Indoor Pool newbie struggling with high TA & cloudy water

[It's No Longer A Chore]

We put in an indoor pool this summer and after the initial fill, the pool place adjusted the levels and left me with a bucket of pucks, some test strips, and a good bye. I have been struggling with my water chemistry since the beginning and only recently found this forum.
The pool normally only gets used by me daily, however, over Christmas break it was used daily by 4 to 8 people. Due to evaporation and use the level had dropped about 4” so, I topped it off. We have hard well water with lots of iron in it. I stopped using the pucks, & got a Taylor-2006 test kit about 2 weeks ago. The water has remained clear until this morning. I have been using the pool math to determine how much bleach to add, but am really struggling with my TA. It has continued to climb daily. My numbers this morning are:

FC 5.5
CC .5
PH 7.6
TA 250
CH 460
CYA 50

I am at a loss as what to do. I have read thru all of the pool school articles, but really don’t understand what I should do next to clear my water. My PH has remained steady and I have been trying to keep my FC level between 5 to 7. The CC has been .4 to .5. The pool is covered when not in use. Please help!

 

[mknauss]

Welcome to the forum!
Good job on getting a quality test kit.
Typically, TA is only adjusted lower when pH rising is an issue. Though you say your pH does not rise. Are you still using the pucks in the pool? They are acidic.
As your pool is cloudy, our first concern there is normally to look at algae. So a Overnight Chlorine Loss Test would be a good idea. Be sure to remove any pucks before doing that test. As the pool is indoors, and I assume gets no sunlight, you can actually do that test over any 12 hour time period.
Do you have a UV system to help eliminate CC?
I suggest you read ABC's of Pool Water Chemistry.

 

[ajw22]

Welcome to TFP.

What is the pH, TA and CH of your fill water?

As Marty suggested do a Overnight Chlorine Loss Test

How much chlorine of what % do you need to add daily?

We can help you best withw ater chemistry problems if you log all your tests in PoolMath and share the results so we can see the trends.

 

[It's No Longer A Chore]

I did the OCLT as it has been 12 hours since I last checked the water. I have not used the pucks for 2 weeks. The results are FC 4.5 CC .5
I do not have a UV system. I have been adding 18 oz of 5.25% bleach daily.
My fill water tested as follows: PH 7.0 (4 drops R 0006 to 7.6) TA 460 CH 810
I have been keeping tract of my results in a notebook, but can start using the app if that helps.

 

[mknauss]

With that fill water chemistry, do you have a whole house water softener?

I suspect the cloudy water is calcium precipitating. High TA, high CH.

 

[It's No Longer A Chore]

Yes we have a Kinetico water system for our home.

 

[mknauss]

Then I would suggest using it for your fill water. Then you would want to drive down your TA using aeration and acid. You would need to create fountain of some sort to create the aeration. The water softener does not remove TA, only calcium.

 

[It's No Longer A Chore]

Okay. Thank you!