Cloudy Pool Water

[Maxicj]

Need some help here....just puchased the 6 way kit from Walmart to test the water. Readings are as below:

TC/TB 3 - 6

Tot Alk 120

PH 7.2

Cyanuric Acid - over 100

Pool size is 37 x 16 free form approx 3500 gal

Upon opening pool the water was green. We added algacide and other chems that the pool store had us purchase and eventually water turned blue, problem is that the water is cloudy and not crystal clear. We added a little clarifier, we ran the filter 24/7 for 2 weeks and shocked the pool regularly. What are we doing wrong?? Can cloudy water harm you if you swim in the pool?

Any suggestions?

CJ

[waterbear]

Need some help here....just puchased the 6 way kit from Walmart to test the water. Readings are as below:

TC/TB 3 - 6

Tot Alk 120

PH 7.2

Cyanuric Acid - over 100

Pool size is 37 x 16 free form approx 3500 gal

Upon opening pool the water was green. We added algacide and other chems that the pool store had us purchase and eventually water turned blue, problem is that the water is cloudy and not crystal clear. We added a little clarifier, we ran the filter 24/7 for 2 weeks and shocked the pool regularly. What are we doing wrong?? Can cloudy water harm you if you swim in the pool?

Any suggestions?

CJ

Your CYA is over 100 ppm! a FC level of 3 ppm is not enought with this high a CYA level. That is why your pool was green. I bet that you use trichlor tabs and you probably have a cartridge filter. Not a good combination. I would suggest draining and refilling your pool to get the CYA down ot 30-50 ppm. Your pool is overstabilized. Just to give you some perspective. In the state of Florida a commercial pool will be closed when the CYA goes over 100 ppm!

BTW, ignore the bromine calibaration on your comparator. You have a chorine pool so your reading is 3 ppm.

[Maxicj]

Your CYA is over 100 ppm! a FC level of 3 ppm is not enought with this high a CYA level. That is why your pool was green. I bet that you use trichlor tabs and you probably have a cartridge filter. Not a good combination. I would suggest draining and refilling your pool to get the CYA down ot 30-50 ppm. Your pool is overstabilized. Just to give you some perspective. In the state of Florida a commercial pool will be closed when the CYA goes over 100 ppm!

BTW, ignore the bromine calibaration on your comparator. You have a chorine pool so your reading is 3 ppm.

I hope that I read the CYA correct, I filled the tube with the cloudy water and it never even reached the 100 mark before I couldn't see the black dot on the bottom.

BTW, we have a sandfilter and yes we use trichlor tabs.

It sounds as if the pool has too many chems in it. Why can't the filter and chlorine remove the CYA instead of draining it? I think the pool company put too many chems in the pool when they opened it because the water was not cloudy last year at all...in fact it was crystal clear.

Thanks for you advice....

[waterbear]

I hope that I read the CYA correct, I filled the tube with the cloudy water and it never even reached the 100 mark before I couldn't see the black dot on the bottom.

BTW, we have a sandfilter and yes we use trichlor tabs.

It sounds as if the pool has too many chems in it. Why can't the filter and chlorine remove the CYA instead of draining it? I think the pool company put too many chems in the pool when they opened it because the water was not cloudy last year at all...in fact it was crystal clear.

Thanks for you advice....

Trichlor is stabilized chlorine. That means it keep adding stabilzer to the water as you use it. Last year your CYA levels weren't as high so things were working. Now your levels are too high and the pool has suffered a 'meltdown'. It has become overstabilzed. The only way to remove stabilzier is to drain some of the water and replace it. This is the biggest drawback to using stabilized chlorine. The sand filter helps since every time you backwash you dilute the pool water somewhat but all that does is give you a longer run time until the pool contains too much CYA.

[Maxicj]

Trichlor is stabilized chlorine. That means it keep adding stabilzer to the water as you use it. Last year your CYA levels weren't as high so things were working. Now your levels are too high and the pool has suffered a 'meltdown'. It has become overstabilzed. The only way to remove stabilzier is to drain some of the water and replace it. This is the biggest drawback to using stabilized chlorine. The sand filter helps since every time you backwash you dilute the pool water somewhat but all that does is give you a longer run time until the pool contains too much CYA.

Hi Waterbear,

just an update on the cloudy water...went to the pool store and told them about the CYA, cloudy water and the sand in the seats and bottom of pool. That's when I was told that the so called sand was probably mustard algae and I had a whole other problem. It was a small amount then and I was told to use KleenII to clean the sand filter, shock the pool and then add 1qt of banish. I accidentally backwashed the pool about 8 inches below the skimmer so before adding the shock and banish, I had to refill the pool. Anyway, the next day the pool water was crystal clear and I shocked the water with 2-3 bags of shock every other day. By the beginning of the next week the pool was full of algae!!!!!! What do we do now....we have added algaecide, liquid chlorine bleach and we constantly brush the walls and bottom of the pool....it won't go away and stay away.

Any suggestions!!!!!

[waterbear]

Hi Waterbear,

just an update on the cloudy water...went to the pool store and told them about the CYA, cloudy water and the sand in the seats and bottom of pool. That's when I was told that the so called sand was probably mustard algae and I had a whole other problem. It was a small amount then and I was told to use KleenII to clean the sand filter, shock the pool and then add 1qt of banish. I accidentally backwashed the pool about 8 inches below the skimmer so before adding the shock and banish, I had to refill the pool. Anyway, the next day the pool water was crystal clear and I shocked the water with 2-3 bags of shock every other day. By the beginning of the next week the pool was full of algae!!!!!! What do we do now....we have added algaecide, liquid chlorine bleach and we constantly brush the walls and bottom of the pool....it won't go away and stay away.

Any suggestions!!!!!

You need to drain your pool and refill enough to get the CYA in the 30-50 ppm range! Then keep your FC levels at 3-5 ppm and shock to levels of 12 ppm and you should not have any more problems. TO get rid of the mustard algae you are going to have to keep the chlorine level up at 12 ppm until it is gone! This might mean adding chlorine 2 or 3 times a day since the algae will cause the FC level to drop as it gets used up killing the algae.

If your tested CYA is above 100 ppm you need to dilute a sample of pool water with an equal amount of distilled water and test that for CYA, Multuply your results by 2 to get your CYA levels. I would strongly suggest that you cut way back on the trichlor tabs and suppliment your chlorine with liquid which wont add any CYA to the water.

Until you get the CYA down you are going to continue having problems.

[Maxicj]

You need to drain your pool and refill enough to get the CYA in the 30-50 ppm range! Then keep your FC levels at 3-5 ppm and shock to levels of 12 ppm and you should not have any more problems. TO get rid of the mustard algae you are going to have to keep the chlorine level up at 12 ppm until it is gone! This might mean adding chlorine 2 or 3 times a day since the algae will cause the FC level to drop as it gets used up killing the algae.

If your tested CYA is above 100 ppm you need to dilute a sample of pool water with an equal amount of distilled water and test that for CYA, Multuply your results by 2 to get your CYA levels. I would strongly suggest that you cut way back on the trichlor tabs and suppliment your chlorine with liquid which wont add any CYA to the water.

Until you get the CYA down you are going to continue having problems.

Thanks for the advice but we have a fiberglass pool and have heard too many horror stories about fiberglass pools popping out of the ground even with concrete around it. We have had several storms within the last few days and don't want to take the chance. We were also advised against totaling draining the pool bec. that will void any warranty that we have with the pool company.

CJ

[waterbear]

Thanks for the advice but we have a fiberglass pool and have heard too many horror stories about fiberglass pools popping out of the ground even with concrete around it. We have had several storms within the last few days and don't want to take the chance. We were also advised against totaling draining the pool bec. that will void any warranty that we have with the pool company.

CJ

I also have a fiberglass pool. You can't drain it all the way without special precautions but it is safe to drain it about 1 foot below the skimmer and then refill. you will have to do this repeatedly until you lower the CYA level sufficiently. it might take many partial drains and refills to achieve this.