Fighting Cloudy Water: 4 Weeks and Counting

[Watermom]

Unlike chlorine or pH which have to continuously be added and adjusted throughout the summer, once you get CYA in your pool, it lasts. Some people's pools even keep the CYA throughout the winter; others don't and lose it and have to add CYA again the next year.

Bottom line is that if you continue to use the pucks this summer, your CYA is going to continue to go higher and higher and higher As a result, you're going to have to keep your chlorine levels at higher and higher levels or you'll get algae. (Take a look at the Best Guess table in my signature below if you haven't already done so.)

You can keep trichlor tabs from one season to the next. Keep them tightly closed in the original container in a cool place and then if you need to add CYA another year, you'll have them.

Glad to hear you have the kit. That will make things easier for you.

Hope this helps you.

[anixon7]

Ok, so here's the latest.

6-24-11 (7:30am)

FC = 2.0
CC = .5
pH = 7.4 (woohoo!)
TA = 20
CYA = 35–40

6-24-11 (7:30pm)

Added 4.5 gallons of bleach and 3 lbs of baking soda.
Didn't get to test last night. Long story.

6-25-11 (7:30am)

FC = 11.5
CC = N/A (forgot to test)
pH = 7.6–7.8 (boo)
TA = 60

So, some good news. Not sure why the pH went up so much, because I haven't added any Borax in over 36hrs. Should I add some pH reducer or just let it ride for now? I'm going to add some more baking soda today. Any reason why I can't add it now if it's overcast because I have to be gone from the house this evening?

Thanks,
-A

[Watermom]

Go ahead and add the baking soda. Being overcast doesn't make any difference. Just let the pH ride for now. 7.6-7.8 is fine. If it goes over 7.8, you'll want to lower it some though. Your pH will become more stable once you get your TA up some.

[anixon7]

Well, it's been a couple of days and things are looking up finally. I can actually see the bottom of the deep end for the first time!! Water is still cloudy, but levels are starting to even out.

I'm in full-on BBB mode, making the switch to bleach for chlorination over the weekend.

My biggest problem is I still can't maintain a steady FC level. It went from 14.5 down to 9 in 24hrs. I added 1.5gal of bleach to get it back up tonite. My CC is steady at 0.

pH jumped up to 7.8 last nite, but I let it ride and was back down to 7.4 tonite. Do you think it might have been a false high read because chlorine levels were so high? Hope it stays in the good zone overnite.

TA is steady at 90. Should I raise it up closer to 100 or leave it? Thinking maybe raising it would help steady the pH.

I also have A TON of tiny particles of sediment too fine to catch in the skimmer net from all the months of neglect. I would assume this is contributing to the cloudy water. Any way to speed up the process of getting those cleaned out or do I just have to be patient and let the filter do its thing?


And, last thing to note based on comments earlier last week about a broken heater causing water problems. My water is in fact running thru the broken heater right now. One of my bypass valves froze and cracked over the winter, so I actually had to rig the pvc piping to go around the cracked valve; much cheaper than buying a new valve. But, I am thinking maybe I should re-reroute the piping to bypass the heater all together just to be safe. Any thoughts on this? Could it be contributing to the cloudy water?

Thanks,
-A

[Watermom]

Glad things are improving. Be consistent with maintaining high cl levels while the water is cloudy. Are you testing your pH while the chlorine is high? That will give false high pH. With the Taylor K-2006, you can test pH if the chlorine is lower than 15 which is higher than most kits will allow. I wouldn't worry about raising alk any right now.

You can try a little trick that some of us use to help our sand filters filter a little more efficiently. Adding a little DE will help you filter out smaller particles than your sand can get by itself. Read more about it here:

http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?t=3742

I can't help with the heater issue. Somebody else will hopefully chime in about that.

Hope this helps.

[anixon7]

So things are still overall doing well. Pool is staying clear. Still a little cloudiness in the deep end, but I can clearly see the bottom of the entire pool and it's a nice blue color.

pH is holding steady @ 7.4 and TA @ 80-90. My problem continues to be Cl levels. I can't hold a steady reading. I've been trying to keep it above 10ppm (using bleach only) until the water is definitely cleared up, but it's been dropping as much as 3ppm in a 24hr period. It did only drop 1ppm from sundown last nite to sunup today: 8.5 - 7.5, which seems like a positive sign. I checked my CYA this AM again just to be sure, and it's still @ 30-40ppm. Any idea why I can't hold Cl levels when everything else is stable? Is there something else I need to do?

My next question: I want to try to swim in it this weekend for the 4th. Am I ok to let the Cl levels drop into the 3-6ppm range for swimming and just monitor it closely, or do I need to maintain shock levels still?

Thanks as always,
-A

[Watermom]

You aren't going to be able to keep cl at an exact level in a pool. Not expected. Losing 3ppm in 24 hours is totally normal. You're not going to keep a steady cl level unless you are adding chlorine frequently through the day. I take my cl up to about 6 in the evenings, (my CYA is about 30 right now) and by the next evening, I'm down to about 3 or so.

Have you checked the CC reading lately? If you have no more than 0.5ppm of CC and are losing no more than 1ppm of cl overnight, then go ahead and let the cl drift down but don't let it get below your range based on your CYA level. But, continue running the pump 24/7 to try and let the filter clear it up. And, be careful with swimmers in cloudy water -- especially in a deep end. Make sure you are watching closely! Then, if needed, you can raise the cl levels back up after the weekend.