Cloudy Pool Water Support - READ FIRST

Causes and cures for cloudy swimming pool water.
Milky pool water, white, pink, brown, purple, black cloudy water.
mimi
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Cloudy Pool Water Support - READ FIRST

Postby mimi » Mon 27 Jun, 2011 11:29

chem geek wrote:Chlorine is a CONSUMABLE and must be added every day or two, not just once a week. This is why a lot of people use Trichlor pucks in a floating dispenser so that chlorine is more continually introduced. Unfortunately, continued use of Trichlor builds up Cyanuric Acid (CYA). The Chlor-Brite you have been using is Dichlor when increases CYA even faster. The following are chemical facts independent of concentration of product or of pool size:

For every 10 ppm Free Chlorine (FC) added by Trichlor, it also increases Cyanuric Acid (CYA) by 6 ppm.
For every 10 ppm FC added by Dichlor, it also increases CYA by 9 ppm.
For every 10 ppm FC added by Cal-Hypo, it also increases Calcium Hardness (CH) by at least 7 ppm.

So even with a 2 ppm FC per day chlorine usage, Trichlor would increase CYA by over 35 ppm PER MONTH if there were no water dilution. Higher CYA levels make chlorine less effective -- basically, it is the FC/CYA ratio that determines the active chlorine level that kills pathogens and prevents algae growth.

You should read the Pool School to learn how to properly manage your pool. Your cloudy water is likely nascent algae growth before it turns into a full-fledged bloom. You need to shock with chlorinating liquid or bleach (or possibly Cal-Hypo if your CH is low).



Perfect advise! It worked and thank you for the information!


poolbum
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Cloudy Pool Water Support - READ FIRST

Postby poolbum » Thu 30 Jun, 2011 23:01

My pool is 20ft by 40ft, 30,000 gallons vinyl liner with a sand filter. Last week Friday I got home from work and my pool was a little cloudy and you could still see the drain. By the time I went in to get my test strips I came back and you could not see the bottom. I took the reading and I little to no chlorine, phllevel was 7.3, Stabalizer was in the high category, Hardness was normal. I took a sample to the pool store for testing and they said I had little bit of nitrates, and no chlorine. I went home shocked it and and added some ultra bright clarifier and within 24 hours it started clearing up and within 48 was perfect. Well 2 days later I came home it was totally cloudy but worse. I drained a substantial amount out and refilled, I have shocked it two times now for a total of about 12lbs. I had it tested and there are now NO nitrates. I shocked it and 4 hours later I am still showing little to no Level of chlorine. SHOULD I, shock it again, and again until I get a chlorine level? I changed the sand out last summer. I also have a small leak in the line going into the filter would that cause it too be cloudy?
chem geek
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Cloudy Pool Water Support - READ FIRST

Postby chem geek » Fri 01 Jul, 2011 10:37

The cloudiness is probably algae starting to grow. Shock the pool with chlorinating liquid or 6% unscented bleach, but if your CYA level is high, then you may need to do a partial drain/refill to lower it. Read how to Shock Your Pool.
poolbum
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Cloudy Pool Water Support - READ FIRST

Postby poolbum » Fri 01 Jul, 2011 16:03

What I use for shock is Chlor brite granules from leslies pool. I have shocked it a couple times and finally this afternoon I think it is holding, and showing a little bit of clearing. I don't understand, I vacuum once or twice a week, and brush it almost daily if not every other day. Maybe with the heat we have been having I may have fallen behind on Chlorine. CAN I add to much chlorine?
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Cloudy Pool Water Support - READ FIRST

Postby chem geek » Fri 01 Jul, 2011 23:59

Chlor-Brite is Dichlor where for every 10 ppm Free Chlorine (FC) it also increases Cyanuric Acid (CYA) by 9 ppm. So unless your CYA is too low, you should not use this product. You should instead shock using chloirinating liquid or 6% unscented bleach or possibly Cal-Hypo if your Calcium Hardness (CH) isn't too high.

Higher CYA levels make chlorine less effective so using stabilized chlorine when the CYA is already too high just exacerbates the problem in the long-run since only water dilution will lower the CYA level.
penny

Cloudy Pool Water Support - READ FIRST

Postby penny » Mon 18 Jul, 2011 07:53

angela delk wrote:I opened my pool on 5/28, the first few days were good all clear no problems then it turned cloudy and has been cloudy evesince I took samples to 3 different pool companies and had it tested all my levels were on the mark. they all said I needed a clarifier so I have done that 3 times with no results personally I am at my wits end I keep spending momey on all the stuff they say do and it don't work CAN YOU HELP ME PLEASE
Patsy

Cloudy Pool Water Support - READ FIRST

Postby Patsy » Wed 09 May, 2012 21:50

I had my water tested and was told that I had a chlorine demand. They told me to add 25 bags of burnout.
I did and now I have cloudy blue water. Can't see the bottom. How long should it take for the water to
clear?
daisy

Cloudy Pool Water Support - READ FIRST

Postby daisy » Fri 11 May, 2012 20:15

Burn Out has calcium in it that will cloud the pool water! try adding Clear and Perfect by Natural Chemistry and let the filter run 24/7 and make sure that the eye ball of the return is pointed down and away from the skimmer, also make sure there is no ripple on top of the water because you want to filter under the water line not on top. Also only clean or backwash your filter when necessary, put your hand in front of the return and if the water is coming out nice and strong don't clean or backwash the filter.
Hope this helps!
Ray & Cheryl

Cloudy Pool Water Support - READ FIRST

Postby Ray & Cheryl » Wed 04 Jul, 2012 11:39

Cloudy Pool Problem Solved With Quick Drain
This has been the most discouraging pool opening ever!!!!!!!! We have had a pool since 1985, we presently have a Jacuzzi pump and filter . This year…our pool water has been SO cloudy that we could NOT see the top rung of the ladder….let alone the bottom of the pool. The chemical readings were fine, we even went as far as changing the filter sand and still no good results, it seemed no matter what we did ended at a dead end. Then we got this bright idea to shut the pool down for one night, well would you believe it in the morning….everything had settled to the bottom….CLEAR….we could see the pool bottom the ladder everything!!!!! At this point it wasn’t hard to figure out what was going on, by keeping the pool running…this very light…almost like a talcum powder was forced to circulate or crawl if you will through the water keeping the pool cloudy, with the pool off for several hours it had a chance to settle to the bottom in pockets all over…NOW TO GET RID OF IT!!!! We used this new idea called “QUICK DRAIN” (check it out @ http://www.bargainpoolproducts.com or http://www.randcinnovations.com). With this new amazing device we were able to very quickly vacuum (with filter on waste) all of the pollutant from the pool. In order to completely eradicate the pollutant we knew there was going to be a good amount of water loss meaning the pool water level would probably need to go down below the skimmer also meaning that the pump would no longer be able to run. Thanks to Quick Drain which allows you to continue vacuuming with the water level BELOW the skimmer we didn’t need to shut the pool down. Once finished vacuuming with the filter dial back in the filter position we left Quick Drain inserted in the skimmer to continue recirculating the water until (with the help of a garden hose) it regained its original depth @ the skimmer, this also allowed us to continue enjoying our pool while Quick Drain was doing the work…. “QUICK DRAIN”…an amazing product
Bluepoolsolutions

Cloudy Pool Water Support - READ FIRST

Postby Bluepoolsolutions » Tue 11 Feb, 2014 19:07

Top 10 Reasons Your Swimming Pool Water Might be Cloudy!

1. Inconsistent chlorination

2. Pump not running long enough

3. Water level too low

4. Pool filter dirty

5. Pool valve incorrectly positioned

6. Suction side plumbing leak

7. Variable speed pump improperly set

8. Skimmer or pump baskets filled with debris

9. pH has drifted too high

10. Had great pool party, oops too many people invited!

visit http://bluepoolsolutions.com/ for more info.
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Cloudy Pool Water Support - READ FIRST

Postby chem geek » Thu 13 Feb, 2014 01:41

RubyKBlack
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Re: Cloudy Pool Water Support - READ FIRST

Postby RubyKBlack » Tue 27 Sep, 2016 23:37

Thanks for sharing
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Re: Cloudy Pool Water Support - READ FIRST

Postby mistlin » Wed 03 May, 2017 03:36

The water usually becomes cloudy when the amount of pool chemicals in the water is imbalanced. This could be due to high alkalinity, high or low chlorine level. When the chemical balance is not right. Unwanted particles start accumulating in the water. Cloudy water can also be due to filter issues. I had this problem and then it got fixed after I called in inground pool builders(http://www.poolhelpforum.com/areas-serviced/swimming-pool-builders-contractors-toronto/) to look it up and fix the issue which they did. Cloudy water can come if the filter system is faulty or if you are not running your filter as per the required 8 to 10 hours daily. A filter constantly cleans the pool water. So if you do not use it properly the water would stagnant and thus make the water cloudy. Always check your pool after you shock it.

You can get rid of the cloudy water by using pool clarifier. Using it once every week is important. The pool clarifiers collect the tiny particles that are causing the pool water to become cloudy and binds them together to form larger particles so that the filter can easily pick them up. Since tiny particles are difficult to get collected by the filter the pool clarifier would clot them together so that the pool filter would find it easy to trap them. Vacuuming the pool is also another thing that you could do. When vacuuming make sure that the filter is set on the backwash option. If you are using a cartridge filter remember to remove the drain plug. You could vacuum all the cloudy water out of your pool. This is important because if you pass a lot of dirty water through the filter it may not function properly. And the dirty water will flow back into the pool. By vacuuming out the dirt it would not go through the filter system. Vacuuming the pool would result in the loss of so much water so make sure that there is fresh water getting into your pool during the vacuuming process. Despite the loss of huge amount of water, if done properly your pool will clear up within a day.
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Re: Cloudy Pool Water Support - READ FIRST

Postby Denniswiseman » Wed 03 May, 2017 06:26

mistlin wrote:The water usually becomes cloudy when the amount of pool chemicals in the water is imbalanced. This could be due to high alkalinity, high or low chlorine level. When the chemical balance is not right. Unwanted particles start accumulating in the water. Cloudy water can also be due to filter issues. I had this problem and then it got fixed after I called in inground pool builders(http://www.poolhelpforum.com/areas-serviced/swimming-pool-builders-contractors-toronto/) to look it up and fix the issue which they did. Cloudy water can come if the filter system is faulty or if you are not running your filter as per the required 8 to 10 hours daily. A filter constantly cleans the pool water. So if you do not use it properly the water would stagnant and thus make the water cloudy. Always check your pool after you shock it.

You can get rid of the cloudy water by using pool clarifier. Using it once every week is important. The pool clarifiers collect the tiny particles that are causing the pool water to become cloudy and binds them together to form larger particles so that the filter can easily pick them up. Since tiny particles are difficult to get collected by the filter the pool clarifier would clot them together so that the pool filter would find it easy to trap them. Vacuuming the pool is also another thing that you could do. When vacuuming make sure that the filter is set on the backwash option. If you are using a cartridge filter remember to remove the drain plug. You could vacuum all the cloudy water out of your pool. This is important because if you pass a lot of dirty water through the filter it may not function properly. And the dirty water will flow back into the pool. By vacuuming out the dirt it would not go through the filter system. Vacuuming the pool would result in the loss of so much water so make sure that there is fresh water getting into your pool during the vacuuming process. Despite the loss of huge amount of water, if done properly your pool will clear up within a day.

There are a few errors in this post
1.Cloudy water is generally an indication of algae and you need to Slam. Check this first
2.There is no need to run your filter 8 to 10 hours daily, it's a myth whatever mixes your chems and cleans is sufficient
3.When vacuuming the filter should not be set to backwash as it will send the water round the wrong way. Set to waste and it bypasses the filter
4.If you pass dirty water through the filter it makes it more efficient and doesn't just pass straight through. Backwash your filter when it's 20% to 25% higher than your clean filter pressure
5.Vacuuming through the filter which is desireable to clean your pool will not reult in any water loss, only backwashing and vacuuming to waste will lose water
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Cloudy Pool Water Support READ FIRST

Postby Aaronges » Fri 15 Sep, 2017 07:51

Hello. The pool on our sitesi has some algae growing round the edges. As the edges are not smooth the manager says he will have to empty pool to clean. I said he could increase chemicals but he says no.
Has anybody else had to empty pool at peak season?
Thanks in advance,Derek.
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