Need help...still cloudy after more than a week...very hard water

[2inthecountry]

Thanks. It looks like I am on the right track, then. I got it back up to shock level and bought a bunch more bleach to be sure it stays there. I did add 18 oz. muriatic acid (pool calc said to add 22 oz.) just because I know how hard the water is. But I won't do anymore until after it is completed.

CYA is the only test that uses a lot of reagents, so I'm glad you confirmed that it isn't necessary.

I don't have any tabs, just thought about it. Years ago, we had a round pool that we kept a dispenser with tabs in all the time since I was busy with lots of little kids. Convenient but not necessary?

I watched the videos along with some others to be sure I was testing correctly. That helped.

So, there is progress from this morning. I can actually see something on the bottom and the 4th rung of the ladder! There is hope!

Thank you. I will be testing again this evening.

[Watermom]

Tabs are actually a source of problems for some people. Yes, they are convenient but what gets a lot of people in trouble is that they don't realize that those tabs continuously add CYA to the water and the higher your CYA gets, the higher you have to keep your chlorine to keep algae at bay. And, then they come here and tell us that "I kept my chlorine right where I always have and it has always worked before but now I have algae!" You can read more about the CYA/Chlorine connection here:> http://pool9.net/cl-cya/

Let us know if you have more questions. We'll be here!

[PoolDoc]

Membership upgraded . . .

. . . the 'gold standard' for completed conversion is the overnight chlorine test:
+ Raise your chlorine above 10 ppm, late in they day.
+ Measure the level carefully near sunset.
+ Retest in the AM no later than 1 hour after sunrise.
+ If you've lost less than 0.5 ppm of chlorine, your conversion is complete, or very nearly complete, and you can change your sand.

[2inthecountry]

Chlorine has been at shock level the past 2 days, however my TA 300 and CH 750 are still very high. PH 8. I have added water to be able to backwash sufficiently and that doesn't help the hardness. Would that be causing a problem I need to deal with?

[Watermom]

Yes, the cloudiness could be in part to your high pH, TA, and CH. Read about the process to lower pH and TA in the following links:>
http://pool9.net/alk-step AND http://pool9.net/ma/

Your CH has jumped a lot since your readings in your post above. Have you used any products with calcium in them such as cal-hypo or is all that from your water supply!? (Well or city water?)

How are your chlorine (FC and CC) readings this morning compared to last night?

[2inthecountry]

I will work with muriatic acid to reduce the TA and follow the other suggestions. It is higher because of adding new water, nothing else.

Chlorine levels were the same at 20 ppm. However, my husband did add another gal of bleach last night. We are having guests Sun. so I am keeping it high to be sure, maybe too high?

I will monitor it closely, as suggested, before sunset and 1 hr. after sunrise.

I can get in, mix it up and vacuum again this afternoon to help aeration.

[Watermom]

Report back tomorrow your results of the overnight test.

[swimdaddy]

Does someone make a tablet that deos not have CYA or calcium in it? I have not seen anything yet, but the convenience of a tab in a feeder without the other junk would be great.

[PoolDoc]

Nope.

I suppose it might be possible to make tablets of lithium hypochlorite, but I've never heard of having that done.

And, now that salt water chlorine generators are the 'go-to' solution for convenience, I very much doubt that it ever will. Of course, it might be interesting to find out what high levels of lithium chloride would do to swimmers, given that it's a psychotropic drug, used in times past to treat bipolar disorder!

[2inthecountry]

Hi,
After a long weekend, some important updates (and realizations) have been made:
1. We changed the sand in the filter.
2. I noticed the (defective) pump gauge showed 10 psi when it was off. So, the actual psi was 15, not 25.
3. Had a great pool party, in spite of the still cloudy water. (Tested ok enough to swim, fyi.)
4. Realized that we had been running the filter on the wrong setting so the water was just circulating instead of going through the filter sand...duh!
5. Added more bleach and DE.
6. Looking MUCH better already!

It is ironic that I have been doing so much research and testing, when most of the problem should have been obvious! Thank you for your patience and help. I am hopeful that the crystal clear sparkling water is just around the corner