Cloudy water, running pump 24/7 for over 3 weeks

[DeanP66]

Your levels are very SLAM friendly. Usually, we see people coming here with CYA through the roof, which requires a partial or full drain and refill to get it in line.

Just follow the SLAM process, and you should get that cleared up fairly quickly. With a CYA of 30, you'll add enough liquid chlorine (use Pool Math so you know how much to add) to bring your FC to 12 and test every couple of hours or as often as you can. The more times a day you test and top the FC back up to 12, the faster the SLAM will go. The key is keeping that FC at the SLAM level (12 for you) so it can get ahead of the algae and kill it all. Otherwise, you kill some, but some keeps growing and you keep spinning your wheels.

Good job getting a good test kit. I know they aren't cheap, but it will be your #1 tool in managing your pool and it will save you money many times over. You will never get "Pool Stored" again. Call it an expensive lesson learned.

 

[durtynacho]

Sorry that was supposed to say TA-240.
what would cause TA to be so high? I have used 3 gallons of Acid trying to lower it this year already.

Lowering high TA can take a TON of acid and a lot of time. My fill water in Texas has TA over 400 and every fresh fill takes almost 10 gallons of acid. When it’s real high, the acid seems to barely make a dent but once it starts to get down, say, around 150-175, it does start to drop more quickly.

 

[Bperry]

Sorry that was supposed to say TA-240.
what would cause TA to be so high? I have used 3 gallons of Acid trying to lower it this year already.

I turned my filter off for a day just to give it a break, the next day the water was clearer with sediment on the bottom, I plan to vacuum to waste tomorrow and then start the SLAM

Just make sure to use plain bleach (ie chlorinating liquid) don’t use anything with perfumes, additives, fabric softeners, etc. I’ve never found bleach that didn’t have any of that stuff in it.

 

[jseyfert3]

If you are close to a Menard's they sell 12.5% liquid chlorine (labeled "Pool Shock") for $3.99/gallon.

 

[OrangeAndBlue]

While I’m waiting for my test kit to come I figured I’d share my test results to see if anything is standing out to you guys

Wow! I have never seen a pool store water report before so I'm a bit shocked by this. Just wow! I hope they're not all like this.....

You've come to the right place and the fine folks here will help you out and get that pool clear again. Study up on the pool school articles and you'll quickly learn how to maintain your pool for a fraction of what you've been paying, and using products that you actually know what they are instead of those mystery potions on that printout. It will probably take a few reads to get it, but once you do it's really easy.

 

[Jordan19852]

Quick question, I added 12% liquid chlorine to start my SLAM process, I checked the free chlorine 30 minutes later, it took 40 drops, which is 20ppm correct? About 4 hours later I checked it again, 35 drops=17.5 ppm, with a CYA of 30 I know it’s suppose to be held at 12ppm for this process. Is it ok to be over by that much?

 

[Bperry]

Quick question, I added 12% liquid chlorine to start my SLAM process, I checked the free chlorine 30 minutes later, it took 40 drops, which is 20ppm correct? About 4 hours later I checked it again, 35 drops=17.5 ppm, with a CYA of 30 I know it’s suppose to be held at 12ppm for this process. Is it ok to be over by that much?

did you add too much by mis calculating or something else happen? It won’t hurt or help any, but just wastes chlorine.

 

[Jordan19852]

I added to much, wasn’t paying attention while pouring it in

 

[C3Cl3N3O3]

I hope that backwash is chemicals! I've never seen backwash like that.

Kind of unrelated, but you appear to need a pool drain line to redirect that better.

 

[IceShadow]

Let it come down. You don’t want to stay over SLAM levels to make sure pool surfaces don’t get bleached.

 

[clem1985]

So here’s my story, from the start. For 20 years I have never covered my pool for the winter, I have very few trees around my house and never have a problem with leaves. So same thing this year. The beginning of April I noticed my pool was greener than it has ever been so I started to clean it up. I adjusted the PH accordingly, followed by a slam of shock, I noticed the alkalinity was real low so I added that. The green went away, but was left cloudy. I added a algacide and clarifier the next day. Ran the pump continuously 24/7. I waited a few days, noticed the now the alkalinity was off the chart, so I began to attempt to lower it slowly by adding acid and keeping the return at the surface to keep the ph up. The alkalinity is still a little high but much better. At this point I noticed the vari flo valve was letting water back in my pool while backwashing. So I replaced the top portion of the valve, not the entire valve, which solved that problem, I also changed the sand for the first time in 5 years. Still continually running the pump. My pool store recommended metal out and pool tonic as an attempt to clear the pool. After another week no improvement. They tested the water again, everything was good except for phosphates were now over 4000 when they were only 1300 the prior test. Not sure what happened there. So they had me use an entire quart of phos free max, still keeping up with chlorine and weekly chemicals the pool is still cloudy. I am now 4 weeks into this pool and 500$ In the toilet and I am seeing no improvement. I have not turned the filter off in four weeks.The pool is blue but very cloudy, when I backwash the water is very white.

This is a picture with my


View attachment 332012
This is a picture of the backwash water.
View attachment 332014

You said "a slam of shock" what did you "shock it with"?

 

[Jordan19852]

So my pool has gotten clearer every day, I have been maintaining my FC and monitoring my CC levels, and my chlorine loss is minimal. The backwash is still Milky so hopefully that with time will go away.

One thing I have always had an issue with is small bits of sediment on the bottom of my pool. No matter how much I vacuum/run the filter/ kids in the pool I always have this settle in the pool.