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Cloudy Water.... Very Frustrated!


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Ok here we go. My cover failed over the winter and i was debating whether to pay someone to get the pool clear and ready for swimming or to do it myself. I decided to do it myself.

The pool water was almost black when i took the cover off. Pretty intimidating! I went to the local pool store and talk to someone there and got everything they said i needed. Came home followed their instructions and put the chemicals in the water. The water got lighter and lighter green until it finally turned blue but it was still very cloudy ( cannot see the bottom ). I took a sample into the pool store and they had me buy some more stuff for the pool(Shock, algecide, clarifier, stabilizer, etc) so i came home and done that. A few days go by and still no change. I took another sample in and they tell me that my Ph is low and that there is no chlorine in the water( why theres no chlorine in the water is beyond me when i just put like 7 bags of shock in it a few days before). Anyway they give me some Ph rise, more clarifier, and 2 cases of liquid shock and tell me to put all that in there. So i do, that was 3 days ago. The day i put all that stuff in and let the pool filter for 5 or 6 hours my reading were as follows. PH 7.4, FC was over 10, TA 120, CYA was 30-50. My readings are still holding steady at those levels but the water is still cloudy and i have no idea what else to do. The water is nice and blue but cloudy.

I have been using the bags of shock except when the pool store gave me the liquid shock and i also have a floater with the 3 inch pucks in it. It currently has 3 pucks in it.

I was thinking i might be having a filter problem but if i had a filter problem it wouldnt have come this far. I have seen some post about putting a little DE in the sand filter and have been considering doing this, but not sure if i should. The sand is brand new this year just put it in 2 weeks ago.

The pool had alot of debris in the bottom but i believe ive gotten most of that out. If there is some left its very little. (cant be sure if its all gone if i cant see the bottom)Im just very confused on what to do next. This is my first year taking care of the pool and i would really like to get swimming. If anyone has any ideas or can help in any way it would be greatly appreciated. Oh, and the pool is about 12-14000 gal.

Thank you very much in advance!!!

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I'm having a very similar issue. Everyone here knows how frustrating it is! I'm no expert, but none of your levels appear to be severely out of whack. Perhaps keeping that filter running 24/7 is your best bet for now. Once your FC comes down, I'd say jump in and enjoy your pool! Just keep an eye on your numbers...

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Pretty much every kind of chlorine gets labeled "shock" so that's not very descriptive. What are the ingredients on the bag? the most likely are calcium hypochlorite (cal-hypo) and sodium dichloro-s-triazintrione (dichlor). Excessive amounts of dichlor will raise your CYA to the point where chlorine becomes mostly ineffective (and the test strips aren't really good at measuring CYA). Excessive amounts of cal-hypo can raise your hardness to the point where you get calcium clouding or scale.

There's a "6-way" test kit by HTH that uses drops to turn a water sample different colors, that's a huge step up from test strips in terms of accuracy. Walmart usually has it for cheap. Or there are higher-end test kits such as the Taylor K-2006. Knowing what's in your water is the first step to clearing it.

--paulr

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Hi everyone,

Thanks for the help so far! I went out and test the water again this morning.

PH 7.2

FC 5

TA 120

CYA 30- 50

I also tested the calcium level and it was 0. That really didnt seem right to me. I dont know if that reading is correct or if maybe i have a bad test kit or bad reagents. I tested it 2 times and got the same on both.

Also the shock that i have been using is Calcium Hypochlorite.

I still think my filter might be having trouble filter the smaller particals thats causing my water to be cloudy, but dont want to do the DE thing and make the situation worse. The filter system has been running 24/day since i opened the pool.

Water is still blue and still cloudy

Thanks again everyone!

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Hello everyone,

Just to update everyone. I went back out to the pool store yesterday. They werent really busy so i actually got to talk to the owner who has been doing this pool stuff for many years. We pulled up all the chemicals and everything that i have bought this season and i told her everything ive been doing and how the pool looks. She said she would try one more thing with me and if that didnt work she would come out here to the house and take a look at things for me.

She gave me this stuff called miraclear. Its a little sea shell shaped tablet that goes into the pump basket. She said give your filter a good backwash then put this in the pump basket. So i came home and done that and i shock it again with 2 bags of the Calcium Hypochlorite.

Woke up this morning, checked the pool and wow the water is getting really clear. Almost looks like a different pool. So im gonna try to keep this thing clear now. Make sure i keep and eye on my numbers and everything.

I want to thank everyone for the advice they gave. Maybe someone will benefit from reading this and clearing up their own pool!

Thanks everyone!!

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hello everyone,

Just to update everyone. I went back out to the pool store yesterday. They werent really busy so i actually got to talk to the owner who has been doing this pool stuff for many years. We pulled up all the chemicals and everything that i have bought this season and i told her everything ive been doing and how the pool looks. She said she would try one more thing with me and if that didnt work she would come out here to the house and take a look at things for me.

She gave me this stuff called miraclear. Its a little sea shell shaped tablet that goes into the pump basket. She said give your filter a good backwash then put this in the pump basket. So i came home and done that and i shock it again with 2 bags of the Calcium Hypochlorite.

Woke up this morning, checked the pool and wow the water is getting really clear. Almost looks like a different pool. So im gonna try to keep this thing clear now. Make sure i keep and eye on my numbers and everything.

I want to thank everyone for the advice they gave. Maybe someone will benefit from reading this and clearing up their own pool!

Thanks everyone!!

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Miraclear is a clarifier. There are many such products such as BioGuard Polysheen Blue and some of them work well, but clarifiers are not normally needed, but if you are having trouble clearing your pool and don't have patience with chlorine, bushing and filtering alone, then a clarifier can sometimes help. Putting DE in a sand filter (see instructions here) would likely have helped since sand filters don't filter fine particles well, but spending more for a clarifier is certainly a cost/convenience option.
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