how to clear up a cloudy pool?

Question

Hi I have a above ground pool 27,000 gallons. I had a chlorine demand problem so I had to dump 18 lbs. of shock in at one time. This made my water a very pretty blue but not clear. I can only see about 3 ft. down what can I do to get it clear.
My chlorine levels have been stable since I did this my ph is a little low but the pool store says it's normal from all the chlorine we put in it.
Any advice will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

Answer 1

My email is [e-mail] and if you give me the pH, total alkalinity, calcium hardness, total and free chlorine levels, and chemicals you use in the pool then I can give you an outline of what you need and can tailor it to your specific pool if you include the filtration system type, pump turn over rate, chlorination system, mineral treatment system, etc.

As for clearing up a cloudy pool, this can be caused by many different things. 18lbs of shock in a 27,000 gallon pool is quite a bit and I'm really interested to know why you had such a high chlorine demand on the pool.

If you had a high algae problem then you need to add a flocculate agent to the pool. You can either purchase the clarifiers from the pool store or you can pick up Alum from the grocery store in the canning or spices section. A cup of alum in the water will give it the ability to floc suspended particles so your filter can remove them. If it was an algae problem then the cloudy water is caused from dead algae cells.

You need to know what your combined chlorine level is at this point. Do a test for free and total chlorine then subtract the free from the total chlorine reading to get the result of combined chlorine. If this level is high then it will result in cloudy water.

Adding shock to the water isn't going to decrease the pH so I don't know what they are trying to tell you in regards to that. Depending on the type of shock you added you might have calcium precipitation. Most shocks are a calcium hypochlorite type and if used in vast quantities on a pool with high total alkalinity they will produce a cloudy water.

With an above ground pool I am going to assume it's a vinyl pool and not a concrete/gunite/tile pool. If this is the case and the pool store tells you you need calcium hardness then they are selling you chemicals you don't need at all. If you adjust the calcium hardness on the same day that you adjust the total alkalinity you will get a cloudy pool from calcium precipitation as well.

If you've ever used bromine in the pool and haven't drained it then you are going to have a serious chlorine problem. Hopefully this isn't the case but if it is then it can cause cloudy water as it binds both the bromine and the chlorine and will render both useless for sanitation purposes.

If you used an oxy shock then this can cause problems as well. Most oxy shocks will form organic compounds such as nitrates which are algae food. They can, under exacting circumstances, also create carcinogenic compounds but this is rate and generally isn't of concern to the typical home pool owner.

There's a LOT of if's with your pool and I'm sorry I can't give you a definitive answer on exactly what's causing this problem, but if you drop me a line with the information I requested I can give you a more tailored answer.

Answer 2

I had this problem- my water was milky. The only thing I found to help was to Flock it. Flocking is a chemical you add with the pump turned off. You leave the pump off for at least 24 hours. Flocking takes all the small particles and makes them drop to the bottom. You are then able to vacuum them up

Answer 3

drain the entire pool? that's crazy...what if you have a well- you just can,t do that not to mention where would you dump all that water?... then you have to order water and the cost of refilling a pool is about one thousand dollars for about 17,0000 gallons-that,s for a 27 ft round pool....

Answer 4

Filter constantly for 3-4 days. Sounds like a precipitate problem that only the filter can remove.

Answer 5

i think you should go by what the pool store says rather than me. but what i would do if it was my problem is, i would just drain the entire pool and start over. refill it, add muriatic acid, add chlorine, then shock. if the wall looks a little green or feels slippery i would add algae control. hope this helps

Answer 6

how long ago did you shock it? i've seen it take up to a week to clear if you had to REALLY put in a lot of chemicals