Perfect Water Analysis, but still cloudy and light green?

[cipher]

Our pool was green after the pool was opened and not treated for a couple of weeks. Starting last week, I began treating my water (liquid chlorine shocking etc) and running the filter 24/7. Today, I took a sample to a local company for testing and received the following results....

Free Chlorine - 3
Total Chlorine - 3
Total Alkalinity - 100
PH - 7.4
Calcium Hardness - 250
Stabilizer (CYA) - 35

These results are pretty much perfect, however, my water is currently cloudy and there is a very light green tint! Should I be more patient or do you think I need to shock my pool again? The pool company recommended shocking tonight and then applying clarifier tommorrow and running the fitler on circulate for 12 hours.

Thanks in advance

 

[JohnT]

You need to raise your chlorine level if you want to clear the pool. At 35ppm CYA, you are running your chlorine very near the minimum level to prevent algae, but you aren't close the level needed to get rid of it. Here are some article that will help you through the process:

Shocking Your Pool

Turning Your Green Swamp Back into a Sparkling Oasis

Defeating Algae

Chlorine CYA Chart

 

[cipher]

Thanks, John. I've read through all the posts and now have enough chlorine to keep on top of the shocking process. I just had my water tested, and here are the results...

Free Chlorine - 5
Total Chlorine - 6
Total Alkalinity - 90
PH - 7.8
Calcium Hardness - 230
Stabilizer (CYA) - 10

The best guess chart stops at 20ppm for CYA so I'm wondering if I should bump up the stabilizer while shocking today?

 

[svenpup]

The CYA didn't just disappear. If you really want to get your pool under control you should get a good test kit and stop relying on the pool store to test for you. I have seen too many posts here of people steered down a bad (expensive) path because of inaccurate pool store testing.

 

[Mr. Ed]

Backwash the sand filter, add a filter aid fiber or DE and clarifier, switch your suction from skimmers to main drain and circulate for 12-24 hours.

 

[dmanb2b]

what Mr Ed said...and it wouldn;t hurt to keep your water at shock level until it clears.

 

[cipher]

Well, during the shocking process the water has gone from green to light green and finally it's looking blue today! It looks like the chlorine is taking care of business, but the water is still cloudy. That said, I can see furthur down into my deeep end compared to earlier as I'd estimate that I can see down 2/3 of the way in the 14 foot deep end.

Backwash the sand filter, add a filter aid fiber or DE and clarifier, switch your suction from skimmers to main drain and circulate for 12-24 hours.

Thanks, Mr Ed. However, I'm not sure what the the second part means after the backwash step. You said to either...

1) add a filter aid fiber (what is this?)
or
2) add DE and clarifier (what is DE?)

Also, even though I can't see my deep end because of the cloudiness, I know there are a lot of leaves at the bottom which is why the main drain has been off this entire time (I'm waiting until it clears more before I vacuum these). However, I've been circulating my water the entire time using the skimmer 24/7 so would the skimmer be good enough for this step?

what Mr Ed said...and it wouldn;t hurt to keep your water at shock level until it clears.

I'm hoping that shocking will eventually allow me to achieve clear water so that I can then vacuum all the leaves/twigs etc sitting at the bottom. Does the clearing up of the cloudy water happen at somepoint during the shocking process or do I have stop shocking first to allow the water to go from cloudy to clear.

 

[Mr. Ed]

Well, during the shocking process the water has gone from green to light green and finally it's looking blue today! It looks like the chlorine is taking care of business, but the water is still cloudy. That said, I can see furthur down into my deeep end compared to earlier as I'd estimate that I can see down 2/3 of the way in the 14 foot deep end.

Backwash the sand filter, add a filter aid fiber or DE and clarifier, switch your suction from skimmers to main drain and circulate for 12-24 hours.

Thanks, Mr Ed. However, I'm not sure what the the second part means after the backwash step. You said to either...

1) add a filter aid fiber (what is this?)
or
2) add DE and clarifier (what is DE?)

Also, even though I can't see my deep end because of the cloudiness, I know there are a lot of leaves at the bottom which is why the main drain has been off this entire time (I'm waiting until it clears more before I vacuum these). However, I've been circulating my water the entire time using the skimmer 24/7 so would the skimmer be good enough for this step?

what Mr Ed said...and it wouldn;t hurt to keep your water at shock level until it clears.

I'm hoping that shocking will eventually allow me to achieve clear water so that I can then vacuum all the leaves/twigs etc sitting at the bottom. Does the clearing up of the cloudy water happen at somepoint during the shocking process or do I have stop shocking first to allow the water to go from cloudy to clear.

You should really consider getting the leaves and debris out now vs. Later .....I know this is difficult given that you can't see them but they are fueling the issue at hand.

Filter aids are labeled just that. There are many of them on the market ....a sufficient search of sand filter aid should yield good results. Dietamaceuos earth = de. It is typically used in a different type of filter but can provide useful in clearing up sand filers pools.

Hope that helps!

 

[Mr. Ed]

I will add that yes your skimmer will work fine, but take longer as it is only skimming the surface of the water....where main drain would pull the body of water much more quickly through the filter