I recently bought a home with an in ground gunite pool. I had a pool company open the pool in first week in June and the water has been cloudy ever since. I have shocked / slammed several times with the most recent being 7/14 through 7/17. My current levels are: CH-425, TA-90, CYA-40, FC-5 (loss is less than 1 over night), CC-0, PH-7.4. I have run my filter 24/7 during the month of June ($185 electric bill with no one living in the house) I have vacuumed to waist several times, recently added DE to my sand filter and ran it for days non stop. I have added clarifier on several occasions at the advice of my friendly pool store salesmen. I recently opened the filter to redistribute the sand and even added Sparkle Up to aid in filtration. And to this day, I can see millions of white suspended particles floating in my pool when the sun hits the water just right or at night with the light on. I really don't know where to go from here.
Suspended particles in water
- Thread starter JZOMPERO
- Start date
You will always see particles suspended in water at night.
If you 're passing the OCLT then this comes down to patience and letting the filter take care of it. Sand filters take the longest but the DE helps a lot.
Welcome to TFP.
If you 're passing the OCLT then this comes down to patience and letting the filter take care of it. Sand filters take the longest but the DE helps a lot.
Welcome to TFP.
Thanks. I have been told by many pool owners to be patient but the pool season is half over and I still can't see the bottom of my deep end. My concern is that the particles I am seeing are actually from the plaster on my walls. And if so, do I need to re-finish the pool. The Pool is more than 30 years old and I doubt that it was ever done.
Post a pic of your pool water that shows what you are talking about.....that'll help.
Post a complete set of current test results so we have an idea of what's going on in your water.
Post a complete set of current test results so we have an idea of what's going on in your water.
I took a few pics of the water last night with pool light on showing millions of tiny white particles suspended in the water; almost like plankton in the ocean. For some reason, the photos will not upload on this site. I posted my readings in my opening post which was two days ago, so most of the values are likely the same. My most current FC reading was 4 with 0 CC and a PH of 7.3. With that said, I did turn off my filter overnight and stopped by the pool today to find it nearly clear. I guess what ever is suspended in the water settled to the bottom.....but I'm sure it's still there. No one at any pool store,(and Iv'e been to several) has been able to tell my what the particles actually are. They just suggested that I use a clarifier and a filter additive but no success.
I reduced the file size and it did upload. I'm not sure if the reduced resolution will clearly show the problem but we'll see. After swimming this evening, the particles were stirred up and became an issue once again.
Some things to try... First, use the skimmer socks or knee highs on skimmers...good at catching really fine stuff like fine sand. Second, if the stuff settles with the filter off...let it do that then vacuum to waste.
I have vacuumed to waste a few times. My only problem is I do not have a municipal water supply so water is a valuable commodity. I have not tried the skimmer sock but will give it a try. Do they make one for the pump basket? I have a main drain inlet and that would seem to be the best place to try to collect it. I will see if I can find something fine enough to collect some from the bottom of the pool. A pool net won't hold it. If I did have a hole in one of my laterals, wouldn't the sand be heavy enough to collect to the bottom fairly close to the return? This stuff stays suspended for a long time.
It looks like it is all through the water....
Can you post a few more pics?
Did you do a deep cleaning? If not, you should try this first: http://www.troublefreepool.com/threads/73192-Deep-Cleaning-a-Sand-Filter
Can you post a few more pics?
I wasn't aware of the deep cleaning operation but I will give it a try. I can tell you one thing though, when I have my pump manifold off to redistribute the sand it looked nothing like beach sand. It was much more coarse and actually more like the gravel you would find in the bottom of an aquarium. Are there different types of media for different sand filters? I can see where to fine sand would do a much better job of filtering than the stuff I have. I will get a few more photos when I get back to the pool. We bought the house a few months ago and have not moved in yet. The sand thing has me scratching my head now.