Went from green to cloudy and hasn't changed

[pnwpool]

Took a weeks vacation and left our crystal clear pool.

Returned to find a jungle green swamp. My bust. I should have bumped up the chlorine more before we departed and had the neighbors pour some liquid cl.

Commenced the SLAM process immediately after getting the covers off.

Over three days the water rapidly went from jungle, to medium, to very light green. Back washed numerous times. Using DE to assist the sand filter, also. During that process we also gained visibility of all three steps with the top step being clear and the next two blurry.

We maintained a SLAM level for a week before letting the chlorine drift down so we could check the PH.

Three days ago the numbers were.

PH 7.2
FC 5.5
Cc 0
Cya 60

We re SLAMmed the pool and it passes the OCLT.

Today's numbers are

FC 23.5
Cc 0
Cya 55

Our problem is the water looks identical to day three after our alge bloom. What is causing our water to remain cloudy? I have spent a lot of time researching the forums and am only coming up with SLAM the pool. That would be fine if there were any progress being made. However, I don't see any change in the water clarity. And no Cc would seem to mean there is no alge being killed?

Pump has been running in high 24/7.

TF100 test kit.

The pool store is pushing phosphates as the problem. I don't agree.

Any suggestions? Please help us get our clear pool back.

I have an ipad picture but can't figure out how to make it small enough to send.

 

[jblizzle]

If the cloudiness is not diminishing after a week, then clearly something is wrong with the filter. Have you inspected and deep cleaned the sand?
my-sand-is-channeled-how-to-fix-it-t7626.html#p60821

 

[pnwpool]

I rebuilt the sand filter this spring. It was keeping the pool crystal clear prior to this bloom.

 

[karmabiker]

Have you been backwashing during the bloom?

 

[Butterfly]

Yes, recheck the filter. You should see at least some improvement daily.

Maintain the SLAM process and do not let up until you pass all three tests. See red lines in my sig.

 

[pnwpool]

Back to SLAMming.

Yes, back washing about once a day.

Is there anything that might assist us with expediting away the cloudiness.

Thanks, kurt

 

[jblizzle]

Check the adding DE article in Pool School ... assuming you are passing the OCLT and have low CC.

 

[karmabiker]

Are you using pressure to indicate when to start the backwash or just rolling once a day?

Thinking that the DE add method or back washing as soon as you see the pressure rise may be in order.


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[zea3]

If you continue to pass the OCLT but the pool is still cloudy, try turning the pump off overnight and allow pool to sit undisturbed for about 12 hours. If the water clears and there is a lot of debris on the floor vacuum it out very slowly disturbing it a little as possible. If you find this to be the case then you have a lot of debris to filter out and sometimes it takes a while. Adding enough DE to cause a 1 pt rise in pressure helps to clear the water more quickly. Replace the DE after every backwash.

 

[pnwpool]

I backwash about once a day - Based on a pressure increase. Replenish DE post backwash.

We can now see the second step clearly (progress!). We'll keep the press on.

 

[JohnN]

You might be backwashing too often. You want to backwash when the pressure rises 20-25% of the clean pressure.

 

[JasonLion]

I'm with JohnN, you are probably backwashing too often. Sand filters won't catch the finer particles if you backwash frequently. Wait until the filter pressure goes up 25% from the starting pressure before backwashing.

 

[pwrstrk]

Might not make sense but when sand filters are a little bit dirty they filter better.


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[pnwpool]

Almost there. Can just break out the main drain - 8 ft. Looking forward to finishing this and getting back to clear water. Thanks for all the help.

 

[JohnN]

You may want to consider adding some DE to your filter if you have passed the OCLT and have less than .5 ppm CC. It could help speed up this last little bit.