Help needed with hazy water

[jdevers]

I moved into a new house this past winter and gained a pool with it. At the time it was a swamp with several inches of leaves and dirt in the bottom, 11 bull frogs, and countless earthworms. A long process and many gallons of chlorine later I have gotten the water from green to blue but there is a significant haze still present. My pump has been running nearly nonstop for two months at this time filtering constantly. I have removed everything the sand filter is capable of filtering and have used ten pounds of DE to boost filtering power and that has reached a limit as well. I ordered some 1 micron bags from Dudadiesel and triple filtered several gallons of pool water into a glass container and the haze remains. At this point I have nearly eliminate all the possibilities in the geology (dust and dirt) and biology (pollen, dead algae, living algae ) realms. It almost has to be some kind of chemistry issue, I have no idea what the previous owners may have poured into it other than there were bottles of CYA, dry acid, and calcium additives. It is a vinyl liner so the calcium is kind of pointless but my calcium numbers are just fine as is the TA. My FC is rock solid over night with no detectable CCs. I stopped maintaining shock levels weeks ago and have monitored daily since.

My question is what could possibly be clouding the water that is smaller than 1 micron?

 

[gtnos]

your going to have to post a full set of test results, preferably from a K2006 or TF-100 kit before anyone can help you.

hazy makes me think you need to SLAM, but without test results, its a S.W.A.G. (Scientific Wild ***** Guess)

 

[jblizzle]

Sounds like you passes 2 of the 3 criteria to stop the SLAM, so was thinking it could just be a filtration issue at this point ... but then read a little more closely and you seem to have the filtration nailed too.

I am kind of stumped as well ... what are all your current test results?

 

[karmabiker]

I'm with gtnos.

Curious as to the CYA level and the CH level.

Passing the OCLT would indicate not algae, but hazy still...

odd.

full results and pictures please.

 

[jdevers]

CYA 50 (water is hazy enough that it might be closer to 40 in reality)
TA 70
CH 100
PH 7.4
FC 9
CC 0

- - - Updated - - -

Pictures are difficult, the liner is blue and I can see the vacuum head in three feet of water but just barely. In a glass it is hazy to the eye but a picture is not precise enough to show it. Any ideas? Maybe a pitcher of tap water and a pitcher of pool water with a newspaper behind it???

 

[karmabiker]

/baffled

 

[zea3]

Have you opened the sand filter and deep cleaned it? You would be amazed how much gunk builds up in there that back washing doesn't touch.

 

[jdevers]

My initial thoughts after eliminating 99% of possibilities is they may have added the calcium and dry acid together causing calcium sulfate crystals to precipitate but that should settle out too, right? I'm a biologist not a chemist.

- - - Updated - - -

Oh yea, I've deep cleaned it three times. The first time I pulled several pounds of insect carcasses and algae chunks out of it. The second and third time I was able to clean out some really cloudy water but not much else.

 

[Richard320]

Your pool might be the one in a million that can benefit from clarifier or flocculent.

 

[jdevers]

I've used clarifier but just the junk at Lowes, I'll get a floculant and try. At this point I really wish I had just drained it and started fresh. Our water is really cheap and I should have followed my gut instead of advice of a friend in California that probably pays 50x what I do for water...

 

[DFW]

If you have access to a wine filter you could run a sample through the 3rd stage ” polish” filter pad. These things can turn a red wine into a pale pink! Much to my surprise when I started running a 5gal batch of 18month old cab through one

 

[FamilyGuy]

Imo. Fc is close to 10 with a ph on the low side may really be lower causing cloudyness. Perhaps let the fc dip a touch lower and retest ph

 

[DFW]

I think a higher FC makes the Ph read higher than it really is not lower?

 

[jblizzle]

Higher FC makes the pH test read higher than reality. I have not heard of a low pH causing cloudiness. While a high pH in conjunction with other factors could cause cloudiness.

 

[FamilyGuy]

Nor have i jbizzle but just a theory.

 

[Christian_peterson09]

I had this problem with test results very similar to yours. I added hth floculant from Walmart, per instructions and a lot of vacuuming to waste, and filtering later I can finally see the bottom! It's a process not really an overnight thing.

Everything I have learned and still learning is from this forum!

 

[Casey]

I've used clarifier but just the junk at Lowes, I'll get a floculant and try. At this point I really wish I had just drained it and started fresh. Our water is really cheap and I should have followed my gut instead of advice of a friend in California that probably pays 50x what I do for water...

Just wondering how you're doing with the pool? Can you update please?