milky pool

[Guest]

Hello chem geek. Thank you for responding. I have spent another day trying to fix my cloudy pool. My pool is 18x36 inground When we opened it last Wednesday it was cloudy from the start. Normally when we open it for the year it is clear with just worms at the bottom. The place that opened my pool just added powder shock and said it should be clear by the next morning. Well it was not and is still not. I have tested it repeatedly with a pool place, at home with test strips and another pool place with electronic testing I have shocked it to death I have added 4 rounds of ph plus and last thing they said was the alklinity was high so to add muratic acid every 3hours diluted it first 2 gallons half gallon at a time i thought for a minute today i saw a little clearing however it was probably a mirage from staring at the water for so long. tonight its still cloudy please help its been 4 long days. My pool is now a toxic wasteland I stuck my arm in to test the water and now my arm is glowing... I have to joke because I am going nuts...please let me know what you think.

[Guest]

Gem Geek sorry I did'nt answer your last questions. We have a sand filter in which we changed the sand 2 years ago. One skimmer one floor drain two returns vinyl liner pump is 1/2 to 3HP thats what my info on the pump has. My test strip is reading no clorine. Thats because when i dip it the clorine bleaches the test strip. I will try to get the water tested tommorrow again at the pool place.

[amy]

I am searching the net because of the same problem! milky cloudy pool water and noone can help me!!!! I have tried everything!!!!! Hoping someone has a good answer because the pool store just keeps selling me chemicals and nothign works!

[Denali]

I am searching the net because of the same problem! milky cloudy pool water and noone can help me!!!! I have tried everything!!!!! Hoping someone has a good answer because the pool store just keeps selling me chemicals and nothign works!

Hi,

Is the pool store testing your water or just suggesting chemicals based on the condition you describe to them? What you need is a full test of your water so that you know the following levels:

free chlorine
total chlorine
pH
TA
CYA
CH (calcium hardness)

If you can get those numbers then we can help. Without them it's just guess work. It also helps to know they type of pool you have (above ground, in ground, vinyl, plaster) and size. A listing of the type of equipment you have helps also.

[nitromag57]

i would say change the sand in the filter just to be sure every at least every 2 years this usally solves this you probaly have green sand and crap in there, shut off pump close lines from pool, losen drain cock on filter take off filter head look inside of sand tank i bet theres green stuff in there....

[Lorna]

When your pool water is clear.........vac the bottom very slowly, but don't filter it. Put your filter on waste and it will remove the sediment on the bottom. Your water will remain clear as long as you vac the problem directly out of the pool and filter. What you will be doing is getting rid of the very fine waste particles and not sending it through the filter again.

[Bjorn]

What do your test results on the ph and chlorine level show Is it possible to vacuum it up?

[amy]

Wooohoooo!!!!!!!! We used Flok a second time and replaced all the sand in the filter. We woke up the next morning and WHAM! CLEAR! First time in a year!!!! Thank you!

[evil_jen]

OK so here's the deal with your cloudy water. If you are getting algae blooms you are not keeping your chlorine levels high enough. I had used those water test strips for sometime and kept having problems with the pool. I later found out that they are not very accurate. It is better to buy a chemical dropper kit. These are much more accurate and they will help you maintain the proper chemical levels. If you had a large or small amount of algae at any point then shocked or super chlorinated the pool, what usually happens within 24 hrs is that the algae dies off and you end up with a milky looking pool. The only way I was able to rid my pool of this cloudiness was to purchase a flocculant (which is different from a clarifier) and add it to the pool. There is a trick to it though...You add about half of a bottle, let the filter run for a couple hours, then turn it off and let the water sit. The algae particulate is too fine for most filters so this chemical will bind the particles and send them to the bottom of the pool. Once this happens (give it a night) you will then have to vacuum this stuff at the bottom of the pool out to waste. Regular filtration will just make your water cloudy again. Make sure you prime your vacuum before you turn the pump off or you will disturb what has settled.
Good luck...Hope this helps

[sherbear]

I am glad to know that I'm not the only one with pool problems, I have learned that it is a very good ideal to have your water tested some as we do have softeners. Or you may have hard water,but either way it shouldn't be that hard to maintain. I have also learned to not mix brands. Stick with one, and dont add too many at one time.

[pup55]

I have had my pool for 9 years and have taken care of it the same way every year. This year I have had so many problems with it. I finally got my pool nice and clean and clear and noticed that the PH was low so I added some PH and as soon as I did it turned milky. It only turns milky where the PH meets the pool water then spreads to the hole pool. This has done this all year long and ever time I add some type of powder product the pool turns milky and takes about 3 days to clear up with the filter running all day,love that elec bill. I told my pool store about my problem and had no answers. They tested my water and said it was good. Someone has to have an answer for this because I sure don't.

[ripcurling]

The milky colour is just the algae you have killed through you chlorinating the pool( similar to bleaching coral ), letting it settle to the Bottom and then vaccuming it off is one remedy the other is to just pump the water through your pool filter (making sure your filter is clean before you start) and this should clear over a 24-48 hour period..Its nothing to be alarmed about..

[chem geek]

If the pool had algae and chlorine was added to kill it, then yes the water turns cloudy and will eventually clear in a few days as shown here in an extreme example. However, in the case of a pool that doesn't have visible algae and you add a pH Up product and it turns cloudy and takes days to clear, that is because the water is probably a little too over-saturated with calcium carbonate. pH Up is sodium carbonate so raises not only pH, but also TA substantially.

One should check the Calcium Hardness (CH) and Cyanuric Acid (CYA) levels and input those as well as rough salt and temperature into The Pool Calculator to calculate the saturation index. If it is too high, then don't use pH Up to raise pH. Either aerate the water or use 20 Mule Team Borax instead. Also consider on diluting the water to lower the CH if it's high or on lowering the TA using this procedure.

[theblazin07]

After setting up our 15 x 48 intex vinyl pool with cartridge filter(we have had for 2 year w/o problem.. we have had pools for 4 years) with a few days the water was cloudy and chemical were off. Chemical were adjusted and the water was clear. Except for fine particles on the bottom. When it the pool the particles would break up an float in the pool. We would vacuum as much up as possible. We even tried to backwash out of pool NOTHING HELPED. So, we drained, cleaned with bleach and water and the refilled. As before water not balanced alkalinty high chlorine high. Did get balance and the particles appeared again. We tried everything from dry acid to vacuuming 2 times a day with filter sock covering the output to cleaning the 2x daily with TSP. Nothing helped. Does anyone have an idea as to what this was.. See we just drained the pool for the summer, could not handle the aggravation any longer. Hoping for an answer so next year we will not encounter the same problem. HELP. Thank you !!!

[floridapooltech]

After setting up our 15 x 48 intex vinyl pool with cartridge filter(we have had for 2 year w/o problem.. we have had pools for 4 years) with a few days the water was cloudy and chemical were off. Chemical were adjusted and the water was clear. Except for fine particles on the bottom. When it the pool the particles would break up an float in the pool. We would vacuum as much up as possible. We even tried to backwash out of pool NOTHING HELPED. So, we drained, cleaned with bleach and water and the refilled. As before water not balanced alkalinty high chlorine high. Did get balance and the particles appeared again. We tried everything from dry acid to vacuuming 2 times a day with filter sock covering the output to cleaning the 2x daily with TSP. Nothing helped. Does anyone have an idea as to what this was.. See we just drained the pool for the summer, could not handle the aggravation any longer. Hoping for an answer so next year we will not encounter the same problem. HELP. Thank you !!!

How long has it been since you replaced the cartridge for your filter? It is possible you have some tears, or thin spots allowing the debris you are vacuuming to be distributed back into the pool.