cloudy after algae guard addition

[halfmoonboy181]

long time lurker, new member :-D

Just started up our pool. It had 4 in. of nasty water/leaves in it over winter. Removed large debris but did not have a way to get out the remaining nasty slurry of algae and who knows what else. Like an idiot I went ahead and filled it. I added 160 lbs of salt, 2 gallons of 8.25% bleach, and stabilizer for CYA. After it got full, started pump and added 128 oz of HTH algae guard over a 36 hr period per instructions and 16 oz pack of HTH super shock. This morning marks the 4th day since algae guard and shock has been added. Water is super white/cloudy, and has been for 3 days. What I can see of bottom, it looks clean. I have been running pump 8 hrs a day and changing filter daily. Last night started to run pool 24/7.

I have a HTH 6 way kit

TC RED, way way above yellow scale, my guess would be 12 to 14
TA 240
pH 7.3
CYA 90
salt 2800

I am not running my swg at this time due to high TC.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I was hoping it would start to be clearing up by now. I wish i had been running pump 24/7.

Thanks in advance!

 

[BoDarville]

Welcome to TFP

It is important that you take whatever steps necessary to remove the sludge/debris from your pool. Otherwise, you will be fighting an uphill battle.

Adding 2 gallons (256 oz) of 8.25 % bleach in a 5,400 gallon pool results in an FC of ~ 30 ppm. This is above shock level for your CYA and can be unnecessarily harsh on your pool's finish and equipment. In addition, the HTH super shock that you also added contains calcium hypochlorite (cal-hypo). It usually turns the water cloudy due to the calcium that is in that product. It will slowly clear but will take several days.

Also, forget the algaecide. It is unnecessary except for rare instances. It will do nothing for algae that is already present.

If you want to take control of managing your pool, you will need a good test kit. Here is a comparison of the recommended Test Kits

I would also suggest getting familiar with basic water chemistry so that, going forward, you are adding only those chemicals that are needed as opposed to randomly dumping stuff into your pool. Would suggest reading all Pool School articles, but would start with these: ABC's of Pool Water Chemistry, Basic Pool Care Schedule, Recommended Pool Chemicals, How to Chlorinate Your Pool, Chlorine CYA Chart, Shocking Your Pool.

 

[halfmoonboy181]

Thanks for the quick reply, BoDarville. I wasn't randomly dumping stuff in, might have over done it with super shock, though. I was trying to reach shock level of 30 which I think is right for swg system with cya that high. And definitely got to get a better tester for chlorine. On second thought, that 12 to 15 I was saying is probably way higher. Appreciate link to test kit comparison.

THANKS AGAIN