cloudy water. different cya readings

Jump to latest Follow Reply
N

nikon5400

0
Jul 20, 2013
306
Northeast
Hi there.

I got cloudy water today and wonder why.

FC 3
CC 0
CYA 40 or 60
PH 7.6/7.7
CH 250

TA was around 110 when I opened. PH has been steady at current reading, while it was always climbing up prior years.

water temp 82 (was over 90 yesterday or day before). lots of rain yesterday, but last night water was clear. Filter cartridges are old, but were rinsed 6 days ago.


I have two CYA R0013 agents - one from Leslie's and one from TF100. Both from last year.

I used Leslie's one to get my CYA to 30, but during sunny days FC was going down from 6 to 1/0.5 (1 gal of 12.5% added at night, tested 24hr later), on cloudy days it'd go down to 2-3. I never used more than 2/3 of the same 12.5% gal prior years, but that was with CYA around 35-40. My liquid chlorine seems fine, even-though it's a few months old.. after adding a gallon in the evening I have 6ppm in the morning, very little chlorine loss if any

Then I decided to test water using TF100 (R0013). This test result was 20ppm, so I figured Leslie's stuff must be bad (which would explain why I was losing more chlorine than ever before (Leslie's R0013 showed ~35)) and I added more CYA to bring it up to 40. Today, 4 days after adding CYA - cloudy water.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/5GrMeAjgvz9yC2MP9

Today's CYA test results
Leslie's - 60
TF100 - 40

TF100 was purchased last year from ebay seller "pool supply world". I asked seller to reply on this forum to confirm they are authorized re-seller and I'm pretty sure they did and they said their stuff is fresh (I can check prior posts to confirm)

Given the difference in CYA reading, which R0013 would seem to be more accurate? Would older R0013 have lower or higher CYA reading?

Is it safe to swim in cloudy water?

Could old cartridges have anything to do with water getting cloudy\haze overnight? Cartridges were cleaned a couple days before adding cya.


The only chemicals I've been for the last few years are 12.5% chlorine, muriatic acid, clorox stabilizer. This year I switched to hth acid and hth stabilizer (because of the price, although dosages are slightly different - 1lb would raise cya by 10ppm in 12k gallons(clorox), 10k gallons(hth). I don't know if it means different strength of the products. hth is what I used to raise CYA from 20 to 40 (or 40 to 60, using leslie's R0013 )

Thanks
 
mknauss said:
Cloudy water is either chemistry, high pH or organic, or poor filtering. More times than not it is chemistry.

To check chemistry do a Overnight Chlorine Loss Test.
Click to expand...

Could poor filtering turn crystal clear water into cloudy water overnight? My cartridges are old, at least 8 years (3-4 m a year), but my water was crystal clear all those years. Only once I used Fresh'n clear I take care of a similar issue, but that was years ago
 
I would not think so. That is why the chemistry issue is most likely.

Check your ph. A high pH can cause water to appear dull or hazy.
 
mknauss said:
I would not think so. That is why the chemistry issue is most likely.

Check your ph. A high pH can cause water to appear dull or hazy.
Click to expand...

PH is 7.7


The water is worse today than it was yesterday. I didn't shock last night and that was a mistake.
I'm shocking right now, brought it up to 25ppm assuming my CYA is 60 not 40, but sun is out so I lost about 6ppm in 1hr. I guess shocking during the day when sun is out is a waste of chlorine, particularly when you don't know the correct CYA reading
 
That much of a loss in 1 hour is organics, not the sun. Keep taking your FC back to SLAM level as often as you can today.

Take care.
 
CYA testing is a little indistinct for sure but it is NOT related to your cloudy water.

Almost surely, you need to SLAM the pool. We do not suggest your "shock" procedure but rather a much more thorough SLAM to get your water back crystal clear.
 
The majority of it would be, yes. True, a higher than SLAM level FC will lose more to UV but not that suddenly.
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
Sky is clear, not a single cloud. It's 70, 85 under the sun. Water temp 80

If my CYA is 40, not 60.. what FC loss per hr should I expect from UV only if I SLAM assuming my CYA is
- 60 (shock level 24)?
- 40 (shock level 16)?

I understand it may be impossible to estimate, but roughly?

Thanks
 
3 hours later my FC is 14. So 6ppm in 1st hour and then 5ppm in the next 2 hours.
CC 0 (as it has been earlier today and yesterday)

75, 87 under the sun. water 80.

Water is much clearer than it was, but still not what it should be... but very close! :)
(I updated link with new pictures - Pool - Google Photos )

I understand overnight loss test. Is that the only way to tell when I am done? No way to tell during the day with weather like today?

thanks

- - - Updated - - -

SpringPool said:
A pool will loose 2-4ppm per day depending on how much sun you get, bather load and what enters the water.

So assuming a 4ppm loss over 10 hours that’s only .4ppm an hour.
Click to expand...

I assume that's for normal (target) fc levels, not shock level. Correct? If so, what's acceptable loss during the day like today at shock level?
 
OCL (10pm-6am) was 5ppm, went down from 16 to 11. (I'm targeting CYA 40)

Water is worse than it was yesterday 2nd half of the day starting at 1pm. The only difference I can think of - yesterday I targeted CYA 60, but it was sunny all day. I shocked only once in the morning yesterday because we used the pool the rest of the day.

What's interesting - ph went down. My ph has always been climbing up prior years. It never never dropped. This year for the very first time it was steady at ~7.7. Yesterday it went down to ~7.4 with FC over the target level. TA is 150 (started changing to red at 130, stopped at 150).

What could explain ph drop?

thanks
 
But yesterday it was ~7.4 with FC under 10. My ph would always go up with higher FC. I never had PH go down on it's own, I used to lower it every few weeks.

Is TA test valid with higher FC levels? I tested TA just now with FC 11.
 
You are in the denial phase, you have organics in the water that is consuming the FC. Your main focus should be to follow the SLAM Process procedure. After you complete the SLAM process, we can consider other variables.

The TA test is valid with FC above 10, but you don't need to worry about that right now. Focus on FC only for now. only test for FC and CC. the other tests do not need to be performed while in the SLAM process with elevated FC.

You can use the pool as long as the FC is below the SLAM level and you can clearly see the bottom of the pool. So keep testing and dosing and this will clear up quicker.
 
I understand something is consuming FC, since OCL went from 0 to 5ppm. I'm slamming, even got up today at 6AM to hit it before sun came out. It doesn't take long at all after I bring FC to 16 to get crystal clear water (can't say how long, but probably a couple hours at most)

I've never dealt with this type of issues before, trying to understand a few things...

things like -
1. why my cc is 0 (unless R0003 purchased last summer is bad)
2. why my ph drops to 7.4, when it has never dropped before. It's 7.4 at FC 5
3. what's normal FC loss during hot sunny day when FC is at shock level. I know 2-4 is acceptable when FC is at target FC, but what's acceptable for shock FC?
4. If I have different CYA readings using 2 different R0013 solutions, will higher or lower reading indicate bad\expired\diluted R0013? (I got one of them from leslie's for free)


When I opened my pool this summer, the water was already clear. I shocked it overnight and since then my OCL was 0. We had some rain last week and after that pool got messed up. It seems like there's another poster from NY with similar issue.
 
Finally getting somewhere - had FC 5 at 8pm, FC 4 a few hours later.
Got new 12.5% chlorine yesterday. Wasn't sure of the actual strength, added 2 gallons before midnight, FC 17 at 6:30am.. so it must be stronger than 12.5%?

I removed pool light cover last night and poured half a gallon in front of it, because there's no other place I could think of where algae could be hiding, except maybe filter or pump.

I still would like to know why while loosing chlorine like I did cc was always 0?

thanks
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply