Cloudy Water

[gwiastka]

So I need some help please. This is only our second season with the pool, so still have a lot to learn. We opened the pool a couple weeks ago, to a clear pool, with only high FC. Since the temperature here was still cold I left the SWG off and kept pool uncovered to help w/dropping the FC. It finally dropped, but then the rain started, and I never turned the SWG on! Just totally forgot, so the pool was mostly covered this last week, and when we opened it yesterday the water was very cloudy. I tested w/the TF100 test kit, and found that my FC was 1 So I turned on the"super chlorinate" on my SWG, let it run overnight, and tested this morning. The water is still very cloudy. Here are my results:
FC 6.5
CC 0
TA 80
CYA 70
PH 7.6
I don't know what to do now? All the numbers seem good? why is my water still cloudy? Please help!

 

[mknauss]

Follow the SLAM Process

 

[gwiastka]

OK, thank you! I did buy the liquid chlorine, and just put about 1.5 gal. in. Based on the SLAM chart of CYA/FC chart I need to get to 28 FC. How quickly can I check, and if I understand correctly I need to keep it at that level until the water clears? Should I also turn of the SWG for now? and what about putting the vacuum in? Sorry for all these questions, I feel like if only I remembered to turn on the SWG this could have been avoided

 

[duraleigh]

What mknauss said.....SLAM the pool. The "super chlorinate" feature is seldom strong enough to get the results you need.

 

[mknauss]

How quickly can I check,

30 minutes with the pump running.

if I understand correctly I need to keep it at that level until the water clears?

yes - pass the three criteria described in SLAM Process

Should I also turn of the SWG for now?

May as well. As Dave said, it does not generate chlorine fast enough.

and what about putting the vacuum in?

Sure, that will help clean up the dead algae.

 

[duraleigh]

Just saw your last post. Turn off the SWG during the SLAM.....it will confuse you during the OCLT. Never hurts to run the cleaner. There is a good article in Pool School on the details of the SLAM process. Review it but it sounds like you are on the right track.

 

[gwiastka]

Thank you for the responses! I hope this works . If it’s a sunny day would it be better to keep it covered ?

 

[mknauss]

Thank you for the responses! I hope this works . If it’s a sunny day would it be better to keep it covered ?

You can cover it if you like.

 

[gwiastka]

So it is morning and I opened the pool to find lovely clear water again so I just tested and found my FC to be 32 and CC 0 CYA still 60 it looked so much better already yesterday evening and the FC was 34 so the change being 2 does that mean I still didn’t pass the OCLT and should wait longer? My SWG is still off too.
Great thanks to this awesome community for assistance !

 

[mknauss]

At that level of FC your testing has quite a bit of error. If the water is crystal clear let the FC drop to at or below SLAM level (why did you raise your FC so far above SLAM level? Not a good idea with a vinyl liner) and do the OCLT again.

 

[gwiastka]

At that level of FC your testing has quite a bit of error. If the water is crystal clear let the FC drop to at or below SLAM level (why did you raise your FC so far above SLAM level? Not a good idea with a vinyl liner) and do the OCLT again.

Got it. And I didn’t try to…so I originally used pool math and put in 1.5 gal of pool liquid chlorine 12.5%. Tested a half an hour later and it was 24. I threw in the vacuum, after it was done covered the pool, went to work. When I came back in the afternoon ~7 hours later I tested and it was 34! So I didn’t add anything and here we are today