Cannot clear water!

[darmst200]

I have had a pool for 10 years and have never had trouble like this. I keep my PH at 7.2-7.4 my TA around 80-100 and FC around 2 and have always had crystal clear water. I went on vacation and came back to my pool water level low enough it was sucking air into the pump. I filled it back to normal level, balanced everything, backwashed and primed the pump/filter and ran it all night. The water was getting cloudy so I did a double shock with 0 fc at the time. CYA was at 45, PH was 7.2 and TA at 90. I woke up the next morning to cloudy green water and 0 FC. I assumed my pump may have been damaged by excessive air intake, so I installed a new pump/filter that I bought ahead of time (the old was about 5 years old). I filled with new sand, backwashed, rinsed, primed and ran 24/7. Checked the balance again and besides FC all was good. So I double shocked again. The next day there was 0 change. All levels are great besides chlorine. No matter how much I put in, an hour later it's at 0 again with no improvement. I g
Found this forum, went through pool school and did the SLAM. I'm 20 hours into doing it exactly how it says, and my water has absolutely NO improvement. Doesn't even appear to be trying. Still 0 FC no matter how many SLAMS I do. I want to just drain this thing and refill as I have never had this happen in 10 years, but I feel like I could be missing something and I want to know what it is so I don't have this happen again. Never had a problem with metals, but maybe the city changed water quality? Since I've never ran into this, it is possible, but the water is murky like algae not clear but stained. Any help is appreciated. It holds 12,000 gallons but I keep it at 10,000. It's an above ground vinyl pool. I've vacuumed, scrubbed, vaccummed scrubbed and backwash regularly. Filter has ran 24/7 since it started. All brand new. It's not saltwater. Levels are all balanced besides FC.

 

[proavia]

Welcome to TFP!

How are you testing your water?

Post a full set of current test results.

FC
CC
pH
TA
CH
CYA
Water temperature

You could possibly have an ammonia problem.
Let's see what others think.

 

[Bperry]

I have had a pool for 10 years and have never had trouble like this. I keep my PH at 7.2-7.4 my TA around 80-100 and FC around 2 and have always had crystal clear water. I went on vacation and came back to my pool water level low enough it was sucking air into the pump. I filled it back to normal level, balanced everything, backwashed and primed the pump/filter and ran it all night. The water was getting cloudy so I did a double shock with 0 fc at the time. CYA was at 45, PH was 7.2 and TA at 90. I woke up the next morning to cloudy green water and 0 FC. I assumed my pump may have been damaged by excessive air intake, so I installed a new pump/filter that I bought ahead of time (the old was about 5 years old). I filled with new sand, backwashed, rinsed, primed and ran 24/7. Checked the balance again and besides FC all was good. So I double shocked again. The next day there was 0 change. All levels are great besides chlorine. No matter how much I put in, an hour later it's at 0 again with no improvement. I g
Found this forum, went through pool school and did the SLAM. I'm 20 hours into doing it exactly how it says, and my water has absolutely NO improvement. Doesn't even appear to be trying. Still 0 FC no matter how many SLAMS I do. I want to just drain this thing and refill as I have never had this happen in 10 years, but I feel like I could be missing something and I want to know what it is so I don't have this happen again. Never had a problem with metals, but maybe the city changed water quality? Since I've never ran into this, it is possible, but the water is murky like algae not clear but stained. Any help is appreciated. It holds 12,000 gallons but I keep it at 10,000. It's an above ground vinyl pool. I've vacuumed, scrubbed, vaccummed scrubbed and backwash regularly. Filter has ran 24/7 since it started. All brand new. It's not saltwater. Levels are all balanced besides FC.

Welcome. Lack of chlorine biggest problem here with all this heat lately. (None of that other stuff matters as much) Make sure you have one of the test kits (see below) because you can’t SLAM without them and post the test results. It can be cleared but sometimes its cheaper to replace the water (as long as you prevent it from getting that way again)

Swimming Pool Test Kits Compared

What pool test kit should I buy? Why shouldn't I use test strips? Our recommended test kits will pay for themselves in no time!

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[TinFoilHat]

What is the quality of your liquid chlorine? If the bottles have old dates on them or the chlorine has been stored in a hot environment for a long period of time it might not be the quality you think it is. A SLAM won't change much in the short term. It can take from 3 days to two weeks or more, sometimes. Also, if you have had your test kit, whatever it is, for a long time, the reagents might be expired and your reading would be off from that.

We don't talk about "shocking" the pool to speak of, we talk in FC levels. Your term "shocked" means what exactly?

 

[darmst200]

Welcome to TFP!

How are you testing your water?

Post a full set of current test results.

FC 0
CC 0
pH 7.4
TA 90
CH 175
CYA 40
Water temperature

You could possibly have an ammonia problem.
Let's see what others think.

What is the quality of your liquid chlorine? If the bottles have old dates on them or the chlorine has been stored in a hot environment for a long period of time it might not be the quality you think it is. A SLAM won't change much in the short term. It can take from 3 days to two weeks or more, sometimes. Also, if you have had your test kit, whatever it is, for a long time, the reagents might be expired and your reading would be off from that.

We don't talk about "shocking" the pool to speak of, we talk in FC levels. Your term "shocked" means what exactly?

I bought a new liquid test kit a month ago ruling that part out. It's not one listed, I think HTC or something. I have ordered the test kit mentioned in this forum and will get it soon. When I mentioned shock, it refers to what I have done when FC is low for the past 10 years, and that is if it went under 2ppm I would pour in liquid chlorine to get it to 4ppm where I have kept it. I've never had an issue, so I have never looked at this forum before to know it's not called "shocking" here. When I was unable to control this problem that came on overnight is when I found this forum. To SLAM, I bought brand new liquid chlorine 10% sodium hypchloride. I certainly understand I shouldn't expect it to work overnight, but I was kind of hoping I would see chlorine levels balance. It is very possible my previous test kit was getting degraded and allowed my balance to get off without me knowing before I used my new kit. When this issue happened overnight, I used my new kit to test and found the levels out of balance and I believed it was due to the outbreak at that time. That's probably what caused this, no doubt about it, but I cannot figure out why it cannot be remedied now that I am using a fresh new kit and levels have been balanced for 2 days. It only appears to be getting worse. My current new test kit shows:
FC 0
PH 7.4
TA 90
CH 175
CYA 40

I don't know what my current temp is I have to find my thermometer. This test kit doesn't allow for CC test either, so another reason to wait on the one I ordered from this forum recommendation.

Thank you for responding, I am draining the water now and starting over. Maybe testing with the recommended kit will prevent this in the future, I'll make sure to buy a new kit every year now as well, as I am positive that's where this problem started. I used it til I ran out PH liquid (2 years at least).

 

[proavia]

Which exact test kit did you order?
Chances are your FC fell below the minimum for your CYA. FC/CYA Levels

While waiting on your test kit, add 5 ppm liquid chlorine daily. Use PoolMath to determine the correct amount.

Once your test kit arrives, post a full set of test results.
Be prepared to start the SLAM Process.

 

[wireform]

It's all about everything piece of the puzzle here. The kit, the chlorine %,the following TFP to the letter, a thorough brushing minimum twice daily and preserverance. The guys before me have you so just follow.