From dark green to blueish but cloudy

[Bmxer26]

I am a new pool owner. Last year we took over when everything was balanced. This year it took us awhile to find this site. My pool was dark green with algae. We got all the junk off the bottom and I have been following SLAM for three days. At the beginning i was chewing through Cl. I am using 70% hypo cal. My Hardness is at 200. The water to replace all of the back flushing is really soft in our area. I think i have finally crossed a threshold because i didn’t lose much FC overnight last night and today (cloudy day) the chlorine levels have held steady when testing every three hours.

I can’t seem to get past the blue/cloudy stage. Is it just a matter of time to get to clear? I am just holding the Cl level up, backwashing frequently, and hoping wake up someday with clear water. Any other suggestions?

I am new to cleaning DE filters. I have been taking the assembly out, soaking in a diluted acid solution (using dry acid), and hosing off the pads with warm water every few days. The pressure goes from 10 psi to 20 over a couple of hours with back-flushing. They have been going from gross green to pretty clean with a manual clean but that is a lot of work. Is there anything else I need to be doing and how do you know when it is time to replace them all together? I have no idea when they were changed last.

CYA = 45
CH = 200
FC = 18-20

Thanks for the help.

 

[Texas Splash]

Is it just a matter of time to get to clear?

Yes, that's part of it - the SLAM Process. The other big part is to continue brushing and inspecting all areas of the pool. Don't leave out tricky areas like hollow steps, behind a light (niche) or even under a main drain cover. Your filter is spiking in pressure because all that cloudiness is algae getting picked up. It's just something you have to watch. But hang in there.

 

[Texas Splash]

Oh, and welcome to TFP!

Pool Care Basics Archives

Your one-stop shop for all things TFP to include: ABCs of Water Chemistry, Recommended Chemicals/Levels, Test Kits, Troubleshooting, and much more!

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[MITBeta]

Calcium hypochlorite can make water cloudy. You should consider switching to liquid chlorine.

 

[V___25]

For many people, that "cloudy but blue" phase seems to be the biggest hurdle. Green pools can get to the phase somewhat quickly but then it seems they just hang there.
While there may not be much visible progress, the gunk in your filters tell you that something is still happening! The Maintain phase of SLAM can be where people get frustrated but keep working through it and keep that FC at SLAM level as much as possible.

As mentioned above, switch to LC if possible. Keep brushing and vacuuming too. It will get there!

 

[Bmxer26]

Thanks for the tip on checking behind the lights. We vaccumed a lot of algea from behind those. It is getting a lot better. I did let the FC drop to about 8 ppm so the kids could swim. Cleaned the filter again and was shocked at the amount of algea still coming out. Good news is we can see the bottom even after brushing and vacuuming. It is still slightly cloudy so I am going to raise it back to slam level for another few days and then clean the filter again. Valuable lesson learned on proper maintainance. I will switch to LC once my 50 lb bucket of hypoclor is gone!

 

[Texas Splash]

Progress is good. Just be sure to maintain that proper elevated FC SLAM level per the FC/CYA Levels. Remember that even when the FC is elevated, you can still swim as long as you do not exceed your assigned SLAM FC level. Stick with the SLAM Process until you pass all 3 SLAM criteria.