ABOUT TO SLASH MY ? POOL/ Cloudy nightmare

[Hug a tree]

I’ll try to make this brief.

I have a 16x48 AG summer waves stupid Walmart pool. Filled it with a water company last year, fought metals all year long. Had the lousy, useless 1000 gph filter.

5 year old broke his leg, ended up having a 32 week preemie and didn’t close the pool. Didn’t even put a dang cover over it, least of our problems.

Opened the swamp 2 weeks ago. Killed algae, shocked the pool to heaven. Upgraded pump to 2500 gph. Clear chemical readings from pool supply store (no, I don’t have the actual results with me ?). Everything would appear fine except you can’t see the bottom. Crystal clear, blue water, just bottomless. Added clarifier. Added phosphate remover. Nothing. Hail Mary, added Flocc. Didn’t do a thing. NOTHING.

What gives?

Also, new pump loses suction about 20 min after replacing cartridge...Every. Single. Time. Cartridges aren’t coming out dirty or gummed, pump not blocked, no leaks, no air....it’s 2ish weeks old. Works awesome for literally 20 minutes after replacing cartridge only to lose return flow. Maybe a manufacturing issue? Intex is no help. Took the whole thing apart to check it over during troubleshooting.

Please help, I’m having visions of slashing my pool but my kids would be so upset.

 

[Wobblerlorri]

Welcome to TFP!! You've definitely come to the right place!

First of all, you need a good test kit so you can stay out of the pool store. Order either the Taylor K-2006C test kit or the TF-100 test kit so that you have everything you need. When you get it, run a full set of tests.

Second, start adding liquid chlorine to your pool while you wait for your test kit. You'll want to add 5ppm every day. You can calculate this using the PoolMath app, which you can install on your phone or tablet.

Let us know your results when you get your test kit. Report them in the format

FC
CC
pH
TA
CH
CYA

Keep checking back in for other posts and don't slash the pool!!!

 

[kimkats]

Lorri is giving the best advice about getting a good test kit for moving forward.

I am going to suggest you dump and refill.............you have so much stuff in the water right now I don't think there is any way to clear it up without dumping and refilling.

Once you start the dump and refill of the water make sure to use a shop vac or such to suck up the stuff that will be in the last couple inches of water.

After you add the new water run a test of the water with YOUR test kit.............see we don't trust pool $tores....just look at what they did to your water by selling you all of that stuff.

Once you get new water then caring for the pool will be easier than every before................You have had your hands and heart full with everything......lets get at least one of those things easy to care for - your pool!

Kim

 

[LoneWolfArcher]

Listen to this great advice you've received. Likely the clarifier and FLOC you've used has gummed up your cartridges. It flat out ruins them and makes them unsalvageable. Which means you need to buy new ones and throw the old ones away. But not before doing what Kim suggests.

I was where you were last year. At beginning of last swimming season I was ready to fill my pool in and call it a day. Then I found this forum, bought a suggested test kit. Switched to liquid chlorine, and followed the advice I got here. Last I year I loved owning my pool! My pool is 6'6" in the deep end and after only 1 week open I can already see the bottom of my pool! And that's because of the techniques for maintaining it that I learned here!

Give the advice here a go and see if you don't end up falling back in love with your pool!

 

[Wobblerlorri]

Listen to Kim and Wolf.

 

[Stargaza]

Also get a sand filter not one with cartridges if you dump and refil. The dinky cartridge ones are practically useless.

 

[Wobblerlorri]

Definitely junk that toy filter. To clean a swamp pool you need a good sand filter or DE filter, and at least 3/4 hp pump. Don't make my mistake and get a 0.5 hp pump -- you'll be limited in the accessories you can buy.

 

[Hug a tree]

Summer waves 16x48
Krystal clear 2000gph cartridge pump

My pool water has always been hazy...no particles, just can’t see the floor of the pool. I’ve tried clarifier but it doesn’t do much. We upgraded to a 2000 gph pump so I don’t think it’s that. I balanced it and the test strips came up in range. I then took a sample to a pool store and it showed that my combined chlorine was high but free and total chlorine was low. I was told to use an oxidizer and then regular shock. Did that, still hazy. My nephew tripped over the pump wire sometime yesterday and the pump was off (hasn’t been turned off this season). This morning the water was crystal clear to the bottom. I turned the pump back on because I need to shock and boom...5 minutes after the pump is on, it’s hazy. I put a brand new cartridge in before I turned it back on. What gives?

**the part that’s crossed out is considered “inaccurate readings” per pool store.

 

[splashpad]

Welcome to TFP!

Pool Care Basics Archives

Your one-stop shop for all things TFP to include: ABCs of Water Chemistry, Recommended Chemicals/Levels, Test Kits, Troubleshooting, and much more!

www.troublefreepool.com

The first suggestion you'll get: is to get a proper test kit, personal testing is the best way to go!
Test Kits Compared

ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry
More than likely your FC is low or no existent, so you are likely on the brink of green.
We don't support a one-time "Shock" but use the SLAM Process. But that requires you to be able to measure FC accurately and often.
FC/CYA Levels

 

[Hug a tree]

I feel like an idiot because I can’t figure out how to use these forms. My grandma would probably do a better job

Thank you all for your advice. The notifications went to my spam in my email so I had no idea they were here. I just posted another thread

I took a sample to the pool store and found my combined chlorine is high but free and total is low. Was told to you oxidizer and then shock. Did that, still hazy. The pool guy was able to vacuum the bottom of the pool a while ago to waste, which got a lot of the gunk out and we could see the bottom, but once the pump went on it clouded again.

My Nephew tripped over the pump wire and it unplugged sometime yesterday. This morning I went to plug it back in and the water was crystal clear to the bottom. I plugged the pump back in because I have to shock tonight and BOOM, hazy. Again.

Why is this happening??? All the readings after adding oxidizer and shock is perfect. The water was so clear this morning, but showing barley any chlorine, I was sooo excited. My heart sank as soon as the pump started circulating and I could no longer see the floor

ughhhhhh I’m about to go sharpen my knives to slash this thing!!!

 

[Newdude]

Why is this happening?

Because you keep going to the pool store. You spent more money on quick fixes than a proper test kit would have cost, and those fixes didn’t do anything but make it worse.

if you actually want help, there are tons of folks here who can guide you. If you want to keep feeling like you want to slash the pool, keep using your pool store. But the 2 do not mix. It’s one or the other.

 

[Wobblerlorri]

What @Newdude said. You have to commit to one method of the other, you can't ask for advice here then ignore the advice you get and run to the pool store.

dump and refill your pool, get a good pump and filter or replace your cartridges, and get either the TF-100 or Taylor K-2006C to test your own water. Post your results here and everyone will be more than happy to help you!

 

[Hug a tree]

What @Newdude said. You have to commit to one method of the other, you can't ask for advice here then ignore the advice you get and run to the pool store.

dump and refill your pool, get a good pump and filter or replace your cartridges, and get either the TF-100 or Taylor K-2006C to test your own water. Post your results here and everyone will be more than happy to help you!

I’m not intentionally ignoring this advice, the responses were sent to my junk email I had figured this thread didn’t get any replies until I went to post a new one today.

 

[zea3]

You are seeing the water clear when the pump is off and get cloudy after the pump comes on because all the debris has settled to the bottom of the pool when the pump is off. Turning on the pump disturbs the debris and you see it mixing in the water like stirring sugar in a glass of tea. You can use the siphon method to vacuum to waste and remove most of the debris and change out water at the same time.

when I had a Intex, I used a standard vacuum head and hose, and set a syphon over the side instead of using the pump at all- as long as you don't mind watering the grass, and replacing water (same as vacuum to waste!)

fill hose with water- start at one end, attach to vacuum to weight/hold underwater.

push hose underwater along the length, so it fills entirely

when you reach the other end, water should bubble out of it

Hold both ends under water

grab the middle of the hose, throw it over the side so a loop is hanging lower than the water level in the pool

work back the length of the hose away from the vacuum head

throw the end on the ground where you want the water to drain

start to vacuum!

when done, lift vacuum out of water to break suction, and drain to other end so gunk doesn't come back into pool

 

[YippeeSkippy]

The way I see it now is that-
1) You've gunked up the water with potions and FLOC whichn settle to the bottom when the pump is off but get mixed in when on. Right?
If you can siphon the bottom out without disturbing the water too much you might manage.
Easier would be a drain and refill.

2) Next, those potions gummed up the filter. Either replace the dinky cartridges or get a sand filter thats big enough.

3) You need a better way to test than a pool store. TF-100 is much cheaper than the other comparable kit we endorse (the K-2006C)
www.tftestkits.net

Ask more questions!

Maddie

 

[Newdude]

I’m not intentionally ignoring this advice, the responses were sent to my junk email I had figured this thread didn’t get any replies until I went to post a new one today.

Well then........Welcome back and Congratulations on being on your way to sanity.

if you click on the 3 lines / ‘hamburger icon’ in the upper left corner, then click on the little person silhouette, there is a preference tab to adjust your settings including email notices. Or just check back in to see what’s going on.

 

[Strawberryshortcake]

I feel like an idiot because I can’t figure out how to use these forms. My grandma would probably do a better job

Thank you all for your advice. The notifications went to my spam in my email so I had no idea they were here. I just posted another thread

I took a sample to the pool store and found my combined chlorine is high but free and total is low. Was told to you oxidizer and then shock. Did that, still hazy. The pool guy was able to vacuum the bottom of the pool a while ago to waste, which got a lot of the gunk out and we could see the bottom, but once the pump went on it clouded again.

My Nephew tripped over the pump wire and it unplugged sometime yesterday. This morning I went to plug it back in and the water was crystal clear to the bottom. I plugged the pump back in because I have to shock tonight and BOOM, hazy. Again.

Why is this happening??? All the readings after adding oxidizer and shock is perfect. The water was so clear this morning, but showing barley any chlorine, I was sooo excited. My heart sank as soon as the pump started circulating and I could no longer see the floor

ughhhhhh I’m about to go sharpen my knives to slash this thing!!!

You've added too many things to your pool to really recover from at this point. And it was at the advice of the pool store... which is why everyone says don't go there! Really, please, stop going there. They are not going to help you.
What is oxidizing? I'm not even sure I've heard that term.

High Combined Chlorine (CCs) and low free Chlorine means that you likely have bacteria or algae in the water using up the chlorine.

How are you chlorinating? You cannot just add "shock" and then be done with it. You need to add chlorine daily. And, depending on what you are using to "shock", if it is not liquid bleach/chlorine it either has CYA or Calcium in it. If it has CYA, you likely have an amount in your water right now that would again, make draining your pool necessary. You cannot remove CYA. Amounts over 70 require an unreasonable amount of chlorine to keep the water clean. The more CYA, the less effective chlorine becomes, requiring larger and larger and larger amounts to be used.
Calcium could be reacting with everything else in the pool causing some of the cloudiness, if you've added a ton.

Please, take the advice of the members here and drain your pool, give it a wash and refill it. At 5,000g it is much more efficient for your time to do this.

While doing that, please purchase a test kit. Pool store testing is unreliable, often wrong. Test strips and whatnot that you can get at the stores are very wrong. You want an actual testing kit that is accurate and easy to use daily.
It was linked above but here is the link again:
TF-100 Test Kit ™
I would highly recommend the Speedstir with it, it makes testing more accurate and quick:
Speedstir Magnetic Stirrer

They seem expensive, but will last all season. Then you can buy refills next time, which are often on sale a bit before the season starts. If you want to take control of your pool and stop being so frustrated, this is a must.

Also, can you return the filter that you purchased? It's really not any good at all. You should get a sand filter or DE filter, as others have said.

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Oxidizing is the process of the chlorine breaking down the contaminates. Killing the cooties!

 

[LoneWolfArcher]

Welcome back Hug. One thing. I went insane trying to change balance with test strips. Test strips are notoriously inaccurate, and hard to read. Part of it is the 15 second rule. You have to wait until 15 seconds, and then compare all 6 readings at that moment. Once 16 seconds pass the colors are now darker than they should be. I went insane with the strips.

The best thing I did was buy a real test kit (as endorsed here). This allowed me to test for all of the readings myself, accurately. No more chasing test strips. No more relying on a 17 year-old pool store worker to do the tests properly.

One other thing that saved my sanity: Liquid Chlorine! Chlorine tablets (pucks) and powders (shock) add all kinds of other things to your water that will either cause immediate problems, or problems down the line. LC adds one thing: chlorine! No CYA (stabilizer) time-bombs. No calcium that also goes up over time. Just chlorine. It makes pool maintenance a snap!

Oh, and as for clarifier, FLOC, and algaecides......all are expensive (which is why the pool store recommends them) and cause all sorts of headaches. Just say no to any chemicals that are not recommended by Pool School here at TFP!

Like I said in my first reply to you, TFP saved my pool ownership. If I had not found this place I would have used my fiberglass pool liner for target practice before paying to have dirt delivered to fill it in!