Cloudy Water

[Cultcab]

I came back after being out of town for several days and found that my chemistry was way off:
CL = 0
pH = 7.0
TA = 60
CH = 150
CYA = 20

I made the mistake of trying to adjust everything at once by adding 1.5 gallons of liquid chlorine and about 3 pounds of Clorox pH Up. This is for a 15,000 gallon in-ground pool.

The pool became very cloudy and it hasn't cleared up after 3 days:

• 1st day = added the 1.5 gallons CL and 3 pounds pH Up
• 2nd day = shocked with 2 bags of shock
• 3rd day = cleaned filter cartridges (they were caked with a milky/powder substance that was still coming off after 5 minutes of spraying them down). I ran the filter overnight after the clean.

After those actions, the chemistry is now:
CL = 1
pH = 7.6
TA = 80
CH = 175
CYA = 40

Besides waiting this out, is there anything else I can do to get it cleared up faster?

 

[mknauss]

What test kit are you using?

 

[Cultcab]

I'm using the Taylor kit.

 

[mknauss]

With low FC a SLAM Process may be in order. The CYA going from 20 to 40, did you add any?

Please add a signature. Read Pool School - Read This BEFORE You Post
Information in your signature will show up each time you post and it makes advice more accurate as we know what equipment we are dealing with.

Increase your FC to target level for CYA using [FC/CYA][/FC/CYA]

This evening, do a Overnight Chlorine Loss Test with a minimum of 6 ppm FC as your start point. In the morning test your FC and CC prior to the sun rising.

Take care.

 

[Cultcab]

I did not add any CYA to raise it from 20 t0 40.

I did the overnight CL loss test and the reading stayed steady.

I will start with the SLAM treatment tonight.

Is the cloudy water most likely due to Calcium in the water that precipitated when I added pH Up and Cl at the same time? I assume that if that's the case, it will eventually end up in the cartridges. I am planning on replacing the cartridges because I'm worried that they have potentially become loaded, but I don't want to put a new set in until the Calcium (or whatever is causing the cloudiness) has been removed.

 

[mknauss]

You might have had some temporary clouding from the soda ash but with your low CH it should have cleared quickly.

Your CYA could not have changed if you did not add any. So be aware of testing methods.
When you do the CYA test, try this next time.

Once you have your solution ready, back to the sun, etc. Fill the vial to a line, say 80, lower the vial to your waist level and glance for the dot, you see it, add solution to the 70 line, glance, see it, repeat until you no longer see it with a glance.

The vial is in logarithmic scale. So it is not viable to interpolate between the lines. Just use the whole numbers, such as 50, 40, 30, ....

Clean your cartridges when you filter pressure rises by 25% over your clean filter pressure.

- - - Updated - - -

If you had no drop in FC overnight you most likely do not need to SLAM Process. Maintain your FC in target level using [FC/CYA][/FC/CYA]

 

[Cultcab]

I'm worried that the cloudy water is being caused by something else - it's been a week now and the cloudiness has not improved.

As a summary, here is what I've done so far:
1st day = added the 1.5 gallons CL and 3 pounds pH Up - this is when it started
2nd day = shocked with 2 bags of shock
3rd day = cleaned filter cartridges (they were caked with a milky/powder substance that was still coming off after 5 minutes of spraying them down). I ran the filter overnight after the clean.
4th / 5th day = added 2 gallons CL

 

[mknauss]

What are your test results? Are you following the [FC/CYA][/FC/CYA]?

 

[Cultcab]

The results were:

pH = 7.6
CL = 0
TA = 120
CH = 160
CYA = 10
* these results were from Leslie's (I wanted to confirm that I wasn't having a problem with my test kit)

I added 4 pounds of Stabilizer last night along with some clarifier. The pool is much clearer this morning, but the cloudiness isn't completely gone.

I tested again and got:
pH = 7.6
CL = 0
TA =100
CH = 150
CYA = 80

I added some shock to get it up to the target level per the FC/CYA chart.

I guess the big lesson for me is to do a better job analyzing the CYA results. I thought that I was in the 40 range, but clearly the low CYA was my problem all along.

I'm planning on converting to salt in the spring to minimize the potential of "operator error"...

 

[AimeeH]

The results were:

pH = 7.6
CL = 0
TA = 120
CH = 160
CYA = 10
* these results were from Leslie's (I wanted to confirm that I wasn't having a problem with my test kit)

I added 4 pounds of Stabilizer last night along with some clarifier. The pool is much clearer this morning, but the cloudiness isn't completely gone.

I tested again and got:
pH = 7.6
CL = 0
TA =100
CH = 150
CYA = 80

I added some shock to get it up to the target level per the FC/CYA chart.

I guess the big lesson for me is to do a better job analyzing the CYA results. I thought that I was in the 40 range, but clearly the low CYA was my problem all along.

I'm planning on converting to salt in the spring to minimize the potential of "operator error"...

While the CYA test takes getting used to, I'd always always always trust your test on that over Leslie's. Years of evidence on this forum that the CYA tests done by the "professional" tends to be the most inaccurate of all their tests. It may be because they don't really follow the notion that CYA dictates where your FC needs to be.

 

[mknauss]

How did you add the stabilizer? It will not show up that fast unless you used liquid. And that is not measured in pounds.

You will have difficulty doing a SLAM Process process with a CYA of 80. So I would suggest doing that test again.

Clarifier should not be used. You will need to clean your cartridge filter today or it may be ruined by the clarifier.