Milky water after pool deck replacement

[FightingGobbler]

I’ve been lurking on this site for 2 years and have spread the TFP truth among all my local pool friends here in Gainesville. Thank you for TFP!

We are replacing the pavers on our pool deck which has thrown our pool chemistries out of balance.

Current values are:
FC: 3.5
CC: 0
pH: High, >8.0, Taylor pH test came back as Fuchsia or magenta
TA: 150
CH: 425
CYA: 50
Borate: ~50

I check my levels on a regular basis. Values immediately before the paver repair
FC: 7
CC: 0
pH: 7.6
TA: 70
CH: 220
CYA: 50 (I usually have this in the 60-70 range, but I left it low knowing that I would have to adjust after the pavers were done)
Borate: ~50

The pool water has always been a bit cloudy (~2.5 years of ownership). It has been much cloudier the past 2 weeks during the paver repair. Today, it is substantially worse, now “milky” (attached pic).

The paver replacement is now done. How should I proceed to get my numbers back to normal? Do I need to drain the pool?

Not sure if this helps, but I did have a mustard algae outbreak last year (I think) which responded to a SLAM.

Thank you in advance!

 

[Richard320]

I'd start working that pH down. That looks like Calcium cloudiness and high pH just makes it worse. If you're off the scale, just plug the numbers in anyway and add what it says. And in half an hour or so, recheck and repeat. Keep doing so until the pH ends up in the middle of the scale somewhere.

I'd keep brushing the whole while, so any dust in suspension ends up getting drawn into the skimmer. You'll also need to vacuum.

425 is high for CH, but not frighteningly so. It's easily managed. Since you live in an area with summer rain, hopefully it'll get diluted some.

 

[markayash]

Could be cloudy water be due to dust from the replacement? When they redid my desk I had concrete dust and took a week to get it settled.

 

[FightingGobbler]

Richard,
I'll start working down the pH, brush, and vacuum.

I'll also bump the FC back up to the 4-6 range with bleach from the pool store and then keep the SWG running.

I was worried that I'd need to drain the pool to get calcium back down.

Mark,
I agree with you, some of the haziness must be from the pool deck replacement. As expected, the paver sand is everywhere, especially in my kids shoes, currently in the living room. We also had the coping around the pool replaced, which doesn't help.

 

[markayash]

I turned my pump off for a day or 2 and it settled to the bottom..Since I don't even own a vac I just swept it to the main drain but had to clean the filter a few times.

 

[FightingGobbler]

Just as a follow up:

After nearly 500 ounces of muriatic acid (and a little bleach), my current numbers are:
FC: 5.5
CC: 0
pH: 7.6
TA: 80
CH: 425
CYA: 50
Borate: ~50

Is there anything I should do for CH short of draining water out of the pool? Just let the rainy season here in Florida dilute it down?

At any rate, thank you guys for the help!

Now on to removal of the paver dust layer on the pool floor...

 

[JamesW]

If they used a concrete cutting saw, the dust is very alkaline.

Just get the chemistry levels back to normal levels and you should be fine.

 

[Richard320]

My CH has never been that low since I started taking care of my pool about 8 years ago. Just mind the pH and take advantage of any rain you get to replace water. Note that for whatever percentage CH goes down, so will CYA.

 

[FightingGobbler]

Thank you guys for your help.

After 2 weeks of frequent daily vacuuming/brushing and cleaning the filter 7 times, the pool water is clear again!

I did find that using a Shop-Vac made things much easier...picked up the rocks and dust without sucking them into my pool filter.