Cloudy Water Help

[itsmcnutty]

Hi everyone!

My problem is kind of a long term one so bare with me. Last year everything on my pool filter broke and I mean everything. I had to replace the pump, the sand and the laterals in my sand filter, the valve on top of the filter, and various pipes that had broken. At the end of last year, I had to close the pool with no success due to an unknown air leak. 2 weeks ago I reopened the pool to try to finish what I had started and I found the source of the air leak with a bit of troubleshooting and fixed it. Afterwards, i started to bring the pH level down and loaded in shock to kill 2 years worth of algae. The pool turned blue rather quickly but after these 2 weeks I still can only see less than a foot down. The pressure gauge on my filter shows an increase of 6-8 pounds of pressure every hour to an hour and a half from its resting pressure of abut 20 and i notice that the jets are barely flowing which leads me to have to backwash frequently. I only do so for about 15-20 seconds because I don't want my water level dropping too much and it's already beginning to get too low, but that amount of time appears to be enough to drop the pressure down to normal.

I just added some chemicals to lower my pH and raise my free chlorine level, but here's what the levels were before that:
FC: 0 ppm (I know its WAY to low, but that's why I added more shock today)
pH: 7.9
TA: 180 ppm
CH: 200

*EDIT* After adding the chemicals and waiting a few hours, these are the new levels
FC: 20 ppm
pH: 7.6
TA: 160 ppm
CH: 200 ppm
CYA: 70-80 ppm

I'm pretty new when it comes to fixing pools, but nothing I've done so far has fixed my problems. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[jblizzle]

Welcome to TFP!

Since the pressure is rising, the filter is doing its job and catching stuff. Keep it going.

What do you mean when you say adding shock? What kind of chlorine?

What test kit are you using?

You need to follow the SLAM process described in Pool School.

 

[itsmcnutty]

What do you mean when you say adding shock? What kind of chlorine?

What test kit are you using?

You need to follow the SLAM process described in Pool School.

I'm using Member's Mark Quick Dissolving Shock. When I pour it into the pool, I put it next to the jets since that's where it spreads best. That's what I read at least. I also have 2 chlorine tablets in each skimmer basket

As for the test kit, I'm using hth Multi-Purpose 6-Way Test Strips.

I'll try to follow SLAM more. I haven't been brushing or vacuuming the pool, but I can give that a shot.

 

[jblizzle]

Well, now it is clear why you are not making progress.

First, test strips are worthless. You need to invest in one of the Recommended Test Kits.

Second, you never mentioned your CYA level which is important because it determine how high your FC level needs to be according to the FC/CYA Chart. this also shows the level you need to maintain to follow the ShockLevelAndMAINTAIN Process.

Third, I think that shock you are using is Dichlor which is constantly RAISING the CYA level in addition to adding chlorine and lowering the pH. You need to switch to liquid chlorine ... and at this point may need to replace water to get the CYA in check.

Have you discovered Pool School yet? Start with these:
ABCs of Water Chemistry
Recommended Pool Chemicals
How to Chlorinate Your Pool

 

[pooldv]

Welcome to TFP!

+1 on needing to get a CYA reading asap before we can proceed.

 

[itsmcnutty]

I just added the CYA reading to the list of chemical levels. It came in somewhere between 70 and 80 ppm.

Thanks for all of those links jblizzle, they really helped and I learned a lot about the chemicals.

 

[jblizzle]

Ignore the pH when FC > 10ppm. The pH test will not work right.

Your CYA is now high, although manageable. You need to stop using Dichlor ASAP!!!
Although the above assumes you believe the test strips ... and we do not.

Order a test kit.

Please add your location (City, State or City, Country) to your profile and pool details to your signature as described HERE as it will help us help you.

 

[itsmcnutty]

I just updated my profile and signature.

I just ran out of the shock I was using previously so I'm going to switch over to liquid chlorine from now on. I'm also going to try to get my hands on a better test kit soon.

I know that the best way to lower CYA is to add fresh water, but is there any alternative methods? I only have well water to use and I don't want to use too much in one go. I'm currently adding a bit at a time though.

 

[jblizzle]

Replacing water is the only tried and true method you have for lowering the CYA level.

 

[itsmcnutty]

I know that the test strips may not be 100% accurate, but since I don't have a new test kit yet, lets say that my CYA was definitely at 80 ppm in my 27k gallon pool.

Do you know how many gallons of water would need to be replaced in order to get the levels back down between 30-50 ppm?

 

[jblizzle]

50% ... the CYA drops the same % as the amount you replace.