Water slightly cloudy

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lulupalooza

lulupalooza

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LifeTime Supporter
Mar 29, 2008
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Evans, GA
Hey all!

Hope everyone is enjoying their summer and their pool!!! We sure have!! Anyway, have a question. I noticed today my pool water is slightly cloudy. My CL and pH drop kit is MIA, so I did it another way.

CL/FC: 5
pH at last check about 5 days ago was 7.8 (seems to want to stay here, even though I did lower it to 7.5 a couple of weeks ago)
TA is 85ish 90??? I say this because at 8 drops the water in the test tube was ever so slight pink and then at the 9th drop its PINK!

So what should I do? I was thinking to raise the TA to about 100 and then maybe add a little m/a to lower the pH to about 7.5 again and keep the pump running 24/7. It's been getting pretty HOT here lately 101 is the forecast for today! :shock:
 
Do you know your CH level? If that or other dissolved minerals are present in high quantities, the higher pH can allow them to precipitate out and cause cloudiness.

If that is indeed what is happening, then you can try vacuuming the white "dust" from the bottom of the pool before lowering your pH. This will be frustrating though and you won't get it all. But it's worth a try before you dissolve it again.

Lowering your pH will be the best course of immediate action, right next to getting proper test results. Lowering the pH won't lower your CH level, but it will keep the calcium in check.

Since this is all guesswork, I would first suggest lowering the pH, obtain proper test results, and report back here.

By the way, you'll want to measure your CH AFTER you've lowered your pH.
 
Regardless of the type of pool, it matters if it's too high, which can cause cloudiness issues when combined with other factors...like high ph....

I missed you were running your filter 24/7... :oops: ignore my remark about running the filter more often, LOL.

cloudy water can be caused by a number of things, so you just have to rule them out....
poor circulation/filtration (filtering schedule/filter cleaning) you are running your filter, has it been cleaned/backwashed?
water inbalanced (check CH and PH numbers)
not enough FC according to CYA - cloudiness can be algae forming, confirm your CYA/Chlorine ratio
not maintaining FC minimum AT All Times.....- letting the FC drop below the minimum can allow algae to take hold.

If it is the chlorine issue, shock your pool and see if that helps clear it up.
 
I'll check the CH tomorrow. But the CYA was at 30ppm, though my FC was at 5ppm. I added some stabilzer and adjusted the TA up just a tad and the pH too. It will crawl back up to it usual spot I am sure, which is about 7.8 and hold there. It will take it at least 2 weeks though to get there. I'm going go back to running to filter 24/7 since the past week I slacked on that and was doing aobut 8-12 hours per day. It did look better by this evening.


frustratedpoolmom said:
Regardless of the type of pool, it matters if it's too high, which can cause cloudiness issues when combined with other factors...like high ph....

I missed you were running your filter 24/7... :oops: ignore my remark about running the filter more often, LOL.

cloudy water can be caused by a number of things, so you just have to rule them out....
poor circulation/filtration (filtering schedule/filter cleaning) you are running your filter, has it been cleaned/backwashed?
water inbalanced (check CH and PH numbers)
not enough FC according to CYA - cloudiness can be algae forming, confirm your CYA/Chlorine ratio
not maintaining FC minimum AT All Times.....- letting the FC drop below the minimum can allow algae to take hold.

If it is the chlorine issue, shock your pool and see if that helps clear it up.
Click to expand...
 
Like Frustrated said, too high a CH can cause cloudiness problems with high pH.

It seems like every chemistry parameter has a downside to it getting out of whack, even with a vinyl pool. The only things that I think are relatively unimportant for a vinyl pool are CH (if not too high) and TA, as long as the overall water balance is proper. The downside to high TA is that it might tend to pull the pH up over time, but I find that in my pool (CH=60, TA=200) pH tends to want to be around 7.6, which is just about perfect. Last year it did drift higher, and perhaps this year's abundance of rain is helping in keeping it lower (7.4-7.5 seems to be this year's equilibrium).

Bottom line is the FC and pH should be checked daily, but the other attributes are important to monitor periodically as well. CYA, borates, salt, and CH need to be checked less often than the others as these levels only change appreciably when the pool is diluted with fresh water or if you introduce more of the substance intentionally.

Good luck!
 
Ok,

Here are my readings for today- Water is still slightly cloudy. But we have had hardly any rain this season and I just remembered that it has rained here and there. (hit and miss and we have been some hit and some miss.)

FC-2 (aqua chem drop test kit is saying I have 5ppm) :shock:
pH- 7.4
TA-100
CH-30
CYA- was 30ppm (added 32 oz) will recheck in a week

So maybe I just need to keep the filter running 24/7
 
Well you ruled out high CH! :mrgreen:

I'd say yes, keep filtering. I would also suggest bumping it up to 4 FC, just to see if it helps....I'm not understanding something....the Taylor test vanished...(kids?) and you bought an aqua chem, which is reading 5ish....(I can't read the oto tests either) which test gave you a 2 FC?
 
frustratedpoolmom said:
Well you ruled out high CH! :mrgreen:

I'd say yes, keep filtering. I would also suggest bumping it up to 4 FC, just to see if it helps....I'm not understanding something....the Taylor test vanished...(kids?) and you bought an aqua chem, which is reading 5ish....(I can't read the oto tests either) which test gave you a 2 FC?
Click to expand...

Yep, my taylor in the blue box that came with the TF-100 kit is gone. Have no earthly clue where it went to. Wouldn't surprise me if my 4 yo old took it and played with it somewhere and then hid the evidence. Anyway, I did a CL drop test with the TF-100 that came up 2 for FC 0 for CC so TC=2 The aqua chem is what gives me the higher reading. I knew it couldn't be right as I am putting in about 1 jug of 196oz Ultra Bleach every other day. To keep it in the 4-6 ppm range.
 

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Hmmm.

CH is not the problem. I would guess the next likely cause of the cloudiness is the formation of algae, or other dissolved "stuff".

I had cloudiness upon opening this year (since I opened late), and getting the FC up to shock levels for 2 days continuously took care of it. It wouldn't hurt to try raising FC to say 15 or so, checking it every few hours to ensure it stays there. You can stop when the FC level at night drops very little by morning (say 0.5 or less drop).
 
Well Scott, you were right. All my chems are in the proper range. I noticed that the pool was still cloudy and looked like it was getting worse. Then I found my source! The weights under the steps are getting a green tinge. :shock: I made the kids get out and we just poured 7 bottles of ultra bleach in and on my way to get more. I can't have no algea taking hold!

ssabin said:
Hmmm.

CH is not the problem. I would guess the next likely cause of the cloudiness is the formation of algae, or other dissolved "stuff".

I had cloudiness upon opening this year (since I opened late), and getting the FC up to shock levels for 2 days continuously took care of it. It wouldn't hurt to try raising FC to say 15 or so, checking it every few hours to ensure it stays there. You can stop when the FC level at night drops very little by morning (say 0.5 or less drop).
Click to expand...
 
I bet you never knew that when you installed the step weights, you got an algae indicator for free, did you?

Glad you now know what's happening. Steps are sometimes problematic because the water flow underneath them is usually poor. If that's the case with your pool, you could try occassionally (say once a week?) pouring a small amount of bleach in the vicinity of your steps, preferrably with your pump on and the return jet pointed to give you as much flow through your steps as possible.

Most importantly, after you get your water clear agin, hide your new drop-based test kit from the kids and keep using it daily!

Good luck!
 
Thanks Scott!

The pool looks great today!! I didn't check last night what the CL level was after adding 3 jugs of ultra bleach. It was 18.25 this morning w/ CC being .5 So I may shock it one more time tonite to make sure all is well.


ssabin said:
I bet you never knew that when you installed the step weights, you got an algae indicator for free, did you?

Glad you now know what's happening. Steps are sometimes problematic because the water flow underneath them is usually poor. If that's the case with your pool, you could try occassionally (say once a week?) pouring a small amount of bleach in the vicinity of your steps, preferrably with your pump on and the return jet pointed to give you as much flow through your steps as possible.

Most importantly, after you get your water clear agin, hide your new drop-based test kit from the kids and keep using it daily!

Good luck!
Click to expand...
 
POP , please pass the POP to Laura!!! :mrgreen:

I'm sorry you are so frustrated...., patience my dear. There was probably some fine sediment on the bottom you couldn't see and they just stirred it up. Either that or they produced alot of chlorine consuming organics.... :mrgreen:

I bet it's clear by morning. You were going to shock tonight anyway, right?
 
Yep, I shocked it again tonite. Just checked. FC is showing as 18. When I did the pool cal. It said to go from 13ppm- 20 ppm (which is what I was aiming for) add 248 oz of 96ox bottle of bleach. I added 3 and it only came up to 18 hmmmmm. Well, I don't feel like walking back out there and pouring in another bottle, so I will just hope that tomorrow there isn't abig drop in FC level. The pool looks REALLY cloudy now. But I did get in and brush all the sides and as much as the floor as possible. 27', that's a lot of floor! Right now I am off to :sleep:
 
I think frustrated is right - patience is key. And since you have the same size pool as I, we both know how much surface their is to clean. Do you have a bottom drain?

If you have successfully won an algae battle, the dead algae remnants will still remain as a white dusty substance in your pool until you get it vacuumed or filtered out. Having a main drain can make this job go much quicker. If not, multiple vacuuming sessions are needed. The problem with vacuuming is that it stirs up the dust before you get it "sucked" up, so you have to let it settle for a bit, and get more of it later.

Yes, I love my main drain!

Good luck!
 

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