All is well, but a little cloudy

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H

Heather_A

0
Apr 26, 2013
65
NC
Hi everyone! We have been swimming away, and having lots of fun in our pool, and up till Friday, the pool looked good! It still looks good, just not as clear as it has been. I would call the water minimally clear-white-cloudy. Here are our readings from the pool store water test:
FAC 4
TAC. 4 (0.2 difference)
CH. 50 (they say that's too low, but it's a vinyl lined pool)
CYA. 60
TA. 80
pH. 7.4
Copper. 0
Iron. 0
TDS. 300
Phosphates. 300

So, here's what we do daily - test water am and pm, then add about 2-4 cups of 8.25% bleach (depending on the day's weather and pool usage.). My husband brushes and vacuums the pool about every other day. Then, once a week (on Sunday) we brush the pool and add about 1 cup of algecide just for maintenance. We run the filter pump 12 hrs on, 12 off. Up till this weekend, that has worked. I didn't buy any chemicals at the pool store, wanted to check in here first.

Any thoughts?
 
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It's looking cloudy because the FC level is too low for the CYA level, if you believe those results. I don't, and there are countless threads here detailing massive discrepancies on water tests between stores and even between the same water at the same store on two different days, with CYA miraculously dropping overnight.

My advice is to stop spending money on algaecide and invest the savings in a proper test kit.

For the short term, try raising FC up to 10 or 12. That's well below shock level, so you won't lose any swim time, but it should help clear things up. A lot of swimmers will really deplete the chlorine.
 
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Did you mean FC up to 10 or 12?

- - - Updated - - -

Also, because the numbers were looking good, we went ahead and bought the salt water system. My husband is EXTREMELY anxious to put it on, but I'm wondering if we just install it, or if we need to do something special to make the switch.
 
Hello all!
Last night I added 138 oz of chlorine. Today I was able to purchase a Taylor K-2005 kit (long story, but, that's what I was able to get today, and the way my water looks, I didn't want to waste any time.). I hope having this kit instead of the TF-100 is ok, at least for now.

I just got done testing the water and here are the numbers I got:
FC. 5
TC 5
CC. 0 (I didn't see any difference in color)
pH. 7.6
TA. 90
CH. 40
CYA 90 (yikes!)

The water looks teal and is not clear. I can see the bottom, but it's cloudy.

According to pool math calculator, I need 121oz more chlorine and to dump 33% of my water. I'd like to see if any of you have other suggestions. Also, as a side note, my husband is in the process of adding salt for the SWG.

Any info would be helpful. Thanks!
 
So, did putting Algecide in the pool put me on the do-not-call list? :grin: Sorry about that, I only used it because my parents have had an in-ground pool for many years and that's all I've known as far as one of the weekly maintenance chores. Anyway, hopefully I'm not on bad terms here, I've enjoyed being part of the forum and will continue to browse...
 
If the pool is properly chlorinated, you should never need algaecide again.

The K-2005 will get you most of the way there, but it doesn't have the FAS-DPD chlorine test, which is critical when you need to maintain your FC above 5. I suggest you buy it as an add on.

If you haven't spent any time in pool school yet, click on the link in my signature to get started.
 
Smykowski said:
If the pool is properly chlorinated, you should never need algaecide again.

The K-2005 will get you most of the way there, but it doesn't have the FAS-DPD chlorine test, which is critical when you need to maintain your FC above 5. I suggest you buy it as an add on.

If you haven't spent any time in pool school yet, click on the link in my signature to get started.
Click to expand...


freqz said:
If you have the K-2005 the only thing you really need is the FAS-DPD chlorine test. Buy it before you think you'll need to check chlorine levels over 5 ppm. :)
Click to expand...

Thanks...I'll have to get that extra test kit....sounds like I'm going to need it soon. I have spent lots of time on Pool School and lots of time on the forums. Up until this past Friday everything was good....the only thing I did against BBB (besides the algecide :rolleyes:) was not get the better kit before now (STUPID me!) I was relying on the pool store tests and test strips...somehow thinking that as long as I was following BBB, I'd be fine. So, I guess you could say I have been an educated dummy! :rolleyes: Thanks again for the info!
 
Just thought of another question...With my CYA being up to 90. It has already take some serious chlorine to get my levels up, and it's going to take more to maintain that level till the pool clears. CYA doesn't deplete, right? If that's the case then shouldn't I dump my water now, then SLAM, before I go to all that expense of adding more chlorine?
 

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Heather_A said:
Just thought of another question...With my CYA being up to 90. It has already take some serious chlorine to get my levels up, and it's going to take more to maintain that level till the pool clears. CYA doesn't deplete, right? If that's the case then shouldn't I dump my water now, then SLAM, before I go to all that expense of adding more chlorine?
Click to expand...
You are correct :goodjob: Lower the CYA to something reasonable, like 60ish, then SLAM.
You can adjust CYA back up (70 - 80) after the SLAM.

Once the SLAM is complete, you should have smooth sailing with the SWG, once it is dialed in.
 
I'm going to double check the CYA again tonight...that black dot test was probably the trickiest one for me. If I'm right, and my CYA is at 90, then I'm thinking my CYA was higher than what was noted on the paper from the pool store testing, right from the start. Thankfully, I didn't add as much stabilizer as they wanted me too. And if I'm understanding Richard320 correctly, that is the reason for my cloudy water...I thought my CYA was good, so I was keeping my Chlorine level accordingly, but all along the CYA was probably higher.

Fingers crossed that my reading is wrong....I really don't want to drain the pool!!! :pukel:
 
Thanks, RobbieH. I retested a couple of times tonight and got the same number...90...BLEH! We went ahead and drained some water and refilled it. Added more chlorine...gotta go get more tomorrow! Lol...had I known how much chlorine I'd be using, I would've bought stock! :0). Good news is the water isn't any cloudier than yesterday. Hopefully we've caught it in time.
 
Here's an update and a question. The pool is almost all the way clear, the bottom has what I assume to be algae, it's a green powder (I say powder because when you gently sweep it, it fluffs up into a cloud.) Although there are readings that have changed, like the pH is now at 7.8, but I've moved the return so that the water doesn't break the surface, so I'm hoping that will help..anyway...I think once the green powder is gone, we will be really close to normal!

My question is how do I get that powder out? My husband vacuums it regularly, but we haven't since we've been trying to "de-cloud" it. Now that things are clearing up, the bottom needs vacuumed but when he tries, it fluffs and the pool water becomes a teal color again. We have a cartridge filter and are planning to change the cartridge tonight to see if that will help. The vacuum we use is that little intex vacuum hooked to a hose (only used for the pool, never touches the ground.) It does fine with bugs and leaves, but there's no way that thing will catch those fluffy little particles. Any suggestions?
 
Hello from cloudy-pool-land! Ok, we brushed the pool, changed the filter and the green crud infiltrated our waters again. So, I went back to the basics. I read more about slamming the pool and rechecked all my numbers..pH was up to 8.0. After reading some about slamming, seemed important to get my pH down to around 7.2, so we bought and added the proper amount of muriatic acid and got our number down to right around 7.3. After that, we brushed the pool again and added 2 - 121oz jugs of chlorine, then a few hours later (this AM) we brushed again and added 3 -121 oz jugs if chlorine, to raise us up to slam level. My husband has been home all day and has brushed the pool down about every 2 hours and has added another 4 - 121oz jugs of chlorine. The pool is cloudy, but not green, it's a cloudy blue. My question is, what now? I'm sorry to say, we don't have the higher choline test kit...not because I'm trying to be defiant, it's because we simply don't have the money right now. So here we are, I know the algae is dying, be cause my numbers are off the chart and the water isn't green. Do we just keep brushing, testing (to make sure it stays over the limit) and wait for clarity? Any help will be greatly appreciated!!
BTW....we have turned off the SWG during this process.
 
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