Does salt in pool cause water to be cloudy?

[737mech]

Hi,
I have a Goldline Chlorinator.
My pool is cloudy form the salt. What can I do to clear the water?
All my chemical level's are correct.
I used Morton's table salt.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, Buzz

[Pool Owner]

Buzz, salt should not be making your water cloudy (except for about a minute as it is dissolving). You should probably double check your instructions because true table salt is not what is typically recommended for pools. However, if you are using Morton Pool Salt (white bag), it is not likely to be your problem. Please provide a little more information as to why you think it is the salt. Also, what is your water temperature? If the water is warm, I would think you have an algae bloom, which should be eliminated by chlorine and filtering. If it is algae, you may want to double check that you do not have any phosphates (algae food) in your water.

I’m on my soap box here… For the future, you may want to invest about $30 into getting a good reference pool book. If you have not yet done so, check your local library for books on the subject of pool maintenance/construction to see if there is one you like. I have a short review of a few books on my blog (noted below). While it is very large, I think you will find “The Ultimate Pool Maintenance Manual” a good choice. Since it is almost 700 pages, you need to use it like these pool bulletin boards, search for the information you need and only read the part that covers your problem. There is a section on leak detection that may be helpful.

[737mech]

Thanks for the feedback.
The reason I think it's the salt is because when I put it in the cloudiness never went away.
I discovered after the fact that it was best to use water softner salt. At the pool store here the pool salt is 20.00 a 50lb bag and I didn't want to spend that much money.
Of course the place online I bought the AquaRite Chlorinator said simple table salt is fine.
I'm going to try a few things to see if I can clear up the water that I've read about on this forum.
I'll check out your blog and THANKS!! again for your feedback.
Buzz

[737mech]

My H2o is at 85F.
We built a offical poolhouse. Lot's of work this last summer. Up here in the NorthWest an outdoor pool can get expensive trying to heat.
The pool is 9500 gallons, so it's not a big pool. Just right for excersizing.
I installed a Badu Swim pump.
Anyways, I'll post my results of my cloudiness ASAP.
Buzz

[737mech]

Will the pool is still a little cloudy.
Not sure why because all the chemical levels seems to be correct.
So I think it's the salt.
We can live with it. I'm not going to stress over it (at least to much)
Buzz

[Pool Owner]

Buzz, it sounds like you have it under control. After using Morton Pool Salt to get my original salt level up (about $10 for 40# in Orange County, CA, USA), I have switched to the same Morton System Saver II Pellets (less than $4 for 40#) that I have been using in my water softener to maintain my pool salt level. At first I was using a “chlorine floater” which worked fine but took forever to get 40# into the pool. Now I have a 5-gallon bucket that I drilled a bunch of holes in, which I can put in the whole 40# of salt (with a concrete block over the top to keep it from floating). All the salt is dissolved in less than an hour and the bucket keeps it from staining my plaster.

At 9,000 gallons you can always just drain the pool and refill it with fresh water (not as bad as the $400 it cost to fill my 30,000 gallon pool last summer). If it has been some time since you have drained the pool, it may be time to drain it. In your testing did you check CYA (a.k.a. conditioner or stabilizer)? Since your pool is now indoors and if you were using dichlor or trichlor prior to your salt water system, it is possible that too much CYA is binding your free chlorine so it appears to be at an acceptable level but not actually available for killing stuff (e.g., algae). Typically indoor pools should not have any CYA because the lack of UV will not degrade the chlorine in your pool. If your CYA is over 100 ppm, that could be one source of your problem.

Since you are probably one of the few people with 85F water this time of the year, get all of your friends to come over for a splashing good time (lots of active kids) and keep filling your pool with fresh water. I hope you have clear water soon.

[Greg]

You can buy 40lb bags of water treatment system salt at Lowe's or Home Depot near me for about $4/bag.

[Outer Marker]

Hey there!

Morton makes many types of salt from rock salt to table salt to water softener salt. You used table salt which is iodized and contains anti-caking agent. These substances will make your water cloudy for sure.

You want to use water softerner salt or "solar salt". It must be greater than 99% pure, and it must not containe iodine or anti-caking agent.

Good luck!

[just learning]

We just opened our pool 2 weeks ago. The pool guy put in the Nature 2 w/out 1st balancing & it leaked & we now need a new cartridge. Still haven't added salt --- I think we need 300#'s. We're in Baltimore. Any suggestions on where to get good prices on salt (we used Morton 50# brown bags last year --- great success). This year they're pushing BioGrade products. Comments? Advice? Thanks!

[PoolWizard]

Hello Just Learning. The best place to get pool salt (Morton's, its a 40 pond bag) is the Harvey Salt Co, 1325 Mohrs Ln, Baltimore, MD 21220, (410) 391-9100. It's located off of route 40 near Rosedale. The 40# bag is under $7.00 a bag. Add only 1/2 the amount that you think you need at a time and then test the water in a day. Get a Taylor pool salt test kit available on-line from most pool products suppliers.

[Chemical Mike]

Have you checked the alkalinity level is ok?
Your salt has very little to do with the cloudyness, i would also check for cyanuric acid from stabilized pool chlorine, asuming you were running it as a chlorine based pool before changing to salt.
A lot of what you read in the books is bullshit, its like making a cake, you need to adjust the recipe to suit your pool and conditions

[Alabama pool guy]

I buy my salt at the the farmers co-op. I pay about $3.50 for a 50 lb bag of white feed salt. Been doing this for about 6 years,