Cloudy Water After Heavy Rain/First SLAM

[tx_hank]

Good Morning,

So the pool was completed in early March. I have been in charge of chemicals since after the first week. Been using TFP method all along. Got the chemistry balanced and the pool looked awesome...until this Saturday. I'm in the DFW area and we got about 4" of rain on Saturday and the pool started to get quite cloudy. At first I thought it was just maybe the rain itself that was making the water cloudy, but then I started searching on here and found that should not be the case. Anyway, I immediately started to SLAM Saturday late afternoon. I'm more curious than anything why something got a hold of my pool when my chemicals were balanced. Here were my readings from Friday night (before rain):

FC: 6.5
CC: 0
PH: 7.6
TA: 70
CH: 225
CYA: 50

So Friday night I added enough Chlorine to get me back up to 8ppm. Water looked awesome. Saturday, when I noticed the water started to get cloudy and after about 3" of heavy rain and storms, here were my test results:

FC: 5.5
CC: 0
PH: 7.6
TA: 60
CH: 200
CYA: 50

So it looks like the overflow from the rain got rid of some of my TA and some CH. And a little more FC loss than normal. But Chlorine stayed above recommended minimum. I've maintained SLAM levels since Saturday evening and the water has started to clear up some, but still a little cloudy. Pump has been running just short of max the entire time. I did an OCLT last night and passed. CC has been zero the entire time. I tested about every 2 hours yesterday. I'll keep at the SLAM until water clears up, but just pondering why this happened in the first place and if in the future I should bump up FC levels before a big storm.

 

[jmikeb]

Good Morning,

So the pool was completed in early March. I have been in charge of chemicals since after the first week. Been using TFP method all along. Got the chemistry balanced and the pool looked awesome...until this Saturday. I'm in the DFW area and we got about 4" of rain on Saturday and the pool started to get quite cloudy. At first I thought it was just maybe the rain itself that was making the water cloudy, but then I started searching on here and found that should not be the case. Anyway, I immediately started to SLAM Saturday late afternoon. I'm more curious than anything why something got a hold of my pool when my chemicals were balanced. Here were my readings from Friday night (before rain):

FC: 6.5
CC: 0
PH: 7.6
TA: 70
CH: 225
CYA: 50

So Friday night I added enough Chlorine to get me back up to 8ppm. Water looked awesome. Saturday, when I noticed the water started to get cloudy and after about 3" of heavy rain and storms, here were my test results:

FC: 5.5
CC: 0
PH: 7.6
TA: 60
CH: 200
CYA: 50

So it looks like the overflow from the rain got rid of some of my TA and some CH. And a little more FC loss than normal. But Chlorine stayed above recommended minimum. I've maintained SLAM levels since Saturday evening and the water has started to clear up some, but still a little cloudy. Pump has been running just short of max the entire time. I did an OCLT last night and passed. CC has been zero the entire time. I tested about every 2 hours yesterday. I'll keep at the SLAM until water clears up, but just pondering why this happened in the first place and if in the future I should bump up FC levels before a big storm.

i had a similar event last august. we had a giant wind storm followed by heavy rain. my pristine pool looked like a farm pond in two hours because of all the dirt that the storm carried with it.
your event likely carried a lot of pollen with it too.
mine cleared up in about three days of filtering with the help of my wonderful robot helper

mike

 

[tx_hank]

Thanks, Mike. Good to hear. I was thinking something similar as I haven't seen any signs of algae and the water isn't green. I ran the robot Saturday night and yesterday for 2 hours each. It picked up the few leaves I had and a lot of fine dirt. Not much more than usually is in there, however. Hoping the filter does its job in the next day or two. I'll maintain SLAM levels unless told by the experts here that it could be something else.

 

[HeyEng]

I second the thought that it's probably pollen/dirt. We had close to 3" on Saturday and we had the same "cloudiness" on Sunday morning. I checked chemicals, and the only number that was off was PH (it was high, but makes since with all the churning). I let the pump run all night and simultaneously let the robot do it's thing and by 8 AM this morning, it looks fabulous again. I think since you passed OCLT, then you are probably good to go...just keep the filter running.

 

[tx_hank]

I second the thought that it's probably pollen/dirt. We had close to 3" on Saturday and we had the same "cloudiness" on Sunday morning. I checked chemicals, and the only number that was off was PH (it was high, but makes since with all the churning). I let the pump run all night and simultaneously let the robot do it's thing and by 8 AM this morning, it looks fabulous again. I think since you passed OCLT, then you are probably good to go...just keep the filter running.

Thanks! Seeming like that is probably the case then. Pool looks a lot better than it did yesterday. If nothing else then I just wasted some Chlorine that I didn't need to. I'll keep the pump running the pump until it is completely clear again.

 

[Texas Splash]

Hank, I would tend to agree with everyone else above. Give your system a bit of time to response to the heavy rains and particulates that may have been pushed-down onto the water. Hopefully the filter will take care of the junk that is suspended. You can always do an Overnight Chlorine Loss Test in the next day or two if you like to see if there is any excessive FC loss. Have a great day.

 

[tx_hank]

Hank, I would tend to agree with everyone else above. Give your system a bit of time to response to the heavy rains and particulates that may have been pushed-down onto the water. Hopefully the filter will take care of the junk that is suspended. You can always do an Overnight Chlorine Loss Test in the next day or two if you like to see if there is any excessive FC loss. Have a great day.

Thanks! Yeah, did a OCLT last night and didn't lose any Chlorine at all. Probably jumped the gun on the SLAM, but didn't want it to get out of control. I'll let the FC levels come back to normal and keep the pump on. Pool is looking fairly clear right now, but only seeing it through a camera. I'll see how it looks when I get home this evening.