Cloudiness that wont go away

[fskybear]

I have a very cloudy pool. Its like particals are suspended in the water. Ive been going to a pool store for the past few weeks and everything they tell me to do makes it worse. I know i have metal/minerals in my water and have been using pool magnet which helps. The cloudiness though, nothing phases it. My most recent water test (yesterday) FC: 8.3 TC: 8.4 pH: 7.4 Alk: 122 CYA: 150 Cal Hardness: 71 Phosphate: 4000 Optimizer: 4. The store had me add 4 gallons of chlorine to my pool 5 days ago which turned my pool milky, then add algecide, which made it even worse, and then it turned purple milky. The purple is gone but nothing removes the cloudiness. I tried clarifier several times and nothing, sparkle up and nothing, vacuum nothing. I have an intex 18' x 48". I had the strongest cartlidge filter intex makes up until yesterday when I went to the intex sand filter. The cartlidge filter, i changed the filter 2 to 3 times a day, every day. Im at my wits end. The most current picture of my pool is the greenish one

 

[Chasarms]

Those results sound like they came from a pool store, but if your CYA is really 150, you’re never going to be able to properly maintain free chlorine in the water to prevent algae. Do you chlorinate with dry pellets or pucks?

if you can confirm those results with your own testing, your best bet is probably going to be to partially drain the pool to get the CYA manageable and then properly chlorinate the pool.

Read the SLAM tutorial here in the pool school section.

 

[Mdragger88]

That cloudiness is a continuous cycle of dying algae- just enough chlorine to kill some of it but not enough to eradicate it.
SLAM Process is impractical at that high cya level. You need to drain at least 90% of the water then u can proceed to slam w/ liquid chlorine after u refill & get good test results.
Also it is currently a chemical soup so draining will dilute most of that.
Order a kit now (tf100 or k2006c)
Test Kits Compared
& while u wait for it to arrive you can drain & refill adding 5ppm /day of liquid chlorine to prevent it from getting worse.
Calculate amounts with PoolMath
Read up in pool school. & ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry
After you refill you need to backwash as that soup is in your sand.
Just draining the water & refilling is not enough- you will still need to slam but it won’t take nearly as long.
When u get your kit in you can post your results here for guidance.

 

[fskybear]

When i tested the CYA on my own, I tested 80. I was using granual shock and tablets. When the pool store recommended liquid, then everything went milky. The pool is reading free chlorine at 8 with the Taylor test kit.

 

[Mdragger88]

Which Taylor kit do u have? Did u measure the cya with that kit recently since you have stopped using stabilized chlorine (pucks, granular)?

 

[fskybear]

I have the k-2006. I took the measuremeny today. The pool store reading i gave was from yesterday. I have not used granular or pucks in about a week

 

[Mdragger88]

You’re already ahead of the game w/ a proper test kit.
Lets just stick w/ your results from your kit as we trust those results
If you drain 1/2 your water you will reduce cya by 1/2, so 40ppm. That’s a good place to be at for SLAM Process.
Post your results from your kit after refilling & circulating a bit & we can guide u further but the jest of it is get ph to about 7.2 then add enough liquid chlorine to reach slam level for your newly tested cya then test fc & cc every few hours & add what’s needed to get back to slam level. You will do this until u meet all 3 end of slam criteria as listed in the link.
No more algeacide or other potions.
No more pool store.
While you’re waiting on the drain & refill check out the reading materials referenced in post#3 & gather some liquid chlorine (10gal is a good start).
Also add your test kit to your signature so everyone can see what you have.

 

[fskybear]

Thank you so much! Stay tuned!

 

[fskybear]

I am completely draining the pool and starting over. Would you have any advice so I don't get in this situation again? I'm having 4,500 gallons of water delivered on Wednesday, but will have to use 1,500 gallons of well water with metals/minerals. What should I use to remove the metals? What kind of shock/chlorine should I use to avoid high cya levels? Is there a clarifier I'm able to use that doesn't affect the metals? Thank you again for your time!

 

[Newdude]

Would you have any advice so I don't get in this situation again?

Recommended Levels

once it’s balanced follow the FC/CYA Levels religiously as it’s the holy grail of trouble free pool care. Treat the minimum FC level, not as an acceptable limit ‘in range’, but as a all hands on deck situation. Your pool will use between 2-4 PPm of FC from the sun/UV and bather use. If you are at the minimum you can easily drift below it and BOOM. Algae. Or worse with bacteria, pathogens, viruses, etc.

 

[Newdude]

What kind of shock/chlorine should I use to avoid high cya levels

Use a granular CYA that’s 100% Cyanuric Acid to get to your CYA level per the pool math app. After that, no shock. Ever. Only plain Jane, unscented, no chloromax technology, no nothing, but Bleach/Chlorine. HomeDepot had HDX chlorinating liquid in the pool aisle. Walmart has Pool essential liquid shock in theirs. Hardware stores or Ocean Stat job lot has similar.

Clarifiers/Flocculants are no good and gum up your filter. But on the plus side, you should never need them anyway if you follow the FC/CYA Levels

 

[Mdragger88]

What he said Regular testing with your kit is the best way to prevent little things from getting worse. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
also if you have a metals (iron) issue & it shows itself @ higher chlorine levels you can do this

If you’ve got iron in your fill water, use Polyfill to remove it

EDIT: Found out this method only works if your iron is oxidized already, meaning it’s got a dull or bright green tint to the water, or a nasty brown tint. If you know you have iron in your fill water, but it isn’t oxidized yet, bring your pool to shock level and it’ll turn the telltale green...

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[CT-Steven]

I have a silly question as this happened to me last year. Make sure your filter is on filter and not another setting...

 

[reggiehammond]

I am completely draining the pool and starting over. Would you have any advice so I don't get in this situation again? I'm having 4,500 gallons of water delivered on Wednesday, but will have to use 1,500 gallons of well water with metals/minerals. What should I use to remove the metals? What kind of shock/chlorine should I use to avoid high cya levels? Is there a clarifier I'm able to use that doesn't affect the metals? Thank you again for your time!

See the wiki - the Pentek reducing filters would be really helpful to keep iron out in the first place.

Iron Fill Water Filter - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com