. Go to Walmart or a cheaper (not leslie's) pool store and get plenty of 8 or 10 or 12% liquid chlorine & acid. Follow the shock process in pool school and get yourself right. If you have 0 chlorine it won't be long before you have algae, even if that isn't the cause of your current cloudiness.
 

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Re: By George I Think I Don't Have It....

dar-lita said:
I want so badly to get this right, but feel overwhelmed with it all.
Click to expand...
We totally understand. Unfortunately there is no quick fix for this. Stop using the powders and pucks/floaters. Do what aomagman78 said and follow the shock procedures. If I read your pool size and test results correctly it will take almost a gallon of 10% bleach to get you to shock level. Remember though...it will get used up very quickly until most of the organic matter is gone. You will have to maintain that level until it passes the criteria under the shocking instructions.
 
Re: By George I Think I Don't Have It....

Hi All:

Thanks for answering. :-D

I tested my water this morning and here are my results.

CHL = very high, wasn't able to get reading
pH = 7.0
ALK = 250
CAL= 0
CYRANIC = 52

Any recommendations of where to go now is greatly appreciated. I feel like I'm making the situation worse. Do you think I need to drain some water out and add some fresh?

I need to start from scratch I think. :(
 
Re: By George I Think I Don't Have It....

No. Take a deep breath....

Without the FAS-DPD test kit to test your Free Chlorine levels, you face a losing battle. Blindly throwing in chems you risk damage to your pool and equipment.

If water is no object where you are, draining and starting from scratch may be an option for you.

Otherwise, re-read Pool School and follow the steps in How to Shock Your Pool, and get one of the recommended test kits.
 
Re: By George I Think I Don't Have It....

Nope you don't need to drain. Your numbers aren't that far out of line. (People using this site have converted from a swamp to an oasis). It is overwhelming at first.
Focus on Chlorine level and PH first. Your PH is low, but don't worry about bringing it up by adding chemicals, your ALK is high according to your measurement, and will come up (if you want it to come up faster aim a jet at the surface aeration)
You don't need CAL in a vinyl pool.
Get it clear, then move on from there.

Get a good test kit. Don't depend on strips or pool stores. (Pool stores are in business to sell chemicals.)
 
Re: By George I Think I Don't Have It....

Thanks so much! I hate to be such a bug, but I am a newbie to pools and my hubby is so not interested in helping me. The pool is not his thing, but I am trying to get my backyard oasis. I'm a big tough girl and like to do things myself anyway. LOL. I so want to learn so I can become a pro. :)

I so wish I could order the test kit that is recommended, but I have to wait until next payday, which is next Thursday, so I am relying on the one I got at Walmart for right now. I will probably take my water to Leslie's after work to see if I can get more of a clear reading on the water and then I will post the results.

I will concentrate on chlorine and pH like you suggested and go over pool school - shocking as well.

Any more advise is greatly appreciated!
 
Help with next step....

Continuation of saga...

After draining the swamp as much as I could, tried to use shop vac to get the rest of the gunk on the bottom to no avail. Had serious issues with the unit and gave up. Went on to flushing with the hose until it looked the best it could; still gunky but better. So, after I gave up flushing it and my yard looked like a swamp, I went back to filling up pool and saw blue foggy looking squares on side of pool. Tried to hook up old garden hose variety vaccuum because I cant get my sand filter to vaccum. (Still trying to rig a hose to work with it). When I would slowly vaccuum the gunk, it would get vaccuumed up and a lovely cloud of stuff back would be released into the pool. Grrr.

Now its filled. I read thru pool school and feel very overwhelmed by all the info and wonder if i'l ever figure clear water out. sigh. Read that I could add DE to my sand filter and thought it would help so I did what it said. I added a total of 4 oz in 2 buckets of water and opened the skimmer, which is attachd to my sand filter outside on the ground. PSI is still the same.

Question, do I add more to raise PSI?

Tested water and am out of cyrianic reasgent, so could only test Chl, Ph, Alk, hardness. Added two 64 oz bottles of 8.25% bleach and tested. Here are my readings...

CHL = 0
PH = 8.2
ALK = 300
TH = Water was purple when I first tested it.

I'm sure I need conditioner, but don't now how much.

Can you pretty please with sugar on it, help me to know what to do next.

Thanks!
 
Re: Help with next step....

Sure! First, order a TF-100 test kit from tftestkits.net. Without accurate test results, nothing else matters. Then using acid, lower your pH to around 7.2 to 7.4. Then, add CYA. You want to add enough to get you to at least 30. We reccomend putting it into a sock and let it dangle in front of a return. Then shock your pool with a FC of 12 using bleach. Keep shocking until your water is clear, your FC drops by no more than 1 overnight, and your CC is no more than 0.5.
 
Re: Help with next step....

dar-lita:

You are doing the right thing to start by attempting to get as much gunk out of the pool. If you are still having problems removing some of that stuff, you might look into renting a commercial shop vac which would speed up the gunk removal process.

While adding DE to a sand filter is helpful in a number of situations, I wouldn't suggest doing that at this point. Given what seems like a large amount of debris / dirt in the pool, your filter will need more frequent cleaning with DE added to it. I would wait until a majority of the debris is removed through standard filtration and manual cleaning. Once the water takes on a more bluish color and appears translucently cloudy, then I would add the DE to capture those finer particles left over.

With your pool filled, you will need to begin the Shock Process (click on link in my sig). Properly shocking a pool is not a matter of adding a one-time dose of a chlorine product to the water. But, in order to begin the shock process, you need to know your CYA level so you know how much chlorine you will need to maintain throughout the process. If you do not have one of the recommended test kits, you really need to get one. After you get your kit, follow 257WbyMag's instructions posted above.
 

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