Green, Cloudy Pool What can I do

Jump to latest Follow Reply
S

sweetjrgal008

0
Jun 20, 2008
22
:hammer: Good evening everyone :hammer:

I am a newbie here and have turned to the forum as a last resort. I am at my wits end with my pool. I have had this pool since April 08. It was perfect until about First week in June when we went away on vacation and left the solar cover on the pool After coming home 3 days later our pool was a very pretty green, including the tubes that go to the pump. I shocked the pool, as told to by the pool company and ever since it has never been the same. It has been cloudy and I have tried every chemical that the pool company has said and still nothing. I almost had it clear and I went and bought a vaccuum for the pool and everytime I went over the silt, it would come back into the pool through the clean water that comes through the filter. May be I had it hooked up wrong or something.
Im fairly new at this and need some help. I am changing the pool filter about once a week. I am using the filter that came with the pool\
Here is the link to the pool that I have.
http://www.samsclub.com/shopping/naviga ... pCatg=4418

Can anyone help me? Please

Misty McCoy
[email protected] :hammer:
 
Misty, welcome to TFP!

I'm sorry we were your last resort. Next time, we can be the first place you turn. ;)

You'll want to find the "Pool School" link located at the top of the page. Follow it and read the 2 articles in the Getting Started section. After that, you'll want to read Defeating Algae, which will walk you step by step on getting rid of your algae.

If you are past the algae, and just have cloudy water, check out the article on Shocking Your Pool

We are here for support and whatever questions you have. As you'll read in the Getting Help articles, you'll want to reply back with some specific information for us so we can give you the best assistance possible!


Sean
 
One of your biggest problems with the pool you have is that the pump and filter are GREATLY undersized! This is a problem with all Intex pools. Once you kill the algae it can take a while for your pool to clear because of this. All I can say is you need to have patience or consider replacing the undersized pump and filter with a REAL pool pump and filter and not the almost toy one that Intex supplies.
To give you some perspective, your pool holds about 6000 gallons, my pool holds about 6500 gallons. Your pump is about 1/5 to 1/3 HP most likely, mine is 1.5 hp, your filter cartridge is somewhere around 15-30 sq ft (depending on which filter you use), mine is 150 sq ft. You cannot expect efficient filtration with equipment that is undersized but this is how Intex is able to offer what they do for the price. It is usable but you WILL need to have patience and run the filter almost all the time.
 
I agree with Waterbear. THere have been ALOT of threads this season about Intex pools and cloudy water, and my belief is the filters are undersized for the pools. They make larger filter/pumps, you can upgrade from the 800 that you have now to the 2000 or 2500, you can order them online I found them by researching the intex site and I saw one Amazon for $62 or so.

So welcome to TFP, I only found it a year ago, and it was truly heaven sent after 6 years of owning a pool.

BBB!

Read all about it in Pool School, post any questions, and we're here to help. Good luck.
 
Thank you for all the information about my pool. I went to the local pool store and spent about a fortune on stuff for it.

I was low on everything due to the recent rain that we have been having. I had to add 1 gallon of murdaic acid, 1 gallon of cholrine, 2 packages of ph increaser(almost like ash) and 1 gallon of instant water conditioner.

After adding all of that last night, this afternoon the pool was some what clearer, I could faintly see the bottom, where as of yesterday I couldnt see the sides or the floor. Got in this afternoon and changed the filter.

I do have a question though. I bought a Aquachem vaccuum head with the hose attached. I however dont know where to attach it? I know that I have to attach to the filter, but when I do the soot from the bottom is going up in vaccuum and out of the clean water( the other hose going into the pool)

Am I not doing something right?

Thanks for all the help, im glad I found you guys

Misty
 
Hello Misty and Welcome...

I am by no means an expert in pool care. I do have enough experience, though, to tell you that spending a fortune at the pool store is most likely not necessary. I would highly recommend reading the articles at http://www.troublefreepool.com/category/pool-school/. I would also highly recommend posting the results of your most recent tests so some of the VERY experienced members of the forum can help you clear up your water without spending a fortune or adding unnecessary chemicals. I am very confused that the pool store told you to add one gallon of muriatic acid to a 6000 gallon pool, followed by 2 lbs of pH up :shock: . You may want to consider buying the TF-100 test kit or the Taylor K-2006. Both of these kits are very accurate, easy to use, test for all of the parameters necessary to maintain your pool sanitary and clear. While they may seem expensive at first, they are much less expensive than spending a fortune every week at the pool store :wink: .

Just my 2 cents.
 
My sheet for my test says the following:

Chlorine:.5
PH: 7/15,000
Alkalinity:190
Calcium:200
Stablizer:0

I am open to any suggestions that are not going to cost a fortune :-D

Pool was a little clearier this morning, but havent been able to hook up my vaccum that I purchased from Walmart yet. Not sure how to .

Misty
 
It would be a huge help if you had a real test kit. I recommend a kit from TF Test Kits, see the link in my signature. If spending that much money is out of the question, at least get the WalMart $20 drop based swimming pool and spa test kit.

It sounds like the store caused you to lower your PH way too much, which could cause damage to the pool. You need to get a current PH reading and then adjust the PH so it is at least 7.0. That will be way simpler if you have your own PH tester. 20 Mule Team Borax is a good thing to use to raise PH. You can also raise PH through aeration, but that will be slower.
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
Purchased a test kit from Wally world and everything is way off. Getting same readings as I was from the pool store readings.

Havent been out in a couple of days due to all the tremendous rainstorms that we have been having daily here in Florida.

Did manage to get a gallon of chlorine in like the pool store suggested when it rains. but pool is spilling over right now.

Guess I will have to wait until this weekend until I can get a pool cover to keep rain water out.

As of Tuesday the watern was cloudy and I could feel lots of dirt and sediment on the bottom of pool.

Trying to set up this darn vaccuum and dont think i am doing it right any suggestions?
 
sweetjrgal008 said:
As of Tuesday the watern was cloudy and I could feel lots of dirt and sediment on the bottom of pool.

Are you cleaning your filter cartridge? intex filters are woefully inadequate, so you really need to keep on top of things!

Trying to set up this darn vaccuum and dont think i am doing it right any suggestions?

I don't think you will be able to use ANY vac with the filter you have..... your pump is just not powerful enough
Click to expand...
 
Are you cleaning your filter cartridge? intex filters are woefully inadequate, so you really need to keep on top of things!
I am cleaning the filter out daily with a hose and then each saturday replacing with a new one.
I have given up on the vaccuum ande just using the one that I had that came with the pool. I went out today and I could really see the bottom of the pool. Everything had settled to the bottom and just needed to be vaccumed up. I did however notice chunks of white stuff. not sure what it is but its coming off the bottom. Tommorow gonna vaccum again and take water sample up to a different pool store see what they tell me.

Im learning little bits and pieces from the site, just not a person who knows this kind of stuff.

Thanks for everyones help.

will report on the findings tommmorow.

Misty
 
Definitely upgrade to a real pool filter as soon as you can. It will make your life simpler and keeping your pool clean MUCH easier. My pool hold about 5700 gal. and I have a 1 HP pump & 100 lb. sand filter. Buying that was the best thing we ever did for our Intex.

Also, about the vacuum... As long as you have the vac hose attached to the suction hole in the pool, there is really only two reasons it should be coming out the return. The first is that your have the wrong cartridge or have it in wrong and thus, it's not sealing and allowing dirty water around it. The second is that the debris you're sucking up is to fine and passing right through(which I think is unlikely).

If your vac. hose is long enough to extend over the side of your pool to the ground then you can siphon the water out of the vac. directly out of the pool. We've used that method on our smaller pools in the pased. What you do is fill the hose completely with water, then cover the end not attached to the vac. head and put it near the ground, when you uncover the hose, water will flow out and should continue to flow out until you take the vac. head out of water.

One last little tid-bit. You don't need to replace the filter cartridge after one week. As long as you keep them clean(just spray with a garden hose) they will last a long time. You can easily get a month out of one cartridge before you might want to replace it. We always had 2 carts and would switch them out every day and clean the dirty one while the other was filtering(that way there is no down time). At the end of the summer we would toss them and buy new ones for next year.

HTH,
Adam
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply