I have a 16X32 inground pool. How do I get the water clear? How do I add the chemicals? Free pour in? Help!

Question

The water is cloudy, I have been vacuuming and I have backwashed till the water is clear out of the outlet.

Answer 1

Joy, yes it will work just fine. Drop me a line at my email towards the bottom of this message.

On to the question at hand.

There are many different things that cause cloudy water in a pool. One of the main causes is unbalanced water. Adding calcium increaser and adjusting the alkalinity at the same time. Iron, copper, magnesium, various metals like these can cloud the water. Calcium precipitation will cloud the water. Algae, bacterial bloom, pollen in the water, etc. High swimmer loads and suntan lotion. Soap not being rinsed out of the clothing properly. Dust. And the list goes on and on and on. Anyone telling you it is a specific thing without knowing your water chemistry is only guessing unfortunately.

Yes, shocking the pool is one of the main ways to clear cloudy water because the most common cause is low chlorine. However, shocking the pool without knowing what your chemistry is can create more problems than it will help. Please get a water test done before you go adding ANYTHING to the water!

There are few chemicals you really need for your pool. Mainly they are going to be chlorine, baking soda, and borax. With these three chemicals you can maintain 80% of the household pools and a lot of public pools as well. I've used these chemicals for years in my public and semi-public pools with fantastic results.

As suggested, take a sample of water down to your local pool store and get it tested. However, don't purchase their recommended products at this time. Come back here or email me the results and we can get you balanced and back on track to getting a clean and clear healthy pool once again.

My email is [e-mail] and I also have a Groups up that you can find in my profile.

Answer 2

First things first....

Cloudy water in the pool is caused by two factors. One is calcium and magnesium hardness that has precipated into small crystals. The second cause is bacteria due to low chlorine level. Therefore, If you haven't shocked the pool yet, you need to do this first. It will kill any bacteria or algae that are helping to make the water cloudy. Shocking will tend to increase pH and may increase the cloudiness due to calcium and magnesium hardness in the water. That's okay.

Next, balance and adjust the pH using muriatic acid.

At this point you have two alternatives. The first one is to try a liquid surfactant...the most common one is sold under the name polysheen. This surfactant will help the cloudy particulate agglomerate into larger particles that your filter system can remove. Run the pool pump through the filter overnight, and then backwash the filter thoroughly. If this liquid surfactant doesn't work, then you need to go nuclear.

Ask your pool supply company for a powdered pool flock. Follow the directions on the package. Typically, it just says to sprinkle the pool flock across the pool surface, run the pump for about an hour, and then wait overnight for the particulate to settle. Then vacuum the pool with the filter valve discharging to waste. You don't want to vacuum the settled material to the filter. It will overwhelm the filter system, and you want it to go completely out of the system.

This should make a dramatic improvement in water quality. Once this is done, then check pool chemistry again,and run the sytem through the filter sytem overnight.

In the future, if you keep the chlorine level high, and the pH adjusted correctly, then you shouldn't have the cloudy pool again. Chlorine in the water will not harm you, and it will not make your eyes sting. Eye irritation is caused by the pH being too high or too low. Typically the pH has a tendency to increase over time.

Once you get the hang of controlling pool chemistry, you will enjoy your pool a lot more and it should take a lot of effort to keep the water clear.

Answer 3

There are several causes for cloudy water. High calcium levels, high TDS, high total alkalinity etc. Take a water sample to your local swimming pool supply shop and get a free test.
Their test will recommend their products but you don't have to purchase them there. Although since they did the test for free, it would be nice if you purchased something from them.
Follow the directions on the printout. The water should clear up in 24 hrs.
Unless, there is a problem with your filter.
You don't want to over backwash a sand filter. The dirtier it gets the smaller particles it will filter. Backwash when the gauge is 10 lbs higher than it is clean. Example if clean, it runs at 12 lbs, backwash when the gauge gets to 22 lbs.
Same with DE filters. I know it's not a cartridge filter, because you don't have a backwash valve on a cartridge filter.
Good luck.
Oh and ALWAYS add chemicals to water NEVER add water to pool chemicals.

Answer 4

You see all of these pool questions and the answer is always just to "shock" the pool. You need to realize that you have to shock to a specific ppm depending on where your pool is at now.

To answer your question you need to buy a good test kit, around $80, and learn how to use it or take a sample to a pool place. Don't just start throwing chemicals in your pool.

Answer 5

Best bet is to take a water sample to a "real" pool place. They will test it free and give you recommendations for how to treat. Just dumping a bunch of chemicals in your pool can be expensive and do more harm than good. They will also show you how to properly take/read readings with a tester.

Answer 6

take a testing strip. it tests alkalinity, acidity, chlorine levels etc. that will tell you what chemicals you need to add. the bottles will have the direct instructions, also make sure you 'shock' it everyonce in a while with a heavy chemical. check local pool supply shops, any american sale or target or anything. theres also something called a 'frogger'. but that needs to link up directly with your plumbing. but its basically maintanence free.

Answer 7

Hey Colt-
Ever heard of people pouring a couple of gallons of store bought bleach into a pool for a start up "shock"? We have a 17000 gal. pool and my husband thinks he can get away with this.

Answer 8

try putting in clarifier look on the back for tha amount to put in juss pour it in the water hope this helps

Answer 9

Go with sensible . If you live inFlorida take it to Pinch-A-Penny
they will do you right .