Cloudy Water Due To Tropical Storm Fay! Help!

[Misty]

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I have just been able to get into my pool to start cleaning up after the effects of the Tropical Storm that is sweeping around Florida.

after vacuuming my pool it got semi-cloudy. Had a feeling this was going to happen. So after vacuuming, I ran pump for about 2 hours and then washed out the filter.

This morning got up and pool still a little cloudy, so I used Vinyl Shock in it and I am awaiting the effects that might have on it.

I did pour in a whole 2 1/2 gallon jug of chlorine in the pool.

I have just purchased at the pool store. 2 yellow jugs of chlorine and a gallon of Muratic Acid.

I did get to test the water before adding shock and the levels were out of this world

I only have a three way test kit from Aqua Chem and these are the readings.

CH: above 5.0( it turned a very bright Orange)

BR: Above 11.0(same things turn Bright Orange)

PH was around 8.2

I have a 18x42 pool with a Intex 2500 GPH(love It)

What should i do? This is the first year we have had a pool with a storm around.

Misty

[chem geek]

The cloudiness may be early stages of algae growth and you can read how to clear a pool of algae here. You basically shock the pool with chlorine (at a level appropriate to the CYA level) and you regularly brush and filter the water.

In an Intex pool, the circulation is often poor especially near the bottom with no floor drain. In such cases, the use of a flocculant such as OMNI Liquid Floc Plus can be helpful, but this is to be done AFTER killing any algae growth.

You really need to get yourself a good test kit such as the Taylor K-2006 for a good online price here or the TF100 from tftestkits.com here with the latter kit having 36% more volume of reagents so is comparably priced "per test". Otherwise, you're just shooting in the dark.

[Misty]

Im going to go to the pool store tommorow and take a sample. I have never been good at testing and dont want to spend money on something that I know that I am never going to get. Kids were in the pool today(2ish) and the water is clearing up.

I have cleaned the filter twice today and getting ready to do it again after sun goes down.

Can you tell me what the acid does to the pool. My pool place tells me to add this after a heavy rain... But scared to since I am putting so much chlorine into it.

Misty

The cloudiness may be early stages of algae growth and you can read how to clear a pool of algae here. You basically shock the pool with chlorine (at a level appropriate to the CYA level) and you regularly brush and filter the water.

In an Intex pool, the circulation is often poor especially near the bottom with no floor drain. In such cases, the use of a flocculant such as OMNI Liquid Floc Plus can be helpful, but this is to be done AFTER killing any algae growth.

You really need to get yourself a good test kit such as the Taylor K-2006 for a good online price here or the TF100 from tftestkits.com here with the latter kit having 36% more volume of reagents so is comparably priced "per test". Otherwise, you're just shooting in the dark.

[chem geek]

Acid lowers the pH. A rain tends to aerate the water and this can cause the pH to rise (from carbon dioxide outgassing -- pools are essentially over-carbonated). However, you should really test the pH before adding the acid as it may not be necessary. If the pH is near 7.5, you don't need to add acid.

[dymondgeezer]

We also had Fay fallout. Back yard completely flooded!

As soon as the heavy rain hit, I ran outside and dumped a gallon of bleach into the pool.

Pool overflowed, so I drained it to stop the overflow from washing out the support legs.

We cut pressure treated 1x4 boards into squares and tapped them under each leg, the whole pool was sinking into the wet dirt.

(Should have done that when I put the pool up!)

Drained 2" out, rained more, overflowed, drained 4" out, rained more, filled to top!!! Adjusted chemicals to compensate for rain.

I set the SWG to 8 hours a day (Intex) and kept the FC up high during the storm and this past week.

Good news is in spite of removing tree limbs, branches and tonnes of pine straw and leaves, we still have sparkling blue clear water!

Now if it would stop thunderstorming every day, we could get back in!

Thanks Chem Geek and everyone who posts here, your info / help is invaluable.

[GTGallop]

Try a natural enzyme called "Pool First Aid." Gets water really clear.

[Misty]

Well just an update on the pool. I did shock the pool with 2 1/2 gallons of chlorine and a bag of vinyl shock and within 2 days pool was back to normal.

Thanks for all the help.

Misty