Cloudy pool water (High pH)
#1
Cloudy pool water (High pH)
Just last week I had my existing in-ground gunite swimming pool opened (by the pool company that services it) and they balanced the water as usual. I did the cleaning of the cartridge filters myself as well as vaccuming the silt, etc. In the past they have always hit the water balance perfectly after taking a water sample two days after the pool is uncovered and cleaned but this time they missed it.
My pool water was somewhat cloudy a few days after the water was suposedly balanced so I ran a water sample by to have it analyzed again. It was confirmed that my pH and TA was indeed high so I added the appropriate amount of muractic acid and a product called Optimizer. The Optimizer is something I have used in past years and liked. These additional chemicals (muractic acid and Optimizer) were added in small amounts over two days. They helped to reduce the cloudiness a little bit but I still have an elevated pH and TA...and still some cloudiness. The pH is down from about 8.4 to only about 8.2 and the TA is still showing higher than it should be. It's been two full days now since I added the acid and Optimizer...which did help some but it hasn't given me anything near perfectly balanced water and I still have some cloudiness.
How long should it take for my water to become balanced and the cloudiness to go away? I would have thought by now it would be okay! Should I run yet another water sample by for another analysis? I've never had this kind of problem before balancing the water...
Any ideas?
Thanks!
Kooter
My pool water was somewhat cloudy a few days after the water was suposedly balanced so I ran a water sample by to have it analyzed again. It was confirmed that my pH and TA was indeed high so I added the appropriate amount of muractic acid and a product called Optimizer. The Optimizer is something I have used in past years and liked. These additional chemicals (muractic acid and Optimizer) were added in small amounts over two days. They helped to reduce the cloudiness a little bit but I still have an elevated pH and TA...and still some cloudiness. The pH is down from about 8.4 to only about 8.2 and the TA is still showing higher than it should be. It's been two full days now since I added the acid and Optimizer...which did help some but it hasn't given me anything near perfectly balanced water and I still have some cloudiness.
How long should it take for my water to become balanced and the cloudiness to go away? I would have thought by now it would be okay! Should I run yet another water sample by for another analysis? I've never had this kind of problem before balancing the water...
Any ideas?
Thanks!
Kooter
#2
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Mountain Williams Missouri
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Go down to the pool company or home depot or lowes and get the little 4 in 1 test kit for at home there. For the ph some more acid for sure 7.6 to 7.4. Id pull the filter and wash it again you dont have a hole in he filter do you how old are they. Also at home depot they have a Water clarifier by pool time. Get the cheep one there about $4.00 for a quart. you dont use a lot just a little works like a top and you get clear water ED
#4
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Mountain Williams Missouri
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You have got to get the PH down to 7.8 at best . this will help clear the pool. Right now you need more muractic acid get that 4 in 1 test kit it will tell you how much acid you need.Do your own test its not hard at all ED
#5
Thanks guys for the help and advice! I really appreciate it!
My pool water has cleared up and it's no longer cloudy but I still have a high chlorine level (about 8ppm), slightly high pH (about 8.0) and rather high TA (about 200)...but it's coming down. I added a gallon of muratic acid over a two-day period of time to help bring the pH down from about 8.4. I think the extremely high pH is what was really cauing my cloudy water! I'm now waiting on the chlorine level to drop to a reasonable level, which hopefully will bring the pH and TA down too. If I still don't have balanced water condition (after the chlorine level drops) then I'll have to continue to tweak it.
Do you think the high chlorine level is the reason I'm still getting a rather high pH and TA? When the chlorine level drops should that also drop the pH and TA?
I have taken some pictures to show you what the cloudy water looked like a few days ago as well as some more pictures taken today after adding the muratic acid, which brought the pH down from about 8.4 to about 8.0. The first two pictures are from a few days ago. The other pictures are a few days later. Pretty amazing change!
Pictures= http://bobcrews.homestead.com/poolwater.html
(You'll have to copy and paste the above website address into your address bar.)
Thanks again!
Kooter
My pool water has cleared up and it's no longer cloudy but I still have a high chlorine level (about 8ppm), slightly high pH (about 8.0) and rather high TA (about 200)...but it's coming down. I added a gallon of muratic acid over a two-day period of time to help bring the pH down from about 8.4. I think the extremely high pH is what was really cauing my cloudy water! I'm now waiting on the chlorine level to drop to a reasonable level, which hopefully will bring the pH and TA down too. If I still don't have balanced water condition (after the chlorine level drops) then I'll have to continue to tweak it.
Do you think the high chlorine level is the reason I'm still getting a rather high pH and TA? When the chlorine level drops should that also drop the pH and TA?
I have taken some pictures to show you what the cloudy water looked like a few days ago as well as some more pictures taken today after adding the muratic acid, which brought the pH down from about 8.4 to about 8.0. The first two pictures are from a few days ago. The other pictures are a few days later. Pretty amazing change!
Pictures= http://bobcrews.homestead.com/poolwater.html
(You'll have to copy and paste the above website address into your address bar.)
Thanks again!
Kooter
#6
Geez! I cannot get my chlorine level to go down! My water is no longer cloudy but my chlorine level is still about 8 to 10ppm (Dark Purple on te strips).
The pool service company opened my pool over a week ago and of course they added a lot of "something" to raise the chlorine level but it's staying at that elevated level. I have added some fresh water in hopes of reducing it but no luck. I'm not using any Stingy Sticks or Burnout or anything that would cause this elevated chlorine level.
Any advice on how to lower the chlorine?
Kooter
The pool service company opened my pool over a week ago and of course they added a lot of "something" to raise the chlorine level but it's staying at that elevated level. I have added some fresh water in hopes of reducing it but no luck. I'm not using any Stingy Sticks or Burnout or anything that would cause this elevated chlorine level.
Any advice on how to lower the chlorine?
Kooter
#7
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Mountain Williams Missouri
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First I have tried the test strips and dont like them at all get the 4 in 1 test kit. Now you have to get the water down to a 7.2 7.8 PH with the acid. I would also get some water clarifier like the one from Pool time. Let the pump run and it should drop the chlorine. But I think you have this wrong the chlorine should be about 1.0 to 1.5 and yellow the PH the 7.2 to 7.8 purple ED
#8
My test strips indicate the chlorine as a purple color and the pH as a pink/red color. Maybe the 4-in-1 test kit is different.
I'm not going to do anything for another day, allowing the pump to run 24 hours and see what happens. I've already added 3-gallons of acid (so far) to approximately 15,000 gallons of water trying to get the pH down!
I don't know if there is something wierd going on or not with the high continued high pH as well as continued high clorine. Strange indeed!
Any other ideas?
Thanks,
Kooter
I'm not going to do anything for another day, allowing the pump to run 24 hours and see what happens. I've already added 3-gallons of acid (so far) to approximately 15,000 gallons of water trying to get the pH down!
I don't know if there is something wierd going on or not with the high continued high pH as well as continued high clorine. Strange indeed!
Any other ideas?
Thanks,
Kooter
#9
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Location: Virginia Beach, VA
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Why lower it? Drinking water can have up to 10 ppm chlorine in it so what harm will lower levels in your pool have??
You SERIOUSLY need to pitch your test strips and get some form of accurate testing supplies though. Like was posted earlier, there are many testing supply kits out there that are fairly inexpensive. I bought the huge kit at:
http://www.poolsolutions.com/cart/kits.php
They do sell smaller ones (namely the $27 one) that will accurately measure your chlorine levels via the drop count method which is the MOST accurate.
http://www.poolsolutions.com/gd/cloudy.html
This page discusses the 100 reasons your pool could be cloudy. It all boils downs to getting your chlorine and ph levels accurate, and making sure your filters are clean and have run for a long time to clean any contaminents in the pool. 6 hours a day for a pool pump to run is a good rule of thumb since most filters will exchange filter the water 2 full times in that period.
You SERIOUSLY need to pitch your test strips and get some form of accurate testing supplies though. Like was posted earlier, there are many testing supply kits out there that are fairly inexpensive. I bought the huge kit at:
http://www.poolsolutions.com/cart/kits.php
They do sell smaller ones (namely the $27 one) that will accurately measure your chlorine levels via the drop count method which is the MOST accurate.
http://www.poolsolutions.com/gd/cloudy.html
This page discusses the 100 reasons your pool could be cloudy. It all boils downs to getting your chlorine and ph levels accurate, and making sure your filters are clean and have run for a long time to clean any contaminents in the pool. 6 hours a day for a pool pump to run is a good rule of thumb since most filters will exchange filter the water 2 full times in that period.
#10
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Location: Virginia Beach, VA
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BTW Kooter,
Thanks for posting your staining results in the painting forum! I just might be using your recommended stain on our garage this summer! Nice Bimmers too!
Thanks for posting your staining results in the painting forum! I just might be using your recommended stain on our garage this summer! Nice Bimmers too!
#11
Thanks Rebecca! I appreciate the advice on website and the pool test kit. I'll have to get one...
Also, the garage floor paint really does make a huge difference. I highly recommend it. Lastly, thanks for the kind words about the Bimmers!
Best regards,
Kooter
Also, the garage floor paint really does make a huge difference. I highly recommend it. Lastly, thanks for the kind words about the Bimmers!
Best regards,
Kooter
#12
Well today I ran a pool water sample by the company that services my pool and here are the abbreviated results:
Chlorine = 10.0
pH = 7.8
T/A = 199
Water purity (contaminants) = 150 [City drinking water is 100]
Optimizer = 51 [Anything above 40 and the Optimizer aids the chemicals to maintain water balance.]
I was told the reason for my high chlorine level was because we haven't had much sun or heat since the pool was opened when a large dose of chlorine was added to the water. I'm not suppose to use any Stingy Sticks (chlorine) in the skimmer or shock the water (Burnout) until the chlorine comes down to around 3.0. He also said the T/A would drop lower as well over time and it wasn't anything to be concerned about. (I hope he's right about the latter!)
I was told to add 1 1/2 pints of muractic acid to bring the pH down to a suitable level.
Other than that he said everything looked fine.
Thanks for the help! The water looks great!
Kooter
Chlorine = 10.0
pH = 7.8
T/A = 199
Water purity (contaminants) = 150 [City drinking water is 100]
Optimizer = 51 [Anything above 40 and the Optimizer aids the chemicals to maintain water balance.]
I was told the reason for my high chlorine level was because we haven't had much sun or heat since the pool was opened when a large dose of chlorine was added to the water. I'm not suppose to use any Stingy Sticks (chlorine) in the skimmer or shock the water (Burnout) until the chlorine comes down to around 3.0. He also said the T/A would drop lower as well over time and it wasn't anything to be concerned about. (I hope he's right about the latter!)
I was told to add 1 1/2 pints of muractic acid to bring the pH down to a suitable level.
Other than that he said everything looked fine.
Thanks for the help! The water looks great!
Kooter