Need help/suggestions....again

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J

jcichocki

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Apr 16, 2008
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Burlington, WI
Hello all!

I have gone through the complete switch over to BBB. I was initially extremely happy. Water looked "sparkly" and crisp (almost like champagne bubbles when someone jumped in) and it actually smells good. Over the last 2 weeks my water quality has diminished very slightly. There is a slight haze in the water. When I am in swimming with googles, the appearance is like the googles are slightly foggy. When looking down in the water at the main drain, it doesn't look perfectly detailed. I have really only made two changes since the BBB switch. I lowered my filter run time from 24/7 to two 8 hour run times (3-11 AM and PM). I ran the filter 24/7 due to my aerating process for high TA. The other change seems to be an unexplained rise in my CH. Jason thought maybe I lowered the pH too low at some point during my TA lowering because I had a jump in CH somewhere during that time frame.

My questions are should I try some clarifiers, etc.?

My numbers over the last 2-3 weeks as best as I can remember:

4 wks ago (just prior to full BBB) 3 wks ago (after aeration) 1.5 wks ago today
FC 5 2 2.5 2.5
TC 5 2 2.5 2.5
CC 0 0 0 0
pH 7.2 7.0 7.5 7.5
TA 190 70 100 100
CH 390 no check 525 460
CYA 30 no check ?20-30 no check
salt 1510 no check 1920 no check
borate 20 20 50 50
ORP 650 670 680

I feel confident this haziness isn't algae. Any ideas??

Thanks.
Jeff
 
I am assuming that you were lowering TA between the first and second measurements, and then added borates between the second and third measurements. Both processes involve adding a lot of acid, which could have dissolved some calcium from the plaster, though that is normally a fairly slow process. At the time of the second set of numbers you were approaching pitting even with PH around 7.0. If the PH went below that for a while you could have dissolved some calcium out of the plaster.

CH went down between the third and fourth tests, but I don't see anything that would have caused that. I can imagine there being some scaling while you were adding borates, PH could have gone high for a short while. But I don't see why it would have gone down after that. In any case, your CSI is positive in both the third and fourth sets of results, so there is at least a potential for calcium clouding.

Keep in mind that cloudiness is almost always algae. There are two things you can try. First, do an overnight FC loss test. Measure FC in the evening and again first thing in the morning and see if it remains the same or not. Second, try adding a cup or two of acid and see if that has any visible effect on the cloudiness, even a temporary one.
 
I should have been a lot more descriptive with the last months process. I will try and do a better job:

I started doing the BBB change over back about six weeks ago. First by getting rid of the evil pucks, and using bleach. When I felt like I had control of the bleach, I then started with the borax and had my level up to 20 ppm. I was told my TA was way to high at 190 (this about 4 weeks ago). So I stopped the borax and worked on lowing the the TA. It took almost 2 weeks and a truck load of acid. I never added more than 1 gal. at a time which kept my pH at 7.0 (by Taylor test kit) during the aeration process. The pH was always up again to 7.2 by the next morning, it seems unlikely that I was far below 7.0 as the test showed.

I have drained some water at 2 different times. The first was to lower my CYA down to 20-30 from as much as 60. The second one was last week in an attempt to lower the CH. It went from 525 to 460.

The water quality is OK. It isn't really cloudy as it would be in a algae situation (which I have seen several times hence my search for this site). But it also isn't that crisp OMG clear. Just a slight haze. When I finished with the borax, I had that OMG sparkle. The type were people actually said "WOW, it looks sparkly". It lasted about 2 weeks. Now for the last week, this haze. No changes in water tests (other than the CH which was up when I finished the borax addition). I am not using more bleach or acid. My ORP is rock stable and the bleach pump runs but not more or less this week.

I tried the acid test (half gal. added) last night, no difference. CAT controller and Taylor kit say the pH went from 7.5 to 7.4. I will bring my chlorine up to 5 today and turn off the pump and see what the OPR, FC,TC and CC show in the morning.

Also, an now running the filter 21 hours vs 16 hours.

Thanks, Jeff
 
I did think of that. The pressure is at the low end of "clean" on the dial (which probably means nothing). I have cleaned the cartridges three times in 6 months (more then I figured for an indoor pool), the last was 3-4 weeks ago. I will go ahead and clean it again this afternoon, I hate doing it, but what the heck. Thanks again.
 
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