Help cloudy water

[Jd-underdog]

My pool has been cloudy for about a week. Please help me I have no idea what's wrong here are my test results

Fc 1.5
Cc 1.5
Ph 7.2
Tc 3.0
Ta 200
Ch 180

My alkalinity seems high & my calcium seems low what should I do?
Thanks in advance
John

 

[steveg_nh]

What is your stabilizer level? Regardless, even at 0, your FC is way too low, and if you have CC of 1.5, you likely need to SLAM. And PH is low too, so get that up.

As for TA and CH, what type of pool do you have? Gunite or vinyl liner? If liner, CH doesn't matter much and is ok at that level, but TA is a touch high, but not something to go crazy about unless you can't control PH rise.

I had cloudy water, and it was because I was on a borderline algae outbreak, I cranked my FC for 2 days, and it's been clear as drinking water since then.

 

[Jd-underdog]

It's a vinyl liner pool cya test is around 45. So I need to add stabilizer & shock?

 

[bridgman]

No stabilizer (45 is as high as you want to go in most cases) but lots of bleach. Recommend you read up on SLAM...

http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/126-defeating-algae
http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/125-slam-shock-level-and-maintain-shocking

.... make sure you have a test kit that can handle the high chlorine levels you'll need to clear the water...

http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/124-pool-test-kits-comparison

... and then stock up on unscented bleach (sometimes known as liquid chlorine or liquid shock)...

http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/142-how-to-chlorinate-your-pool

... and ask lots of questions until you're comfortable and ready to clear up your pool.

 

[Jd-underdog]

So how much liquid chlorine do I need to add. My pool is like 45000 gallons?

 

[bridgman]

To get a SLAM started (remember you need to keep testing and adding as needed, it's not a one-time thing) here's what I did in PoolMath (button at top of this page) :

- entered 45000 under "Size"

- entered 45 under "Now" in the CYA row

- at the bottom of the table ("Suggested Goal Levels" I entered "TroubleFreePool.com" for "use suggested goals from..", "bleach" as primary source of chlorine, and left the third field untouched because I didn't know what kind of pool you had (it doesn't matter for chlorine levels)

Now PoolMath has enough information to populate the Suggested FC Levels row (1 row up) and you can see that shock FC level for CYA=45 is 18

Go back up near the top of the table and find the FC row. Enter 1.5 under "Now" and 18 under "Target". Look to the right and it should say that you need to add 1120 oz of 8.25% bleach (if that's not what your bleach concentration is just pick the right value). If you hold the pointer over 1120 oz the field above will say something like "8 gallons 3 quarts".

Again, that's the amount you need to get the FC level up to 18. The chlorine may get used up pretty quickly, so run the pump for 30-60 minutes and test the FC level. If it's below 18, go back to PoolMath and enter the test result into "Now" and it'll tell you how much more to add.

I realized we don't have a good handle on how cloudy your pool is (any chance you could post a picture ?). Note that your chlorine level is too low for even normal use with a CYA of 45 (should never go below 4 and you should target 8). I guess there's a chance that just keeping it at proper levels (take it up to 8, test regularly, and never let it get below 4) might be enough to clear it but I would take it up to 18 and keep it there until clear anyways.