Trying to get water clear

[jandh18]

We are new to pool ownership. We had the water tested and were told what to add. Everything is in balance now. But, the water is still really cloudy.. we can't see the bottom. It is a pretty blue though. We just put brand new sand in the sand filter.. and were told that it takes awhile of running the filter for it to get clear after using a new sand filter because the dirtier the sand the better it filters. I don't know how true this is. We have tried clarifier, the thick clear blue stuff. Any help would be appreciated!

[dynamictiger]

The dirtier sand thing is true. It essentially means that dirt is lodged in the larger spaces and allows less dirt to penetrate.

Cloudiness is usually caused by one of two things. Not enough filtering or incorrect chemicals for some reason.

Do you run your filter 24 hours a day? If not do so until the water comes clear.

Chemically how did you add, what did you add, in what order did you add it, with how much time in between and did you run the filter non stop whilst adding it? Some chemicals need time to react before others are added and some pool shops rely on you reading the package to pick this up.

[Guest]

yes, we are running the filter 24 hours a day. It's been the same pretty blue but cloudy since we opened it and cleaned it and everything. When we had the water tested.. they showed us and told us what we needed. We added liquid chlorine, then alkalinity increaser.. then waited 24 hours as we were told then added ph up and calcium hardness increaser. This is what they said we need to do to be in balance, which we are now. They told us we could add about an ounce of the thick clear blue stuff directly to the skimmer basket because it would stick to the sand and help it pull the dirt or whatever. But they told us only to do that once and not to do it again until after we have to back wash.. besides doing the normal diluted clarifier. We just can't seem to get it clear and there is still some foam on top. I'm sure that's fromt he chemicals.. but we really don't know. as we are really green to the pool ownership. I hope I answered you questions.

[jandh18]

sorry, pool user above is me. It didn't auto sign me in that time!

[dynamictiger]

By chance was your calcium level below the TA level before you added the calcium chloride?

I suspect the order of addition is incorrect. That being the case the pool will be a kind of cloudy white with specs of white flake circulating in a kind of circular pattern. Is this what you have?

[jandh18]

no, it's been cloudy this way since we opened it. We got it to the nice pretty blue.. but have yet to be able to clear it. It doesn't have any spec's floating in it either. It's really just cloudy looking.. you can't see the bottom.. I can stick my arm in about 2 feet down and still see it but after that I can't any longer. Maybe I can take a picture of it tomorrow. i don't know how good it will turn out. But I will see what I can do.

[dynamictiger]

High chlorine, low pH and lots and lots of filtering non stop should fix this.

HTH