Cloudy water question.

Causes and cures for cloudy swimming pool water.
Milky pool water, white, pink, brown, purple, black cloudy water.
charles3526
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Cloudy water question.

Postby charles3526 » Mon 10 Jun, 2019 05:34

I have a 21ft above ground swimming pool that i use a hayward sand filter. i just uncovered it 2 weeks ago.i have a bit of an algae problem i used a chemical opening kit from the pool store but it didn't work. For the past two weekend s i have been vaccummibg and brushing the pool and nothing. Last weekend i bought 2 1lb packages of shock and shocked it i did test the reading and cl was high u can actually smell it i also have 2 floating containers with 3inch tabs inside them but it got cloudy and still had algae. Now this past sunday i went and bought 2 more bags of shock and a gallon of algaecide+clearifer i ran the filter for. 12hrs because the day before i ran it over night. i did back wash it before hand lot if green and cloudy water came out. My psi is at 22. Now i looked at it this am before leaving and it was still cloudy. Any help or advice would be great. My reading from last night were
6:30pm
Cl 4.1
Ph 6.6
Alk 080

8:00pm
Cl 4.7
Ph 6.5
Alk 068

9:42pm
Cl 4.9
Ph 6.5
Alk 081

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Denniswiseman
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My Pool: 10k inground fibreglass, Telescopic Cover, Hayward Powerline pump, Quality filter with glass media, 27kw output heat pump, K-2006C test kit
Location: United Kingdom

Re: Cloudy water question.

Postby Denniswiseman » Mon 10 Jun, 2019 06:59

charles3526 wrote:I have a 21ft above ground swimming pool that i use a hayward sand filter. i just uncovered it 2 weeks ago.i have a bit of an algae problem i used a chemical opening kit from the pool store but it didn't work. For the past two weekend s i have been vaccummibg and brushing the pool and nothing. Last weekend i bought 2 1lb packages of shock and shocked it i did test the reading and cl was high u can actually smell it i also have 2 floating containers with 3inch tabs inside them but it got cloudy and still had algae. Now this past sunday i went and bought 2 more bags of shock and a gallon of algaecide+clearifer i ran the filter for. 12hrs because the day before i ran it over night. i did back wash it before hand lot if green and cloudy water came out. My psi is at 22. Now i looked at it this am before leaving and it was still cloudy. Any help or advice would be great. My reading from last night were
6:30pm
Cl 4.1
Ph 6.6
Alk 080

8:00pm
Cl 4.7
Ph 6.5
Alk 068

9:42pm
Cl 4.9
Ph 6.5
Alk 081

Sent from my LGLS676 using Tapatalk

If you think you can smell chlorine then you have chloramine which is the used up chlorine. You really need to get yourself a decent FAS/DPD test kit (Taylor K2006c or TF Testkits TF100) to get accurate results as maintaining an appropiate shock level means testing quite often during the day. The chlorine results you have are total chlorine not free chlorine which you need to combat your algae
FC:
TC:
pH:
TA:
CH:
CYA:
Your shock level is decided by your CYA level and it is not a one dose process. You need to Slam (Shock Level and Maintain)
Teapot
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My Pool: 12 x 24 (45m3) liner pool, Triton TR60 filter with AFM glass media (Activate) and variable speed pump running 0.08HP
Location: UK

Re: Cloudy water question.

Postby Teapot » Mon 10 Jun, 2019 07:01

Hello Charles,
Unfortunately your water test is missing the most vital measurement, CYA stabiliser.
This chemical controls your pool, dip strip testing cannot accurately measure CYA.
Shocking is a process and not a product, it is raising the free chlorine level up to the correct level and adding chlorine on a regular basis to maintain this level. CYA level determines the shock level required. In absence of the CYA level, increase your chlorine level to 10ppm and hold this. Be careful as packaged chlorine products contain CYA and if your level is already high you'll make it worse, use liquid chlorine unstabilised.

Your filter requires better backwashing for longer it's clogged hence the pressure gauge reading.

Sorry Dennis clashed post.
charles3526
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Re: Cloudy water question.

Postby charles3526 » Mon 10 Jun, 2019 12:42

Ok im gonna see it i can pick up this kit over the weekend im gonna see what my pool looks like when i get home l. I also al gonna pick up liquid chlorine how much of it should i start with? Im also gonna back was filter again and 2x to see if i can get the sand unclogged as u said in ur message. I am also using the sand from last season as well first time doing this and also i did a 1 1/2 PVC set up this year could any of those problems be the reason for the water issues.

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Teapot
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Posts: 1337
Joined: Tue 17 Oct, 2017 10:52
My Pool: 12 x 24 (45m3) liner pool, Triton TR60 filter with AFM glass media (Activate) and variable speed pump running 0.08HP
Location: UK

Re: Cloudy water question.

Postby Teapot » Mon 10 Jun, 2019 13:30

Sand lasts a long time but does get very dirty. Domestic filters do not backwash that well so a strip down and service every 2 years is a good idea.
What size is your pump and filter? Do you mean you have decreased your pipe size?
Denniswiseman
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My Pool: 10k inground fibreglass, Telescopic Cover, Hayward Powerline pump, Quality filter with glass media, 27kw output heat pump, K-2006C test kit
Location: United Kingdom

Re: Cloudy water question.

Postby Denniswiseman » Mon 10 Jun, 2019 16:52

You could also do a Deep Clean of your filter
charles3526
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Re: Cloudy water question.

Postby charles3526 » Mon 10 Jun, 2019 22:22

How is this test kit i picked up from friend it looks complete. I have some tabs left also. I will get u info on filter tomorrw i do know pump is 1hp hayward. Im also ising 1 1/2 inch pvc piping it was the same size of the hoses i got with it. [img]https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190611/9c0395f8aadba6481d95f8ac5586e947.jpg[/img]

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charles3526
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Re: RE: Re: Cloudy water question.

Postby charles3526 » Tue 11 Jun, 2019 18:13

Teapot wrote:Hello Charles,
Unfortunately your water test is missing the most vital measurement, CYA stabiliser.
This chemical controls your pool, dip strip testing cannot accurately measure CYA.
Shocking is a process and not a product, it is raising the free chlorine level up to the correct level and adding chlorine on a regular basis to maintain this level. CYA level determines the shock level required. In absence of the CYA level, increase your chlorine level to 10ppm and hold this. Be careful as packaged chlorine products contain CYA and if your level is already high you'll make it worse, use liquid chlorine unstabilised.

Your filter requires better backwashing for longer it's clogged hence the pressure gauge reading.

Sorry Dennis clashed post.
Hello i got a ddp test kit it has all that u told me to look for. I tested ph tc and cya
Results
Ph 6.8
Tc 0
Cya 70

Now i have liquid chlorine i was to start the slam process. How much liquid chlorine would i need to start with for a 10,000 gal pool i dont want to over do it.

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Teapot
Pool Industry Leader
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Posts: 1337
Joined: Tue 17 Oct, 2017 10:52
My Pool: 12 x 24 (45m3) liner pool, Triton TR60 filter with AFM glass media (Activate) and variable speed pump running 0.08HP
Location: UK

Re: Cloudy water question.

Postby Teapot » Wed 12 Jun, 2019 01:40

Hi Charles, first off you can't over do it, we are only talking parts per million, if you go a few over it will speed up the process but won't hurt anything.
2.5- 3 gallons of liquid chlorine. What strength is your chlorine?
Denniswiseman
Pool Industry Leader
Pool Industry Leader
Posts: 2592
Joined: Tue 06 Sep, 2011 05:48
My Pool: 10k inground fibreglass, Telescopic Cover, Hayward Powerline pump, Quality filter with glass media, 27kw output heat pump, K-2006C test kit
Location: United Kingdom

Re: Cloudy water question.

Postby Denniswiseman » Wed 12 Jun, 2019 09:54

With a CYA of 70 you would need a minimum of 5 a target of 8-10 and a shock level of 28
You can use Pool Maths to workout how much to add each time to maintain your shock level

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