water's a bit cloudy... can't get chlorine level up?

Causes and cures for cloudy swimming pool water.
Milky pool water, white, pink, brown, purple, black cloudy water.
mammal_40
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water's a bit cloudy... can't get chlorine level up?

Postby mammal_40 » Wed 20 Jun, 2007 20:27

Here goes for my first post...
24' round AG vinyl pool 15,000 gallons
FC .5
TC .5
PH 7.2
TA 110
CYA ?

My water is a bit cloudy. I can see the bottom but it is not clear. When I first tested it this morning I found a zero chlorine reading. I added a total of 1 1/2 gallons of liquid chlorine from the pool store. I believe according to the chart I read that it should have raised the chlorine to 10ppm, but it has only gone up to .5ppm. I have been having a problem with birds this year. I think that there is a nest in the tree behind my back fence. My pool and cover have been constantly bombarded with droppings. Could contamination from this be causing the chlorine to be instantly consumed when I am adding? I added algicide about an hour ago and plan on running the pump overnight.
Thanks!
p.s. we had rain the other night and I was thinking that it had washed the bird droppings off the cover into the pool...?


Backglass
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Re: water's a bit cloudy... can't get chlorine level up?

Postby Backglass » Wed 20 Jun, 2007 20:41

mammal_40 wrote:Here goes for my first post...
24' round AG vinyl pool 15,000 gallons
FC .5
TC .5
PH 7.2
TA 110
CYA ?

My water is a bit cloudy. I can see the bottom but it is not clear. When I first tested it this morning I found a zero chlorine reading. I added a total of 1 1/2 gallons of liquid chlorine from the pool store. I believe according to the chart I read that it should have raised the chlorine to 10ppm, but it has only gone up to .5ppm. I have been having a problem with birds this year. I think that there is a nest in the tree behind my back fence. My pool and cover have been constantly bombarded with droppings. Could contamination from this be causing the chlorine to be instantly consumed when I am adding? I added algicide about an hour ago and plan on running the pump overnight.
Thanks!
p.s. we had rain the other night and I was thinking that it had washed the bird droppings off the cover into the pool...?


You need to find out your CYA level. Without any CYA your chlorine will disappear FAST in the sun.

Regardless, it sounds like you have a high chlorine demand for sure. What is the strength of the "liquid chlorine" from the pool store? 6%, 12.5%, 15%? If you have a lot of organic matter in the pool it could take double or triple that to burn it all off. Any stuff on the pool bottom? Dead leaves, etc?

Algaecide wont help with the bird poop. You need to stay at shock level for at least a day and continue to run your pump 24/7 until it is clear.

The bird dropping are a problem if you have a lot of them. You might consider trimming back your trees.
mammal_40
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Postby mammal_40 » Wed 20 Jun, 2007 20:49

the bottle says:
10% sodium hypochloride
90% inert ingredients
12% available chlorine

There's nothing on the bottom of the pool.

There aren't any trees near the pool. Just a bird nesting about 50 feet away. This will be our fourth summer with the pool and I've never had this many droppings on the pool and cover.
Buggsw
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Postby Buggsw » Wed 20 Jun, 2007 21:23

10% sodium hypochlorite is the strength Backglass was looking for - that is the strength of chlorine you are using.

I also expect your CYA is nonexistant or very low.
mammal_40
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Postby mammal_40 » Wed 20 Jun, 2007 21:26

Would having low CYA cause my chlorine to not rise while adding? How much of the 10% do I need to shock?
Buggsw
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Postby Buggsw » Wed 20 Jun, 2007 21:33

Your shock level would be 10 ppm. You need 1.5 gallons of 10% to raise from 0 to 10ppm chlorine.

Yes, the CYA is sort of like a sunscreen for chlorine. Without it, a pool with a lot of sunlight is going to lose all the chlorine in a short time.

On the other hand, if your CYA is too high you can also lose a lot of chlorine because at a point CYA reduces the effectiveness of chlorine and algae blooms will eat up all your chlorine in a big hurry. In that case you have to keep higher levels of chlorine daily and use higher shock levels.

So get a reading on your CYA, so you know which problem you really have.
Backglass
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Postby Backglass » Thu 21 Jun, 2007 08:27

mammal_40 wrote:the bottle says:
10% sodium hypochloride
90% inert ingredients
12% available chlorine


Just so you know, that's just 10% bleach. Stop by Walmart and pick up a couple gallons of 6% bleach. You will need a little more (2.5 gallons) , but its probably a lot cheaper then the pool store. It is in my area anyway...
mammal_40
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Postby mammal_40 » Thu 21 Jun, 2007 22:09

I finally got the chlorine level up to shock. I vacuumed the pool again, cleaned the cover and shocked again with 1 gallon of 10% sodium hypochloride. This time the chlorine level went right up and the water was crystal clear after a few hours. The only difference was I used new chlorine I just bought today. Could the chlorine I had before go bad? I was storing it in my backyard shed. It gets pretty warm inside, and the weather here has been a bit warm lately. I am storing the new stuff I bought in our attached garage. It stays cooler in there.

By the way, much to my surprise, the CYA was at 40...?

Thanks for the tips!
Buggsw
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Postby Buggsw » Thu 21 Jun, 2007 22:40

Super! Good job!

Since your CYA is a 40, that's pretty much perfect. I wouldn't use any tablets or pool store powdered shock as they usually contain stabilizer.

Yes, chlorine can lose it's strength especially stored in undesirable conditions.

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