CLOUDY BLUE WATER!!

[Guest]

I do understand. And as you see in this thread alone, there are different opinions all the way through. One says use liquid chlorine and one says never use liquid chlorine. Try more than one pool store and you'll get more than one opinion.

There are a million chemicals available for pools. IMO, most aren't needed.

Now to the disappearing chlorine. Chlorine is used up fighting the nasty stuff in the water or the sun will break it down. If your pool is crystal clear then it is probably the sun breaking it down during the day. If the pool is green or cloudy then the chlorine is probably being used up fighting something in the water.

Next time you go to the pool store, ask for a printout of the chemical balance of your pool. Post the numbers they give you here. We can give better advice knowing those numbers and knowing the type of pool and equipment you have.

Oh, I have and use test kits, but what's a person to do when the 'experts' repeatedly test your water and say you need this, that, and the kitchen sink? I'm a bit at their mercy - after all, they're the experts, right? sigh.

Anyway, for what it's worth, the CYA level is about the only one that has remained relatively level (but certainly something to keep an eye on). After I shock (Smart Shock), all levels are fine (including pH), but within 36 hours the chlorine tanks.

Water's looking good, though (for the moment). Su-weet...gonna be 99F today.

[hvicki38]

Please help me...I am having a party Sunday...2 weeks ago my pool company had me dump $100 worth of stuff in my pool...it stripped the copper in the heater....blue water and blue film....i disconnected the heater and went to a new pool place....they had me dump in 2 bottles of phosphate remover and an hour later 2 bottles of scale and calcium remover....now my pool is super cloudy....when will this clear....I have been running the filter nonstop and every hour or so vacuuming to waste....adding more water (have city water)....is there anything I can do to speed up the clearing process....please help me

[catnip]

I have the same problem with cloudy water. I just opened my pool a couple weeks ago, my problems started with the pool guy that pulled the cover off and dump all the debri and leaves into the pool. Next the pool water was dark green. After days of shocking the pool, I'm finally seeing cloudy water. but it has been a week of cloudy water. The pool guy told me to continue to add chlorine, sweep for two hours a day and backwash, the pool will clear up because the water at the bottom is dead water. Other than spending a lot a money at the pool store, is this good advice and when will my pool clear up?

[New pool user]

Good morning all. I've read your posts and I seem to be having the same issues as you. I have a 28 ft. above ground pool and use a sand filter. The water is blue, but very cloudy (can't see the bottom cloudy) There is no algae growing anywhere. Everything is clean, except for the cloudiness of the water. When we opened the pool for the summer, we had beautiful, sparkling blue water. When we opened the pool, we put all new sand in the filter, and had to replace the filter itself, as one of the arms was broken. We also put in a new pump this year since the old one burned out, so everything with the filter has to be fine....there's nothing left to replace on it.
I added clarifier to the filter yesterday, ran th filter all night and have not seen any change at all. We are not on well water.
My readings as of this morning are:
Total Hardness: 200
Free Chlorine: 10
Bromine: 20 (according to the chart, this is too high and we don't add bromine so I'm not sure where this level is coming from)
pH: 7.5
Alkalinity: 150
Cyanuric Acid: 150 (according to the chart, this is way too high also)

Any suggestions as to how to lower the bromine and CYA ?
And would the high levels of these two contribute to the cloudiness ?

Thanks!

[mr_clean]

Good morning all. I've read your posts and I seem to be having the same issues as you. I have a 28 ft. above ground pool and use a sand filter. The water is blue, but very cloudy (can't see the bottom cloudy) There is no algae growing anywhere. Everything is clean, except for the cloudiness of the water. When we opened the pool for the summer, we had beautiful, sparkling blue water. When we opened the pool, we put all new sand in the filter, and had to replace the filter itself, as one of the arms was broken. We also put in a new pump this year since the old one burned out, so everything with the filter has to be fine....there's nothing left to replace on it.
I added clarifier to the filter yesterday, ran th filter all night and have not seen any change at all. We are not on well water.
My readings as of this morning are:
Total Hardness: 200
Free Chlorine: 10
Bromine: 20 (according to the chart, this is too high and we don't add bromine so I'm not sure where this level is coming from)
pH: 7.5
Alkalinity: 150
Cyanuric Acid: 150 (according to the chart, this is way too high also)

Any suggestions as to how to lower the bromine and CYA ?
And would the high levels of these two contribute to the cloudiness ?

you first need to lower your CYA level to 50-60ppm by draining some water & refilling until you get it down to this level. When CYA is to high it makes chlorine weaker to fight algae, If you use chlorine tabs in your pool stop for awhile as they have CYA in them & will cause this problem over time. Next you need to boost chlorine level above 20ppm shock level with liquide chlorine & keep it there until pool clears, so you will need to check chlorine level a couple times a day & run filter 24/7, backwashing filter when pressure rises.

[berkoboy]

I had just returned from abroad like others here found my pool green.

here is what I did, which seems to be working. I have one comment however, like others have noted every pool is different and what may work for me may not for you.

My pool is a liner pool 6x3m in the ground type.

I firstly supercclorinated it and left the pump running overnight. This made it blue but cloudy. then I sampled the water and raised the PH, with all the extra chlorine this will of course be low. I added enough chemicals to raise it from 7 ( normally at 7.4) up to 7.8.

ran the pump for about 4 hours then stopped the pump, put it manual and added flocculant. Left overnight, woke up to find I could see the bottom of the pool and lots of debris on the bottom.

Hoovered, a good backwash and its looking fine now, just a bit of tweaking to do and it will be perfect.

No I am no expert I have learned about my pool from making my own mistakes but what I would like to pass on is don't panic.

I have read all the posts on this subject and I have taken relevant pieces of information from everyone elses posts to help my particular situation.

Good luck everyone and enjoy your swim(s)

[DUMMY]

LIKE EVERYONE I HAVE SPENT A TON OF MONEY BACKING THE CAR UP TO THE POOL STORE WHERE THE EXPERTS FILL THE TRUNK.WHEN THE POOL HAS GREEN STAIN ON THE WALLS, I AM SOLD METAL OUT AND STAIN B GONE ( CITRIC ACID ) TO REMOVE THE STAIN, CL LEVEL MUST BE VERY LOW FOR THIS TO WORK. THE STAIN GOES AWAY, HOWEVER, THE WATER BECOMES CLOUDY, CLOUDY WATER GOES AWAY AS SOON AS GREEN STAIN APPEARS, EVERY STORE TELLS ME THIS IS A COMMON PROBLEM WITH FIBERGLASS POOLS.. YOU CAN HAVE CLOUDY OR STAINED, ITS ONE OR THE OTHER.

DUMMY

[Guest]

I have been fighting this problem for a month!!! Same as others- take a sample, buy a lot of chemicals and no difference,
This time 400ml of acid in each deep end corner, after shutting off pool for 10 min.,wait 5 minutes turn onn. THen vacuum and putin 10L of liquid chlorine, one hour later 1 bottle of metal free because copper had gone to 3 because of all the algicide(ERASE) that had gone in previous.(las night at 8 oclock)
Previous to the above)Have drained pool to the bottom of skimmer while vacuumming at waste 2 times previous.
This morning it is NO clearer!!!and I can smell the chlorine. HAvent backwashed yet.
The ph is 7.8 Acid 2 Total 1.5 Free 0
T>A> 125 C.H. 130
The pool people want the cloudiness to cleR THEN WE WILL WORYY ABOUT ADJUSTING THE ABOVE.
Please help.

[popsicle0311]

We are having the worst problem ever with our pool this year. We cannot get the water to go from a very light green to crystal clear blue as it has in past years. We have done everything and when we take the sample to the pool store - they test it, and say that everything looks great!! If that is the case - why won't it turn blue? We have spent so much money on this pool, and have done everything humanly possible to clear it up and it still doesn't work. Does anyone have any suggestions.

It is a 19,000 gallon pool. If I add a whole bottle of Clarifier will it hurt the levels, ph, alkalinity, etc.? We are at our wits end with it and about ready to stop trying.

[sterling]

LIKE EVERYONE I HAVE SPENT A TON OF MONEY BACKING THE CAR UP TO THE POOL STORE WHERE THE EXPERTS FILL THE TRUNK.WHEN THE POOL HAS GREEN STAIN ON THE WALLS, I AM SOLD METAL OUT AND STAIN B GONE ( CITRIC ACID ) TO REMOVE THE STAIN, CL LEVEL MUST BE VERY LOW FOR THIS TO WORK. THE STAIN GOES AWAY, HOWEVER, THE WATER BECOMES CLOUDY, CLOUDY WATER GOES AWAY AS SOON AS GREEN STAIN APPEARS, EVERY STORE TELLS ME THIS IS A COMMON PROBLEM WITH FIBERGLASS POOLS.. YOU CAN HAVE CLOUDY OR STAINED, ITS ONE OR THE OTHER.

DUMMY

I have had a fiberglass pool for 6 years and love it. Twice I have had the problem you describe -- both times I used too much copper to kill algee followed too quickly by too much shock. A really GOOD pool person will give you the Exact instruction on what to put in, how much, how long to wait, what goes in next... It is exspensive but works.

Keep the copper down helps. leaving Days between copper and shock helps too.

If the copper is going from the water to the walls and back again, there is just too much copper. It has to be trapped somehow. Is the fill water high in copper?? Do you have copper in the plumbing?? I really don't think this has a thing to do with fiberglass -- 95% of the time I just have a pool that is much easier to mantain.

[sterling]

Try Baking Soda...stores charge a small fortune for ph down...read the box..it's sodium bicarbonate..a/k/a/ BAKING SODA...buy store name brand..4 lb box less than 2 bucks...cast entire four pounds into pool...non toxic...can swim at the same time...next day cast another 4 lb box...it worked for me....

Baking soda is for PH UP... I think. Acid is for down. But you are right is really better quality than PH+, and cheaper.

[frustrated this year]

I agree that I will never use flock again. Used it a couple years ago, hated it. My pool is cloudy this year too. Been opened for about 2 and a half weeks and still cloudy. Ph is normal, Alk is normal, stabilizer is normal. Chlorine readings are low most of the time, except RIGHT after we shock it. Filter is running 24/7 right now until this is cleared up, chlorinator is working, dissolving tablets at a normal rate. Today the pool was clearer than it has been yet, so maybe we are getting a handle on it. At least I can see the middle drain this morning. We've also had the pool for 14 years. To everyone that's having cloudy problems, I just say be diligent about checking chem levels and vac even if you can't see the bottom.

[chem geek]

Using Trichlor pucks/tabs or Dichlor powder/granular when you have cloudy water most likely due to a high Cyanuric Acid (CYA) level with not a high enough Free Chlorine (FC) level is only going to make the problem worse. Read the Pool School for more info on the chlorine/CYA relationship. In a manually dosed pool, if your FC is maintained at a minimum of 7.5% of the CYA level (certainly no less than 5% of the CYA level), then the pool is at high risk of having algae grow faster than chlorine can kill it.

[damnpools]

Ok So my levels- chlorine is a little high (added stabilizer so its staying consistent),
Had a hard time lowering alkalinity but finally did it. Ph is also a little lower than it should be, between perfect and low.
Water is a nice blue color but cloudy. Can see second step, Its an above ground vinyl pool,
Have done floc twice, second time was last night, and its even cloudier today.
Been reading all these posts and decided to take out chlorine floater, and just leave the pool for the rest of the day, I dont know how quickly the chlorine will drop or if the floc will make anything settle, But im trying as many free options as possible before putting anymore money into the pool.

Want to know more options that apply to me incase this doesnt work. I dont really feel like reading 50 pages of do this do that but only if your levels are this that and the other.

[Mastermason]

Take pool readings, check lint and lint strained, shock pool and voilà. Don't forget to vacuum. Dcpoolguy. also check to see if your pool is filtering properly and at the right level.