lefty23751

We are making some great progress. I added the muriatic acid first, since I was able to get to the hardware store early and the pool was clear in about 5 minutes. Now i am back home again and did a quick vacuum, which stirred up more white particles and cloudiness than anything, but at least i can see the bottom to be able to know...lol I have added 0.5lbs of chlorine reducer, waited about an hour and took a full set of readings again, and here are the results: (same drop test kit I used last time) TC: 1 PH: 72 TA: 100 TH: 240 CYA: 90 I also used a dip stick hth test strip that tests for FC and it showed 0 (probably not real reliable) But If need be I will take a water sample by the pool store to get a better test done on it as money is tight to buy a nice expensive test kit right now. After stirring up the pool bottom it got cloudy again, but I have a feeling it will take a couple of vacuums to get rid of that, and looking at the tests I now know it is safe enough to get in the pool to do the vacuum so that will be much more productive. I am also vacuuming to waste so as to not send it back to the pool again. Let me know what you think, and where to go from here so i can keep the pool clean and chlorinated. I have always had a problem keeping the chlorine in the water, but now that I have added cya (didn't know I needed to until all of this) I have a feeling that wont be such a problem. I also want to thank you for all of your help, I wish I had come here before adding any chemicals to the pool as well as bought a decent test kit so I knew exactly how much to add.

quantumchromodynamics, Thanks for the reply again. Bottle of clarifier didn't state whether to leave filter on or not, but off didn't change anything. i did check tc this morning and still off the charts so going to pick up the chemicals you requested in your post and start with that. I will add the sodium thiosulfate in stages as you stated and then the acid and post back with the results afterwards. Will be later this evening. Thanks

Spa guru, Thanks for the reply. I am using hypo shock, but I also did that to reach my break point as I have never done that since opening the pool this year, at least thats what I read I should have done, but I think I am doing too many things at once. I did read somewhere that I should shut off the filter system after adding the clarifier to allow the particles to sink, so I decided a bit ago to shut it off for the night and see what happens by morning. I will swing into the pool store tomorrow as well and get some chlorine neutralizer to get it back down, as well as the hardware store for some muriatic acid (have to go there to get a new pressure gauge anyways). I am going to see what it looks like in the morning after pump is off, possibly vacuum, and get another set of readings. I will post that info and we can decide how much of what to add to get it back to safe again. Any ideas on when the cloudiness will disappear and will getting the ph lowered do that or is it going to have to filter it'self out? I did notice with the pump not running and shining a flashlight into the pool I could see millions of tiny particles floating that i thought the pump would take care of but obviously not or at least not yet. Thanks

Well the bleach idea is what i had done with the 3lbs of super shock. That brought my chlorine levels way up, and you could smell the chlorine from about 10 feet away from the pool. I am not sure if the bleach is a different type therefore works differently or not, but I am afraid to add any more chlorine at this time or it may be a month before I can use it again safely. I do appreciate the reply, and I could be wrong, but will wait for further replies before adding anymore chlorine as I am new to this.

Also forgot to add that i have been running the filter constantly since adding the ph+ A thought came to me just now. I am wondering if I should shut the pump off for the night to allow the particles to sink to the bottom then try to vacuum in the morning. Maybe with the pump constantly running it isn't allowing the particles to settle but they are to small for the sand to catch. Just a thought.

OK, I am just going to dive right in since this is going to be a long post. I have an intex 15ft round by 4ft deep pool (5000 gallons roughly) with a 1.5hp sand filter system. All this started the other day when I went to add some ph plus to my pool as it was 6.8 and one of the kids bumped me and i added about half ( or more) of a 4lb bottle of hth ph plus powder. The pool instantly went cloudy and wont let up. What I have done since is used 3 lbs of super shock (today), and about 15 ounces of clarifier over the last 72 hours. I have tried to vacuum the pool twice now, but vacuum head came off of pole today and since its so cloudy I cant find it. It is cloudy enough that i cant see the bottom of the thermometer that is hanging from the side of the pool. My readings using an hth 6 in 1 drop test are: PH 7.8 TA 120 CYA 0 TC well above 5 (probably from shock) TH 0 A better timeline is: ph plus added 72 hours ago (instant cloudy), 5 ounces clarifier and 1 lb of shock added 60 hrs ago, 5 ounces clarifier added 36 hrs ago, 3 lbs super shock and 5 ounces clarifier added 12 hrs ago, and finally cya 42 ounces by volume added 15 minutes ago. I have also backwashed the filter at 60 hours ago before adding chemicals, and again a 1 minute backwash just before adding the cya. I am unable to get the pool to clear at all, and according to tests my levels are good or will be after adding the cya and letting the chlorine dissipate a bit. Hard to understand why the ph is only 7.8 after adding that much ph plus, but who knows. Does anyone have any ideas as to how to clear the cloudiness? Also I should add it is more a milky than cloudy and using my leaf skimmer I can almost grab the milkiness from the water if that makes sense. I will also get a new set of readings in the morning to see if the cya has helped. Thanks so much for reading and at this point I will try anything but draining the pool a bunch.