SWG - and fighting cloudy water

[lovestoswim]

Hello! I'm helping some good friends with their SWG, 21k inground pool.

Pool store opened for them - water was cloudy and greenish. Pool store had him put in alakalinity up, throw in some shock and also salt.

They called me a couple weeks later when they got frustrated with the time and money they were spending at PS.

When I arrived on 5-16-18 and tested here were my his test #'s

FC - 0 - FC now holding stable at 9, SWG on 60%
CC-1 - CC is now 0
CYA -0 - brought levels to 80
PH - 7.8
Salt - 3200
TA - 170 - lowered this with acid. It's now around 140. PH dropped t. 7.4.

So we SLAMMED and the water started clearing. They went on vacay and let me do my thing. All test results are stable, vacuumed, brushed, backwashed, passing OCLT, and pool has now turned from an ugly gray/green to a lovely but very cloudy blue.

You can still not see the deep end and we are on 14 days. So it has me wondering.......

Could this be a filtration problem or do salt pools take longer to clear? They have a Hayward Sand Filter. Runs on 10 PSI

Thankfully they are being patient but what could I be missing?

 

[mknauss]

The first criteria to pass a SLAM is crystal clear water. So your SLAM is not over.

Sand filters take longer to clear cloudy water. Do they know the last time the filter was deep cleaned? Have they ever used any clarifier or floc in the pool?

Once it is determined that the sand filter is not compromised, then the best way to get clear is to Pool School - Add DE to a Sand Filter

But, the pool should be taken back to SLAM levels. The issue is the CYA was raised to 80, prematurely. So that will require higher FC. See [FC/CYA][/FC/CYA]

Take care.

 

[lovestoswim]

Day 1 Day 14

 

[lovestoswim]

Ok! The homeowner prefers to use his SWG for chlorination instead of adding Liquid Bleach. I know it is affecting the life of his cell but he does prefer this. Does that make the process go slower?

I have mentioned adding DE. I am unsure about FLOC or clarifier. The PS did close his pool last year so I am unsure what they put in it.

For the CYA - I tested his CYA on my first visit. We brought his FC up well over 20 - like a 50 LOL because he didn't want to turn off his SWG. We also brought CYA up to 80 per the recommendation here for SWG pools. FC stayed at 40-50 for about 4 days then I finally just went ahead and turned his SWG down to 25% and added chlorine manually (knowing he would not want me to turn it off completely).

Does 14 days seem long to you though? I have helped with lots of sand filters and none have taken this long - even pools that were total swamps. I thought this one would clear faster considering it really wasn't that bad in the first place. I want to make sure I am not missing something.

 

[mknauss]

The SLAM level FC for a CYA of 80 as shown in [FC/CYA][/FC/CYA] is 31 ppm FC. Liquid Chlorine must be used to achieve that. And maintain it, several times per day.

The fact it has taken long can be that the SLAM level was not maintained as you increased the CYA, also that the sand filter is compromised.
THIS THREAD will explain a sand filter and how to "deep clean" it.

 

[lovestoswim]

Thank You!! I will be sure to mention the deep cleaning. Hopefully I'll have pictures of a clear pool soon