Cloudy water

Hi there,

My water is cloudy, initially the TA was low about 60. So Ive been adding bicard in small amounts, and raised it to 80. The water was starting to clear up, but then it was also looking a little green, so I added 2 cups of chlorine. Then the pool went more of a white cloudy colour and I can no longer see the bottom of the pool, neither in the shallow end. I had also topped the pool up. And when I tested to day, Chlorine was at 10ppm, and TA at 70, and pH at 7.8. Ive added about 250grams of bicarb to help raise the TA again. I havent yet added any acid to put the pH a little lower and I'm not sure it needs to go lower. The pool is about 40Kl.

What is your advise? I noticed about a year ago I added a different brand of Chlorine which caused the water to cloud, and since then I have been struggling to keep the water clear. I am hoping that I am on the verge of success.

I have attached a photo of what the water looks like.
 

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Welcome to the forum!
Not knowing a full set of test results limits my response, but you either need to follow the SLAM Process or as you added bicarb when you did not need to the pool is cloudy from it reacting with your elevated pH and CH (unknown value).

What do you test your pool water chemistry with?
I suggest you read ABC's of Pool Water Chemistry and consider reviewing the entire Pool School eBook.
 
What is your CYA? For the liquid chlorine, some Bleaches add polymers and those can cause problems (in the U.S. Clorox does this)
 
Without the ability to test your water, you have a tough path. Unless you have never added any products with CYA (dichlor, trichlor, CYA, etc) I doubt your CYA is zero. Though you are coming out of winter and if you had significant rain overflow it may have dropped.

How do you normally chlorinate?
 
I have used the floater type chlorinators in the past, and those do contain CYA. However in the past the CYA gave a reading on the strip. Never too high, but recently the strip reports zero, or possibly close to zero, but as you say there must be CYA in the water. I usually put granulated chlorine into the pool.
 
Granulated chlorine -- is that calcium hypochlorite or dichlor?

Do you have scale problems in your home at your faucets, etc?
 
Can you order one of the recommended test kits? That would help a lot with knowing your actual chemistry. Test strips are not very reliable.
 
Thanks for the info so far. Unfortunately we do not get test kits that have more than the 4 tests: FC, PH, TA, and Acid Demand. The test strips we get also give the CYA.

The active ingredient in our granular chlorine is Calcium Hypochlorite.

No noticeable scale problems around the home.

I will digest the Pool School and give the pool a couple of days to "cool down" and hopefully stabalise.
 

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Better than test strips. Only tests to 10 ppm FC so you cannot follow the SLAM Process very well.

Most colorimeter tests fail on CH testing. Most other tests they seem to be OK.
 
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