Cloudy Water in a Salt Pool

JP · Postby JP » Tue 11 Jul, 2006 06:58

We have a salt water pool (pool only 7 months old) which has always been extremely clear. We got a rain last Thursday night and now our pool looks milky. we took water samples (twice) to get checked and all chemicals are fine...nothing out of balance. They recommended we flock it so we did last night, let it run on recirculate for about 2-2 1/2 hours then turned the pump off overnight. Looked at this morning and there was white settlement that we vaccumed up on waste. Still looks very cloudy

(thank goodness not green) no better then last night. Any suggestions??? do we continue to run today on recirculate or just the regular pump? Should we flock again? thanks for your help!!![/b]

poolsbyscott · Postby **poolsbyscott** » Sun 23 Jul, 2006 21:56

I have the same problem with my salt water pool...let me know how you fix it

Guest · Postby **Guest** » Fri 28 Jul, 2006 21:02

I have a salt pool and also it is cloudy. I have tried every suggestion under the sun. Still cloudy. HELP. I am about ready to ditch the salt water system. I have never had this problem before.

teddybear321 · Postby **teddybear321** » Thu 02 Aug, 2012 08:07

Pool User wrote:I have a salt pool and also it is cloudy. I have tried every suggestion under the sun. Still cloudy. HELP. I am about ready to ditch the salt water system. I have never had this problem before.

i have one to my water was so pretty,then all of a sudden the pump said low salt,so of course i put salt in it then the light stayed on,co i took the pump back the store i bought it from replaced thank god,when i this time went my water turned cloudy tried everything under the sun it wont clear up at all,my readys r good now what?

poolboy_Crete · Postby **poolboy_Crete** » Thu 02 Aug, 2012 11:51

JP wrote:We have a salt water pool (pool only 7 months old) which has always been extremely clear. We got a rain last Thursday night and now our pool looks milky. we took water samples (twice) to get checked and all chemicals are fine...nothing out of balance. They recommended we flock it so we did last night, let it run on recirculate for about 2-2 1/2 hours then turned the pump off overnight. Looked at this morning and there was white settlement that we vaccumed up on waste. Still looks very cloudy (thank goodness not green) no better then last night. Any suggestions??? do we continue to run today on recirculate or just the regular pump? Should we flock again? thanks for your help!!![/b]

you mention that your water chemistry is all within acceptable parameters, so assuming that it it is just sediment brought down from a dirty rain then flocking it should sort it out.

id just change youre method of flocking. im assuming you used a liquid floc and had to let it settle, then vac on waste as you said. personally ive always had trouble with liquid floc as its a pain to vac back up without kicking up at least a little bit of settlement back up, thus clouding the water again!
see if you cant get hold of some tablet floc. its much easier and more effective imo. just chuck a tablet in the skimmer/overflow tank and run the pump for 24hrs (on normal filtration) or as long as it takes to clear. then just give it a backwash and youll be back to crystal clear water again!! :thumbup:

a bit of shock cant hurt either if you think the rain brought down a bit of organic matter.

Thomas152 · Postby **Thomas152** » Thu 20 Sep, 2012 05:13

Pool User wrote:I have a salt pool and also it is cloudy. I have tried every suggestion under the sun. Still cloudy. HELP. I am about ready to ditch the salt water system. I have never had this problem before.

Salt pool can be removed by using proper filter, it will remove all the salt from pool water which make it pure and feel fresh to take jump in pool water.
I'm also using this technique and get desire result. I have install a permanent filtration with pool.

Pool Shop

PhD43 · Postby **PhD43** » Wed 27 Mar, 2013 16:23

I had problems with cloudy pool water and my pool store suggested that I purchase the circulator. I have not had a problem with cloudy pool water for years now. I replaced all my fixed wall returns with the circulators and my pool came alive. What a difference it made in my pool. I don't fight with algae anymore either. I would recommend this product to all pool owners who want more fun time with their pool and less hassles.

lilr001 · Postby **lilr001** » Wed 01 May, 2013 00:01

What, how and why ? I'm a new salt water pool owner when I bought my house with a pool it was a green pool and I didn't think it would turn into a clear clean blue pool, But with little help and a lot of time and effort it did turn into a beautiful pool, I'm out there every day maintaining my pool for weeks it looked great .One day when I left for work the pool was nice and clear ,but when I got home to my shock my pool was super cloudy I wanted to cry, I couldn't understand what happened how and why. You can barely see the bottom of the pool.
Can someone please tell me what may have happened?? its not algie, the water is just a cloudy milky color.

Postby **chem geek** » Wed 01 May, 2013 02:14

Depending on the species of algae, it can first appear dull/cloudy before turning green. You are probably not maintaining a minimum Free Chlorine (FC) level that is at least 5% of the Cyanuric Acid (CYA) level for your saltwater chlorine generator (SWCG) pool. You need that minimum FC/CYA ratio to prevent algae growth (regardless of phosphate and nitrate level).

the cleaner · Postby **the cleaner** » Sat 10 Aug, 2013 22:09

I had the same experience as JP. I just converted to a salt pool and for weeks it has been very clear. Then we had a rain and a lot of swimming and now it is cloudy. I have been in chemical spec for weeks. I am bringing the sample in tomorrow to have it checked. Very bummed. Help?

free info · Postby **free info** » Sat 10 Aug, 2013 23:25

How long are you running your pool a day? When it's summer time the pool should run min. 8 hrs to make enough chlorine sometimes longer depending on use. Whats your conditioner at? When is the last time you cleaned your filter?
When your pool gets cloudy the first thing you want to do is shock the pool with liquide chlorine as a salt system can not do it. So adding enough chlorine to go 3-4 times the normal range is what you do to shock your pool. You have to run your pool 24/7 until clear checking the chlorine shock level to keep it high.
Know if you have a DE or cartridge filter sized correct you would never have to flock your pool unless you have a cheap sand filter that makes pool problems take way to long compared to the DE/cartridge.

Adolfsmith69 · Postby **Adolfsmith69** » Mon 04 Nov, 2013 06:29

It can be complicated deciding which pool is best for your family. Many questions revolve around salt-water pools or chlorine free pools. Salt-water pools are NOT chlorine free pools. A salt-water pool is simply one that utilizes a chlorine generator. Chlorine generators have been around for decades, and as technology and materials continue to evolve, they continue to improve in performance.

Dan202006 · Postby **Dan202006** » Wed 08 Jun, 2016 14:44

Okay I solved my cloudy water issue for my saltwater pool first I started by cleaning all the filters really well you have to have a good filter system secondly make sure you have enough salt in the pool if all your chemicals are good levels I would shock your pool again I added liquid clarifier and shocked my pool and it cleared right up if you don't have enough free chlorine in your water that is what's causing your pool to be cloudy make sure you are running your salt generator for it adequate amount of time I ran mine on boost mode for 8 hours and it cleared up

tquiring · Postby **tquiring** » Mon 17 Jul, 2017 15:10

The cloudiness is caused by particles floating in the water, this is generally the result of the chlorine oxidizing anything in the water (sun tan lotions, skin cells, hair conditioners, algae, oils from your skin etc). Typically it happens after heavy use (because of contaminants in the water) or a rainfall (acidic rain changes the PH of the water allowing algae to grow).

Green or teal colored cloudiness is algae related, and after shocking the pool, the chlorine kills the algae and turns it grey.
Grey cloudiness is good, it means the chlorine killed and dissolved anything in the pool and now you're just waiting for your pool filter to remove it.
Cloudiness can also be caused by a dirty filter that can no longer clean the water.
The first step to fixing the cloudiness should be to clean your filter.
Then if you want to speed up the filtration process you can use a Floc product, I've used them but they didn't do anything. I also tried Polysheen blue which is a water clarifier, this worked much better and i could see the difference in couple hours, after a day the cloudiness was pretty much gone. The three great things about the polysheen are 1. You only use 100ml of it per treatment (1/10th the bottle) so it's much cheaper than the Floc products. 2. you don't have to turn the pump off (which stops the filtering process). 3. you don't have to vacuum the pool the next day to clean up the bottom of the pool.

Make sure whatever filter you use is clean otherwise it will take a lot longer to remove the cloudiness (if at all). A dirty filter won't clean the water, and will keep it cloudy.

azulverde · Postby **azulverde** » Wed 11 Oct, 2017 02:07

The cloudy water can be caused by dead algae that turn Grey when killed.
- Adding water clarifier will speed up the process.
- Easiest solution is to swim in the pool or make the water move. Water movement will allow the filter to eliminate the dead algae particles.