Just need to make sure....

[pettinej]

Ok I got the PH up to 7.2 and I have been keeping the FC above 15. It is at 22 this morning. I am still cloudy and I am wondring if I should use a clarifier. The water is still cold so we won't be swimming any time soon but I want to get my water clear.

Thanks again for the help.

[Watermom]

Give it some time. I know you are anxious, but sometimes the best thing you can do is to have what we call P.O.P. -- pool owner patience. Keep at it. Keep your pump running. I would not suggest adding a clarifier at this time. Sometimes getting in too big of a hurry to add extra stuff just causes extra problems. Especially since your water is cold and you won't be swimming for awhile anyways. It'll clear.

[pettinej]

New numbers

FC = 30
CC = 0
ph = 6.8
alk = 90
cal = 80
cya = 15
temp = 62

The weather here in NY is starting to break. Should be 82 today. I checked the pool this morning and my numbers are listed above. For some reason the PH is down again. I am headed to the store to bring it back up asap. It has been 8 days since I opened the pool and wife and kids are starting to get on my case. Any reason why my PH keeps going down? I have not put anything but bleach and baking soda in my pool in the last 6 days. Pool is still cloudy, pump running 24/7.

[pettinej]

FC = 17
CC = 0
ph = 7.2
alk = 140
cal = 50
cya = ~10
temp = 70

I can see the bottom of the shallow end but I still can not see the drain in the deep end. I guess it is getting there but man is it taking a long time. Is my Alk to high now?

[Watermom]

Your alk is a little high, but not enough at this time to worry about. Right now, just focus on getting your water clear. How many times a day are you testing and hitting it with bleach? The key to clearing water is to sustain the high cl reading and not let it yo-yo up and down. Glad it is getting better. Hang in there. It'll clear. Keep your pump running 24/7 while you are trying to clear it.

[pettinej]

I try to test it twice a day. I now understand that I want to keep it at a certain level and not yo-yo. I have a cartridge filter and I have been running 24/7. My filter pressure was a bit high (15 psi) I have cleaned it and it was back to 7psi. Today it is a 11 but if I understand correctly I should not clean it to often because if it is a little dirty it will help filter the finer particles. Is this correct? Thanks for the help.

[Watermom]

Yes. A little dirty will help filter better, but keep an eye on the pressure. Does it look any better this morning? How is the chlorine holding? Over the weekend, if you are home, you can even test in the afternoon as well as morning and evening if it is convenient.

[b2001]

I also started with a dark green/black lagoon this year. As Brent stated, I knew there was a lot of debis on the bottom.

If there is a lot of debris, it won't help to start vacuuming, the filter, as well as the leaf pot basket and skimmer basket will clog in five minutes or less. I used a Polaris 65 for several days to scoop or sweep the debris from the bottom. I then started vacuuming - that took another few days. I couldn't see the bottom during this entire effort.

Part of my issue was that my ph was also low - I got it up to the proper level at about the same time as I got 99% of the crap out and pretty much overnight my pool cleared up.

Not getting as much as that stuff out as possible will indeed prolong the process and you'll end up with a lot of belach bottles in your backyard.