Need help with my pool water (very cloudy)

[Pydpiper]

We went away for a few days, pool greened on us. Shocked it, turned the green to a cloudy pool, can't seem to be able to do anything to clear it up, I need help!
Any thoughts?

Thanks..

 

[saabgoblin]

If I remember correctly, I believe that it is a ph balance issue aqnd it requires a separate kit and test equipment.

 

[Patriot]

Reversing green pools is what I do, as I take care of about 45 pools weekly.

Sometimes you'll get a strain of bacteria that is especially resistant to the chlorine. In order to help you best, I'll need to know approximately how large (in gallons) your pool is and what type of chlorine you've used so far. Since you stated it was "shock" all assume it was Dichloro-s-triazinetrione, or simply "Di-chlor."

Also it would help to tell me how deep the pool is and if you can see the bottom or not.

 

[LuxLuthor]

OMG, Patriot....another common interest.

Always at the opening of our 20x40 30K Gal pool it is horrible green no matter if I used solid cover or LoopLoc and kept the leaves off regularly. pH always started uber-low, often requiring 15-20 lbs pH increase....then begins the chlorine & algaecide.

3 bottles of the highest quality algaecide, and 25-30 lbs of 65%+ HTH before it even STARTS to register on testing. It is celebration when it registers on chlorine testing, but even with stabilizer, free Cl is short lived, and at least another 10-15 lbs before it is resolving. Once I get it opened, the rest of the year is a breeze, and very little chlorine is required.

One year I tried the gallon bottles...6 cases (24 bottles) later, I gave up and went back to powder.

 

[Patriot]

Right on Lux. It sounds like you've truly got that routine dialed in, but I do feel your pain about the stabilization process, especially on 30K gallons........ugh...:sweat: A Pita, 15K pool is sometimes more trouble than one of the 65K gallon pools I take care of.

Just a couple of curiosity questions: Since it sounds like you're running a seasonal pool would it make more sense to drain it each year instead? Also, is it a plaster pool, and last question, what filter type are you running?

 

[Patriot]

Pydpiper, You'll likely be awake and kicking several hours before me so I'll just give you a generic recipe based on an average pool with an average problem, since the sooner you get on top of the chlorine issue the better.

Based on a 20K gallon pool with heavy cloudiness with some green on walls.

If you have a Sand or DE filter, backwash first before adding your chems. Add new DE if applicable.

Add 1.5 lbs of Calcium Hypochlorite
Add 1.5 lbs of Tri-chlor **crucial**
Add 3, full size tablets to pool and spread them out if possible. (one in skimmer, one in float, one in chlorine positive feed...if you have one)

Run pool for 24 hours continuously before cutting back to 8 hours daily. If the pool is still doing well you can cut back the time in 30 minute increments until back to your regular temperature/time formula. This should take care of the pool for about a week, then resume your normal chemical protocol.




If you can't see the bottom at 6 feet.

If you have a Sand or DE filter, backwash first before adding your chems. Add new DE if applicable.


Add 2.0 lbs of Calcium Hypochlorite
Add 2.0 lbs of Tri-chlor
Add 4, full size 3" tablets
Add one full bottle of Algaedyne liquid algaecide to skimmer, slowly pouring in full contents over a period of 5-10 minutes...or just follow the instructions on the back. I've used about 8-10 bottles of it this summer and it worked great in every case. Make sure that you add the granulated chlor first, before adding the Algaedyne. It's important that the chlor level is high, otherwise the liquid algeacide looses some of it's effectiveness.

Run the pool for 48 hours continuously before cutting back to 8 hours daily. If the pool is still doing well you can cut back the time in 30 minute increments until back to your regular temperature/time formula. This should take care of the pool for about a week, then resume your normal chemical protocol.


Just a quick head's up that you'll likely get many opinions from the chemical supplier about how to attack your problem but there is no exact formula despite what people say. There is usually an experience difference between the folks who handle a lot of pools and the folks who just sell the chems. Mine is based upon what works here with our extreme heat and monsoon run-off. It will cost you about $15-25 bucks if you don't need the algaedyne but it's better to hit it hard one time since failed treatings only make the pool more resistant to reversal. Bare in mind that in most cases I'm having to pay for chems myself, so I only use what's needed. I mention this because I wanted to save you as much as possible with my recommendation.

I hope that helps. Let me know how ya did please.

 

[LuxLuthor]

Just a couple of curiosity questions: Since it sounds like you're running a seasonal pool would it make more sense to drain it each year instead? Also, is it a plaster pool, and last question, what filter type are you running?

I grew up with a plaster/gunnite pool, and swam competitvely, but this one is a vinyl liner, so can't drain it. I have thought about converting it to plaster, but the liner has worked fine. Large Hayward sand filter & great gas heater that adds at least 2-3 months to the useable season. This liner is going on 10-12 years...tell tale signs of failure developing with those 2-3" shallow cup-like depressions developing in the deep end where some apparent holes have leeched away the sand underneath. However, there is negligible water level lost. With all the rain this year, have only needed to add water once since early June.

Biggest pita this year, I think from all the rain is the 2 birch trees are dropping their leaves already.

 

[Pydpiper]

The pool is 4' deep, 15' round pool, pretty small..
I dumped a 3 gallon pail of chlorine in about 4 days ago, that is what switched it from green to cloudy, and also what I called "shocked".
There is about 3-4" of visibility in there, pretty bad..
I went in it yesterday to have a better look/feel, there is no slime. Besides the color you would never know anything was wrong..
Is that enough info? Let me know if there is anything else I can provide.
And thank you, very much!

 

[LuxLuthor]

It needs more shock...and check pH

 

[Patriot]

The pool is 4' deep, 15' round pool, pretty small..
I dumped a 3 gallon pail of chlorine in about 4 days ago, that is what switched it from green to cloudy, and also what I called "shocked".
There is about 3-4" of visibility in there, pretty bad..
I went in it yesterday to have a better look/feel, there is no slime. Besides the color you would never know anything was wrong..
Is that enough info? Let me know if there is anything else I can provide.
And thank you, very much!

Like Lux stated, get your PH down to about a 7.2 for starters. I forgot that you guys use different materials and have lined pools back there so you better tell me what type of construction it is if not plaster or pebble tech.

So are you using liquid chlorine thus far or granules...and did you really mean to say 3-4 inches of visibility or did you mean feet?

 

[Patriot]

Just wanted to post a picture of one of my pools today that I serviced and to let you know what I consider "cloudy" by the classic definition.

This pool is 35K gallons and about 8.5" real depth. You can just see the bottom of the pool and the 1.5lbs of tri-chlor granules that I just dumped in.

I treated this pool with my first recommendation treatment listed above and the pool will look like the one below tomorrow.

I say that with some confidence because he's having a pool party tomorrow and I assured him it would look great.


If you're water is darker and more opaque than the first picture above, then go with recommendation 2 and pick up some Algaedyne or Pool Doctor, or other similar product. Again, correct your PH levels and proceed with the treatment.

Good luck man! I'm sure you're eager to get it turned around.








Lux, that's a great filter that you have and if I was building a pool today it's probably exactly what I would use myself. Nothing fancy, just a good old sand filter that I can backwash at my convenience. They're trouble free, reliable, and maintenance cost and labor time are low. Knowing you, it's probably something you choose after research.

I don't know if you have fiberglass pool installers back east or not but if you do, it's worth investigating when the time comes. I handle 3 types mainly and can say without any doubt that the most trouble free pools are glass. There are a few unique care techniques with glass and you can't use granular hypo-chlorite based shocks but overall they're fantastic. If you ever want to talk about it give me a call sometime. I'll be happy to put you in touch with a long time friend and glass pool builder here in AZ, just to yak his ear off if you'd like. I'm really surprised there aren't more glass pools here but plaster is traditional and pebble tech is trendy with great profit. I just think the word needs to get out.

 

[TooManyGizmos]

I'm new to pool's too.
I'm in S. Florida and I have a pool cage.

When I turn on my under-water pool light at night , I have a lot of white particles floating around in the water. Is that normal in a pool ?

Any idea what that is and how to get the water totally clear ?

Pool test kits (test strips) show the water is fine to swim in.
.

 

[Patriot]

It's hard to speculate about that one. If you have a salt cell, it's likely calcium and other generated minerals from the production of chlorine. It usually accumulates in positive feed spas due to the fact there's no vacuum cleaner and no constant return from the spa. In other words, the heavy minerals in the form of crystals stay at the bottom of the spa as return comes from the pump, to the spa, then spills into the pool. This, just to say if you don't have a spa but you have a salt cell, I'm not surprised it's floating around. This is normal and the filter will trap it as soon as the water passes the filter. There's a way of testing this theory which I won't go into unless you have a salt cell. If you're not sure what you have just post of picture of your pool equipment.

If you don't have a salt cell (salt pool) it could literally be anything. If you have a sand filter with old sand, that can sometimes blow past the baffles and the smallest sand will suspend in the water. If you have a DE filter, you may be seeing DE material floating around due to a pinhole or a tear in the micro screening. These would be very tiny though.

Honestly, unless you're seeing anomalous characteristics in the water during daylight I really wouldn't sweat it. The pool light will show every single detail in the water just like a flashlight will in dusty or moisture ladened air. This doesn't mean that you're not seeing the beginning of a problem somewhere, but until it gets worse or becomes more evident you might was well not worry about it. I would liken it to taking your car to the service center and the technician noting that one of the seals is slightly damp but not leaking yet.

 

[Patriot]

One of the pools I take care of, just thought I share the view.

http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t98/Patriot222/43008Brawleys50a-1.jpg

 

[LuxLuthor]

It's hard to speculate about that one. If you have a salt cell, it's likely calcium and other generated minerals from the production of chlorine. It usually accumulates in positive feed spas due to the fact there's no vacuum cleaner and no constant return from the spa. In other words, the heavy minerals in the form of crystals stay at the bottom of the spa as return comes from the pump, to the spa, then spills into the pool. This, just to say if you don't have a spa but you have a salt cell, I'm not surprised it's floating around. This is normal and the filter will trap it as soon as the water passes the filter. There's a way of testing this theory which I won't go into unless you have a salt cell. If you're not sure what you have just post of picture of your pool equipment.

If you don't have a salt cell (salt pool) it could literally be anything. If you have a sand filter with old sand, that can sometimes blow past the baffles and the smallest sand will suspend in the water. If you have a DE filter, you may be seeing DE material floating around due to a pinhole or a tear in the micro screening. These would be very tiny though.

Honestly, unless you're seeing anomalous characteristics in the water during daylight I really wouldn't sweat it. The pool light will show every single detail in the water just like a flashlight will in dusty or moisture ladened air. This doesn't mean that you're not seeing the beginning of a problem somewhere, but until it gets worse or becomes more evident you might was well not worry about it. I would liken it to taking your car to the service center and the technician noting that one of the seals is slightly damp but not leaking yet.

What he said.

Also from my peanut gallery, if you have all the treating chemicals working right, I sometimes use the liquid clarifier/flocculants which clumps together tiny particles and precipitates them to the bottom and/or increases trapping in the filter. I usually vacuum up the bottom sending it to waste to reduce chance of getting through the filter into the pool again.

Beautiful pool shots, Patriot.

 

[DonShock]

We went away for a few days, pool greened on us. Shocked it, turned the green to a cloudy pool, can't seem to be able to do anything to clear it up, I need help!
Any thoughts?

Thanks..

I had a similar thing happen with my Mom's pool a while back. Not a pool guy but I do work at a drinking water production plant, so I decided to treat it the same way I do at work. I assumed the cloudiness was due to the killed algae from the chlorine shock and I just needed to get the particles big enough to settle or filter out of the water. I bought a gallon of Alum (aluminum sulfate) and a couple ounces of polymer (cation). I don't recall how these were labeled as pool chemicals because I was looking at the chemical names in the ingrediants. But it might have been marked Clarifier. These are the chemicals we use in water treatment to clean up the water to make it drinkable, along with chlorine. IIRC, I dosed the pool at about 1/2 gallon of alum for evey 10,000 gallons in the pool and didn't even need to use the cation. It cleared up the pool in about a day. The cation might be needed to help polish the water clarity but it's the alum that really makes everything clump up big enough to get filtered out. If you need to use cation the dose would be about 2 oz per 10,000 gallons.

 

[TooManyGizmos]

Thanks guys ........
No salt cell .... no spa ....
I just have a 1 hp pump and 1 ft diam. X 2ft long paper element filter.

I'll just ignore the dust particles in my water.

But I may look into getting a SOCK I heard someone speak of. I guess it goes in the skimmer basket - don't know.

It's amazing how much small junk and tiny bugs,ants and spiders get into the pool EVEN when ya have a screened pool cage.
.

 

[Patriot]

Paper cartridges filter down pretty small so if it's working correctly, meaning that it's seated properly at the bottom and it doesn't have any cuts, tears, or blow outs, you should have very clear water. Clarifiers as Lux mentioned are a good idea as long as your filter element is 100%. If it's aging and due for replacement then skip the treatment and replace the filter. This is a unique consideration to cartridge and DE systems since treaments only work if the micro texture is sound. Sand systems aren't finicky like the others but also don't filter down as finely as cartridge or DE.

 

[JohnR66]

Glad there are pool experts here. We use my brother's pool on the weekends (12x20x4d) My brother is autistic and can't take care of it, so my parents, who live closer to him than I, have be sure to keep the chemistry right on the pool or it will get algae growing.

If they let it get to this condition, I shock it and put in some algaecide to clear it up, but the DE filter seems to get clogged and pumping the backwash lever doesn't help much. I have to take the filter apart and soak it in acid.

Is there another way to clear that filter? We have 3 weeks of swimming left and I hate to take that thing apart again.

 

[Beamhead]

Sweet, poolguy/patriot, I only have one question, how serious are elevated levels of CYA (cyanuric acid)?
I have had one guy tell me not to worry until it reaches 200ppm + and another say freak out if it's above 80ppm.

Due to my method of fending off yellow algae it causes my CYA to run about 100ppm.
Thanks from a first year pool n00b.