Cloudy water

[Dadof6]

FC 8.5
PH 7.5
TA 100
CYA 80
Salt 3200

I can't get my pool clear this summer! It stays cloudy. Not terrible but not clear. We had a rare deep freeze this winter (-6F), I drained the filter and plumbing lines and everything is working just great. I'm concerned maybe a lateral in my sand filter is cracked causing sand to enter the pool. I have had a skimmer sock on one of my return jets for the past 24 hours or so but have not collected any sand in it. The pool and equipment is less than a year old. I have backwashed the filter - pressure is 12 PSI. What am I missing? Please help!

 

[thetekgeek]

How are you testing the water?

Basically, if you have cloudy water you need to SLAM. See the SLAM article in Pool School - SLAM - Shock Level and Maintain - Trouble Free Pool

Everything you need to do is outlined in that article. I'll summarize it.

1. Make sure you are testing the water with a good (TFP approved) test kit. If you don't have one, get one on order and 5 ppm worth of bleach/liquid chlorine to your water each day until the kit arrives. Do not make any other chemistry adjustments without the proper test kit. See Test kits compared - Test Kits Compared - Trouble Free Pool
2. Test and adjust PH to 7.2 using Muriatic Acid in order to prepare for a SLAM.
3. Turn off your SWG, set pump to run 24/7 until SLAM is complete.
4. Test and adjust Chlorine using bleach/liquid chlorine to SLAM level for your CYA - See this article on CYA/Chlorine relationship. - Chlorine / CYA Chart - Trouble Free Pool
5. Test chlorine often (several times per day) and add enough bleach to raise back to SLAM level, be careful to not overshoot.
6. Continue to test FC and add bleach to SLAM level until the water is crystal clear, CC's are < 0.5, and you pass an OCLT - Perform the Overnight FC Loss Test (OCLT) - Trouble Free Pool
7. Once step 6 is completed, allow FC to drift down to your target zone and maintain it there utilizing your SWG.

 

[Dadof6]

I'm using the Taylor K2005 test kit. After finding TFP 5 years ago I've owned several different types of pools and know the SLAM process. Even with a FC maintaining 8.5 or better I still need to SLAM? When I did it previously it was because I had mustard algae that took the FC to zero. Just checking. If so, that's an very easy fix. Please confirm. Thank you so much!

 

[Wobblerlorri]

I'm doing a SLAM Process based on cloudy water and an Overnight Chlorine Loss Test loss of 2 ppm FC. Previous to the SLAM, we were holding good at FC 8.

Go by how your pool looks and an OCLT. That will tell you the truth.

 

[Pv2]

not sure that test kit will work for slamming?

 

[Wobblerlorri]

The 2005 has the FAS-DPD test. It's lacking the CYA test. It's fine for a SLAM Process.

 

[thetekgeek]

@Dadof6 - I'm curious how you got the CYA reading of 80.

 

[mknauss]

The 2005 has the FAS-DPD test. It's lacking the CYA test. It's fine for a SLAM Process.

Sorry - but backwards. The K2005 does NOT have the FAS-DPD test, but does have the CYA test.

 

[Mdragger88]

The 2005 has the FAS-DPD test. It's lacking the CYA test. It's fine for a SLAM Process.

The k2005 is dpd only & only goes to 10 ppm fc - it does contain the cya test
The op needs to add a fas/dpd to their kit to slam properly