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Cloudy Water


Guest Scott

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I have a 25000 gal IG pool. All summer I heve kept the pool clear and clean until a guest sunbather with plenty of tanning oil swam in the pool. The pool became cloudy. I tested it and I mistakenly read the strips and thought the pH was low and added baking soda, pH went off the charts. (I suspect now the pH was high to start not low.) The pool turned even more cloudy with a more gray shade. I added muratic acid and brought the pH back to 7.2 but the cloudieness remains. The Chlorine tested .5 ppm so I thought a shock would restore the clarity now that the pH was balanced. Total Alkalinty is 180 to 200 but cannot be adjusted as this is typical in our area. CyA is now balanced but but was high when I started this project. I have backwashed my pump and shocked twice and filtered for 24 hrs each time and the Chlorine remians low at .5 ppm. I suspect if I can get the Chlorine in suitable range my cloudy pool will clear up. What do I do if my shock can ot raise the chlorine??????

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Try a flocculent. you'll need to use your main drain, but it will gather all the little particles that get through your filter, clump them, and then your water will clear. The flocculent I use is Ultra Brite, but I am sure you can ask a pool dealer for one. Good luck.

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You should maintain a good chlorine reading before floccing the pool. If you don't you are just taking care of the symptoms and not the problem. Shock the pool really hard, establish a good chlorine reading, and then clear up the problem. Yes, the alkalinity can be adjusted, you just have to use the right chemicals. Sodium Bicarbonate (baking soda) will not raise your alkalinity efficiently enough, plus, when you use baking soda you are putting undesireable compounds into the water which the chlorine then needs to kill, drawing the chlorine's attention away from the bacteria you want it to kill. Use Sodium Hydrogen Carbonate for an Alkalinity Increaser and Sodium Carbonate as a pH increaser.

Take a sample to your local dealer, and have them test for your free and total chlorine reading. My geuss is that you have a low free and high total chlorine reading, which is a symbol of chloramines in the water, and what that means is your water has chlorine in it, but it is trapped by bacteria (mainly ammonia) and cannot work as effectively as possible. Adjusting your balance ( Alkalinity, Hardness, and pH) will help your chlorine work the way it should. With low levels the chlorine will work twice as fast- basically wasting half of the chlorine you add. Balance is important. So is getting a good chlorine reading.

After doing that, then you can worry about adding a clarifier to clear the water.

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