cloudy water

[vahj]

Two weeks ago I added Power powder plus and my water is cloudy since.
Checked DE filter if OK. Added First aide clarifyer, no improvement.
FC 9, Ph 7.5, Alk 125, CH 270, CYA 50. 16,000 gallons concrete pool.
Any ideas.

[dynamictiger]

Power Powder Plus is granular chlorine repackaged. The usual reason for cloudiness following application would be calcium undissolved. However in your case this does not appear to be the case as the CH is reasonable.

I note the chlorine reading is still 9. Assuming this is not a typo and the pool is outdoors then either you added so much chlorine it has taken two weeks to come down or there is not enough filtering happening to get all the water into the UV zone for reduction of chlorine.

There is no chemical reason I can see on the data posted for this pool to not be clear. The TA is higher than I would like, but not to the point of creating a cloudy pool. You could try adding acid until this reads about 80-100 this will assist in improving the clarity.

Cloudy is subjective. Can you please qualify cloudy according to this criteria:

1: Cannot see my hand with my arm in pool
2: Can see my hand but it is hazy
3: Can see my hand and it is quite clear but the body of the water looks hazy
4: I can see x steps down out of y
5: I can see my automatic cleaner in the deepend but cannot make out its features

[vahj]

I took your advice and drop two pints of muriatic acid in the pool,
last night. This morning the water is beautiful,clear.
Thank you.

[jandh182]

could acid be what we need to add to make it clear. it just isn't clearing. It's driving me crazy. It's the "I can see my hand but it's very hazy. We have done everything we have been told.. I should mention that the pool is not average, it is a 24 ft pool.. which generally has around 13,600 gallons of water.. but it's not the average 4 feet deep. It's actually only about 3 and a half feet deep. So, that could make a difference. I think they just didn't dig it down far enough... but i really don't know how that works.. but it doesn't matter. i just want to get it clear.

[dynamictiger]

What are your parameter readings? One solution does not fit all.

[jandh182]

what are the parameter readings? And I will tell you. I don't know much about this stuff yet.

[dynamictiger]

Chlorine, pH, TA, CH etc

[A&M]

Posted on: Sun 15 Apr, 2007 17:53 Subject: Desperate about cloudy water

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Hi everyone

New to the site and desperate.

We bought our above ground pool in jan this year and had it put in the ground. We've had two weeks of clear blue water and ever since then all we've had is CLOUDS.

We've tried running the filter for 36 hours, continual cleaning of the filter, flocculant (which just complicated the problem), borrowed a barracuda (which keeps hugging the steps!), shocking the pool with chlorine (we use the granular type).

Now my own theory (from research undertaken) is that the cloudiness represents calcium residue from the granular chlorine we keep putting in the pool. The PH and Cl levels are good in the pool. Visibility is poor. We have wedding cake style steps and can't see past number 2 step.

If calcium residue is the problem, how do I cure it? running the pfilter continually doesn't seem to clear the problem.

We're desperate. Our pool has cost us a lot of money and we're not very happy! Can anyone help.

Feeling like cleopatra in a milk bath ....

[Demons1964]

Yes, the calcium may well be from the granular chlorine. Or, if you're topping up the pool with well water that may be the source.

Get your water tested at a pool shop and post your results here and we can give you a diagnosis.

[A&M]

Yes, the calcium may well be from the granular chlorine. Or, if you're topping up the pool with well water that may be the source.

Get your water tested at a pool shop and post your results here and we can give you a diagnosis.

Okay so I took a water sample to the pool shop and here's the results:

TDS 1000
Stabiliser 8.0
Free Chlorine 0.4
pH 8.0
Total Alkalinity 50
Calcium hardness 284

I'd be interested in your thoughts .... and thanks

PS Have an above ground pool in the ground hence vinyl, 69000 litres chlorine pool

[Demons1964]

The cloudiness will be caused by the calcium carbonate coming out of solution with the high pH. If you have a sand filter, the calcium will also be affecting the ability of the sand to trap dirt. Get your pH down to 7.4 by adding muriatic acid (hydrochloric acid).

Your free chlorine is also extremely low, and at a pH of 8.0 you may have solid algae matter clouding the pool as well. I suggest you get your free chlorine up to 10ppm while dropping your pH level and running the filter continuously. Maintain at least 3ppm free chlorine in future.

Your calcium levels aren't excessively high at the moment. But ongoing you will have problems with it because of the Adelaide water having such a high calcium level. Shocking with granular chlorine (calcium hypochlorite) is only making your calcium problem worse.

But you do have an alternative. Because your stabiliser level is so low you can use dichlor or trichlor for a while before the stabiliser level in the pool becomes excessive. I'm not sure on your water restrictions at the moment but I imagine you don't want to be doing partial draining of your pool all the time. Liquid chlorine (or bleach) is your best alternative to avoid a buildup of either stabiliser or calcium.

[A&M]

Thank you so much for the information. You're absolutely right - you probably know that. What you said ws confirmed by the pool shop and we've shocked the pool with chlorine, added buffer and hydrochloric acid.

Unfortunately the water colour hasn't changed at all. I too believe that the granular hydrochlorine is adding to the problem but I've been advised that liquid hydrochlorine isn't as effective. This could be a point of sale issue though with the pool shop. I don't know.

The other ingredient which may be causing probs which I feel more confident about this morning is the floc agent I added two weeks ago.

We were having a lot of work done in our garden around the period when we had our pool put is. Our constituent soil is 99% sand and a lot of particles got into the pool and subsequently the filter.

Someone sugguested using a floc agent to clot the particles to aid filtration. On two occasions when I've cleaned the filter there has been a lot of floc agent in there but because we can't see the bottom of the pool I don't know if there's anyresidue left.

Until this morning that is. We've placed a Blue block in the skimmer box last night and left the filter running. I've checked the skimmer box this morning and the blue block has white fragments on it - I'm guessing this is floc residue.

We've also additional tried to clean the pool with vaccuming and borrowed a barracuda but this doesn't seem to have resolved the problem either.

This leaves one remaining query - Is it the pump / filter - not working correctly. The pressure guages show that it is working as it should and we clean the filter every two days with a hydraulic jet hose to ensure that it's clean. The manufacture's guidelines suggest that the filter system is more than capable for our size pool but I'm more than prepared to approach the pool company as we've only had the pool for 3 months but I know the response I'll have as we had problems during the sale process.

Any further suggestions, I'd be glad to hear them.

[dynamictiger]

This floc you used was it a powder or liquid?

Did the instructions say to stop the system and let the floc settle then vacuum to waste? Did you do that?

What kind of filter have you got? I assume it is sand as floc on DE would probably stop your system entirely.

I would think the floc is still floating around in your system. Unfortunately now the damage is done and this is what you need to do.

Stop your pool circulation and let the residual floc settle
Vacuum the floc to waste
Completely empty your sand filter and wash the insides to remove any floc
Replace the sand in the filter with new sand

HTH

[A&M]

This floc you used was it a powder or liquid?

Did the instructions say to stop the system and let the floc settle then vacuum to waste? Did you do that?

What kind of filter have you got? I assume it is sand as floc on DE would probably stop your system entirely.

I would think the floc is still floating around in your system. Unfortunately now the damage is done and this is what you need to do.

Stop your pool circulation and let the residual floc settle
Vacuum the floc to waste
Completely empty your sand filter and wash the insides to remove any floc
Replace the sand in the filter with new sand

HTH

Thanks for the reply. We have a cartridge filter as we are not a saltwater pool so we dont have the facility to backwash. We also don't have the facility to completly empty the pool and / or refill it due to water restrictions.

We're thinking about buying a new cartridge tomorrow to see if this will help the problem.

I agree that turning off the filter and allowing the floc to settle will help as we didn't filter for a few days and the water started to clear. But after the pump had been on for a few minutes it went cloudy again as the filter is obviously circulating the particles from the pool floor.