Cloudy water again!

[Mdragger88]

Oh it’s ok - I was doing this anyway. It was just interesting to here from someone in sane situations- screen, Florida, low bather load and match it to what’s been going on. I’ve tried everything too. Will now try hotter FC. My CSI is pretty perfect so tbh I’m not terribly concerned with my equipment. Just gets tiring having people tell me high chlorine is bad

Then Don’t tell them what your fc is - no one ever asks what mine is, they all just say how nice it looks & feels & the kids mention how the water doesn’t burn their eyes. I keep mine @ 10% of my cya sometimes higher if we’re having a party.

 

[TeenaTeens]

Ok if you all aren’t tired of me yet, I have figured something out. Both times I’ve experienced cloudy water I had transitioned to low speed 24/7. The first time I sort of didn’t notice the cloudy water creeping up on me until the FC was struggling, by then I had been running on low for a couple of weeks. I now know what I’m looking at, and this time I was able to start dealing with it as soon as the water changed color. If I run the filter on high for a few hours a day the water remains crystal clear. Could there be something wrong with my system? Or do some pools just not like low speed and need higher speed for a certain time to keep looking good? Sorry to come at you all with more questions…

 

[TeenaTeens]

Ok if you all aren’t tired of me yet, I have figured something out. Both times I’ve experienced cloudy water I had transitioned to low speed 24/7. The first time I sort of didn’t notice the cloudy water creeping up on me until the FC was struggling, by then I had been running on low for a couple of weeks. I now know what I’m looking at, and this time I was able to start dealing with it as soon as the water changed color. If I run the filter on high for a few hours a day the water remains crystal clear. Could there be something wrong with my system? Or do some pools just not like low speed and need higher speed for a certain time to keep looking good? Sorry to come at you all with more questions…

I had been running on low for around 3 days this time it went cloudy fyi

 

[Mdragger88]

I had been running on low for around 3 days this time it went cloudy fyi

When u are running on low is it possibly causing your swg to turn off due to low flow/not enough rpm? Otherwise running on low shouldn’t have an effect on having algae or not- that’s a chlorine issue.

 

[TeenaTeens]

When u are running on low is it possibly causing your swg to turn off due to low flow/not enough rpm? Otherwise running on low shouldn’t have an effect on having algae or not- that’s a chlorine issue.

No the SWG is still operating. Still have chlorine produced. Lack of circulation causes water to become cloudy doesn't it? Mine was murky this time but it passed the OCLT. And as soon as I put the filter back on high it cleared up. And passed the OCLT again.

 

[jeffchap]

No the SWG is still operating. Still have chlorine produced. Lack of circulation causes water to become cloudy doesn't it? Mine was murky this time but it passed the OCLT. And as soon as I put the filter back on high it cleared up. And passed the OCLT again.

I suspect you have some dead zones in your pool that are not getting adequate circulation with the pump on low speed. Algae may be able to grow in these areas.

 

[TeenaTeens]

I suspect you have some dead zones in your pool that are not getting adequate circulation with the pump on low speed. Algae may be able to grow in these areas.

If it is algae - the off colored water - why does it pass the OCLT? Just trying to understand how to stop this happening again.

 

[TeenaTeens]

I suspect you have some dead zones in your pool that are not getting adequate circulation with the pump on low speed. Algae may be able to grow in these areas.

Also how do I stop the dead zones?

 

[robbegginer]

Also how do I stop the dead zones?

The water returns often have covers that screw on them, they look like "eyes", some are tilted 45 degrees or less. If you have that kind of return, you can experiment with different covers on the outlets to direct the water flow to a particular area. They are also good to reduce the flow going out of the nearest return, so that sufficient water gets to other returns.

 

[TeenaTeens]

The water returns often have covers that screw on them, they look like "eyes", some are tilted 45 degrees or less. If you have that kind of return, you can experiment with different covers on the outlets to direct the water flow to a particular area. They are also good to reduce the flow going out of the nearest return, so that sufficient water gets to other returns.

I have the little balls that swivel. I have them facing slightly right and down. Are there other types?

 

[TeenaTeens]

I have the little balls that swivel. I have them facing slightly right and down. Are there other types?

I just did some reading on circulation. I have them pointed in the right direction. I brush. And vacuum. Perhaps it’s the speed on low isn’t enough. I’ll keep problem solving and ask the Pb when he comes as well. Thanks for the help.

 

[robbegginer]

I have the little balls that swivel. I have them facing slightly right and down. Are there other types?

Might be, you could check with your PB or pool store. Or post a picture on this forum.

Do you know where your dead spots are in the circulation? If so, can you adjust the nozzles to get more water there?

 

[TeenaTeens]

I just did some reading on circulation. I have them pointed in the right direction. I brush. And vacuum. Perhaps it’s the speed on low isn’t enough. I’ll keep problem solving and ask the Pb when he comes as well. Thanks for the help.

Might be, you could check with your PB or pool store. Or post a picture on this forum.

Do you know where your dead spots are in the circulation? If so, can you adjust the nozzles to get more water there?

No. The entire pool is spotless. If I run the filter on high for four hours and then switch back to low it stays spotless. If I don’t run on a higher rpm and just leave it 24/7 on low it starts to get cloudy. So I’m going back to the drawing board. Gonna run 4 on high, 10 on low and turn it off overnight.

 

[Mdragger88]

With it on low you can throw in ping pong balls or rubber duckies etc. & see where they end up, if they get stuck in places or end up in the skimmer efficiently then adjust the jets & try again. Also, do u have drains? If so you may want to adjust it so they pull along with the skimmers.

 

[TeenaTeens]

With it on low you can throw in ping pong balls or rubber duckies etc. & see where they end up, if they get stuck in places or end up in the skimmer efficiently then adjust the jets & try again. Also, do u have drains? If so you may want to adjust it so they pull along with the skimmers.

Yes the drains are on. I will try the ping pong ball test as well. But I have a feeling it has to do with the rpms. I was reading that every pool is different. I will play around with the speeds some more. Maybe I can get away with some medium and some low rather than on high. I hate the sound when it’s on high so trying to avoid it. I might try 8 on medium and 6 on low…

 

[jeffchap]

I found my pool stays cleaner if I angle my returns slightly upward so that they just roil the surface. I used to keep them pointed downward, the idea being that this would help circulate the water better overall. But I found that debris on the surface would accumulate in certain areas, especially on the tanning ledge, rather than work its way to the skimmers.

Now that I've angled them upwards, the surface stays much cleaner and consequently debris ends up getting skimmed off before it sinks to the bottom. I'm sure there's some additional pH rise as a result of the aeration, but I've always had to deal with that anyway due to having a SWG. It's a good tradeoff.

YMMV, and it may not help eliminate dead zones for you. But at least it's worth trying and easy enough to change back if it doesn't help.

 

[TeenaTeens]

I found my pool stays cleaner if I angle my returns slightly upward so that they just roil the surface. I used to keep them pointed downward, the idea being that this would help circulate the water better overall. But I found that debris on the surface would accumulate in certain areas, especially on the tanning ledge, rather than work its way to the skimmers.

Now that I've angled them upwards, the surface stays much cleaner and consequently debris ends up getting skimmed off before it sinks to the bottom. I'm sure there's some additional pH rise as a result of the aeration, but I've always had to deal with that anyway due to having a SWG. It's a good tradeoff.

YMMV, and it may not help eliminate dead zones for you. But at least it's worth trying and easy enough to change back if it doesn't help.

Thanks for this. I’m experimenting. But it seems that having the filter work on high for 4 hours each day has solved my problem. I’m just gonna work with that for now. But will keep experimenting with the returns for sure.