Hi. First post.
I have been reading for several weeks a lot of the "cloudy pool" threads with great interest as I am dealing with similar issues.
So here's what's going on right now with the pool. The water is, you guessed it, cloudy. I can see to the bottom (AG pool) but it's not clear at all. I gave it a good vacuuming and brushing yesterday (which seemed to make it worse...which I guess makes sense in the short term... better this morning)
Opening the pool in the spring was an issue...The water was black as I have a lot of deciduous trees in the back (more on that later) and from what I have been reading, I began assuming that I had an ammonia issue (i.e. lots of decaying matter in the pool, and CYA was NIL in the spring...seemed to be common symptoms). This fall I'm using a leaf net!!
The testing part is where I get confused.
This morning's vs last night's test results (TF 100 test kit.. man.. love that thing!)
Last night:
FC 3
CC 0.5
TA approx. 160
PH 7.5
CYA 20 (test a few days ago)
(Disclaimer...I took the water sample last night, but only tested it in the morning...sat in an opaque (slightly see-through) closed bottle all night). Then I took a fresh sample for this morning's test)
This morning:
FC 2.5
CC barely 0.5
(rest not tested)
CH (tested last weekend approx. 275)
So no noticeable drop in FC overnight. If I had an ammonia issue I would have thought that 3ppm of chlorine would be gone by morning, or at least substantially reduced.
So I guess my question is..seeing as I'm loosing less than 1ppm of FC overnight...do I still SLAM the pool to try and clear up the cloudy water? I did a OCLT earlier in the week and had similar results (except lost 1.5ppm, but still only .5 cc)
Other facts:
I am currently dealing with a mass dropping of maple seeds from all my maples...I mean I am removing basket-fulls of seeds every 4-6 hours. It's literally raining maple seeds in the back... and combined with really high winds all week long, I'm getting a lot of biological matter dumped in the pool on a daily basis.
I think my pump is oversized for the filter based on several discussions threads on the matter. I also have the issue where upon start up of the pump (even if just off for less than a minute) I get dirt through the return for about 4-6 seconds (I also see the brownish water via the SWG cell, which is clear). The sand is in it's 5th summer and I gave a deep cleaning last week (took over 2.5 hours...and to be honest I'm sure I could have gone on for longer... just figured I got 90% of the **** out). My guess is that when the sand is brand new and has lots of sharp edges.. and oversized pump has less impact on it...but over a few years when they grains have rounded (perhaps prematurely due to the increased flow of water) you start to get fine matter making it's way out of the filter...?? Who knows...
Does high TA contribute to cloudy water? I thought I read that somewhere but can't for the life of me find it! I'll put a pin in that.
So, I think I have a number of courses of action, but not sure which one to start (although I guess I can't really do anything about the pump/filter issue in the short term). Don't want to waste time SLAMing the pool if it's not needed because it's a filter issue. I haven't put any DE in the filter (as the backwash discharge is near the kids play area) and can't seem to get cellulose fiber anywhere in Canada! I may have found some on Amazon that will ship to CAnada..but most don't. In any event.. the sand filter alone should be sufficient if sized properly.. no?
I have bought Muriatic acid to deal with the TA, but am waiting until I fix my cloudy water first.
Thoughts anyone!
Thanks in advance.. I'll post some pictures of my pool later... need to try and get more seeds off the water surface! Again! LOL (I laugh but I'm crying inside)...
Paul.
I have been reading for several weeks a lot of the "cloudy pool" threads with great interest as I am dealing with similar issues.
So here's what's going on right now with the pool. The water is, you guessed it, cloudy. I can see to the bottom (AG pool) but it's not clear at all. I gave it a good vacuuming and brushing yesterday (which seemed to make it worse...which I guess makes sense in the short term... better this morning)
Opening the pool in the spring was an issue...The water was black as I have a lot of deciduous trees in the back (more on that later) and from what I have been reading, I began assuming that I had an ammonia issue (i.e. lots of decaying matter in the pool, and CYA was NIL in the spring...seemed to be common symptoms). This fall I'm using a leaf net!!
The testing part is where I get confused.
This morning's vs last night's test results (TF 100 test kit.. man.. love that thing!)
Last night:
FC 3
CC 0.5
TA approx. 160
PH 7.5
CYA 20 (test a few days ago)
(Disclaimer...I took the water sample last night, but only tested it in the morning...sat in an opaque (slightly see-through) closed bottle all night). Then I took a fresh sample for this morning's test)
This morning:
FC 2.5
CC barely 0.5
(rest not tested)
CH (tested last weekend approx. 275)
So no noticeable drop in FC overnight. If I had an ammonia issue I would have thought that 3ppm of chlorine would be gone by morning, or at least substantially reduced.
So I guess my question is..seeing as I'm loosing less than 1ppm of FC overnight...do I still SLAM the pool to try and clear up the cloudy water? I did a OCLT earlier in the week and had similar results (except lost 1.5ppm, but still only .5 cc)
Other facts:
I am currently dealing with a mass dropping of maple seeds from all my maples...I mean I am removing basket-fulls of seeds every 4-6 hours. It's literally raining maple seeds in the back... and combined with really high winds all week long, I'm getting a lot of biological matter dumped in the pool on a daily basis.
I think my pump is oversized for the filter based on several discussions threads on the matter. I also have the issue where upon start up of the pump (even if just off for less than a minute) I get dirt through the return for about 4-6 seconds (I also see the brownish water via the SWG cell, which is clear). The sand is in it's 5th summer and I gave a deep cleaning last week (took over 2.5 hours...and to be honest I'm sure I could have gone on for longer... just figured I got 90% of the **** out). My guess is that when the sand is brand new and has lots of sharp edges.. and oversized pump has less impact on it...but over a few years when they grains have rounded (perhaps prematurely due to the increased flow of water) you start to get fine matter making it's way out of the filter...?? Who knows...
Does high TA contribute to cloudy water? I thought I read that somewhere but can't for the life of me find it! I'll put a pin in that.
So, I think I have a number of courses of action, but not sure which one to start (although I guess I can't really do anything about the pump/filter issue in the short term). Don't want to waste time SLAMing the pool if it's not needed because it's a filter issue. I haven't put any DE in the filter (as the backwash discharge is near the kids play area) and can't seem to get cellulose fiber anywhere in Canada! I may have found some on Amazon that will ship to CAnada..but most don't. In any event.. the sand filter alone should be sufficient if sized properly.. no?
I have bought Muriatic acid to deal with the TA, but am waiting until I fix my cloudy water first.
Thoughts anyone!
Thanks in advance.. I'll post some pictures of my pool later... need to try and get more seeds off the water surface! Again! LOL (I laugh but I'm crying inside)...
Paul.