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cloudy water


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  • 1 month later...
My water has suddenly turned cloudy.

The pool is a  9'x18' above ground Intex and I only got it last year. Although it came with a salt/chlorine machine frankly it seemed more trouble and aggravation than it was worth what with tripping out and not really treating the pool properly anyway so this year I have been treating the water manually with Chlore Choc granules. All has seemed OK up until a couple of days ago and I suspect that heavy rain has had some effect but I don't know for sure.

Research has thrown up a whole catalogue of possible reasons and cures but I'm now totally confused with it and at a loss to know what to do.

Ultimately I could empty and refill it, it's only about 15m3 and not being on mains sewerage my water is only a tad over €1 per m3, less than the cost of a couple of filters for the pump, but I'm loath to replace 26 deg water with 16/18 deg from the tap and wait a week or more for the temperature to regain a useable level so any other advice would be welcome.

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I take your point. Unfortunately I only have the little dropper type tester and don't feel too inclined to lash out on an expensive gizmo, not that I'm sure I'd have a clue on how to interpret the results from one anyway [8-)]

I did chuck a bit more Chlore Choc in it yesterday after we'd finished in there and left the pump running overnight and it does seem to have cleared quite a bit. It's not completely cloudy just noticeably not as crystal clear as I know it should or could be so I guess in part I'm asking if there is some product I could try chucking in there, even if it is on a hope rather than judgement basis, with the option of a refill if it does turn pear shaped.

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Another possibility could be a very high level of stabiliser - this would tend to stop the chlorine from working.

Around here the pool shops are more than happy to check the level - take along a sample (of pool water [:)])

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Hello Ernie, have heard of a few pools in the area turning green. Probably due to chlorine being burnt off quickly in the  40 something temperatures we have been having. Extra chlorine and running the filtration 24 hrs usually solves the problem. We always run the filtration 24 hrs when the 'warm ' temperatures start.

What are the chlorine and ph readings with your testing kit?

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An update.

I've been a bit busy as some may have noticed but running my pump 24/7 has cleared the water to some extent but it's still not what I call clear so unsure what to do next.

I only have the dropper test kit and on the basis that a picture is worth a thousand words.........

[IMG]http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p123/biskitboyo/analysis.jpg[/IMG]

Is there something modestly priced that is a bit less haphazzard ?

I did chuck some flocculant in early on too but not sure if that's what has been responsible for the partial clearing or the continual filtering. One thing which I find unsatisfactory is that the pick up for the pump is only some 300mm or so below the water level and the return higher than that so I don't really see how it can be cycling the whole of the water. I tried putting an extension on the pickup and weighting it down to the bottom but it seemed to create some cavitation in the pump so had to be abandoned.

I'm actually coming round to thinking along different lines now, as I said my salt generator decided not to work this second year so have been treating manually but the pump is quite noisy and irritating and what with the ongoing cost of filters (now discovered @ €9 in Gifi) and the aggravation factor I'm contemplating installing a proper filtration plant but it has to be at a reasonable price so any advice on that would be appreciated.

Ultimately I'd like a system which I could almost forget about for up to a fortnight so intervention by 'er indoors whilst I'm away isn't required too often, just not her thing.

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Update update: (if anybody is interested [:)])

Yesterday I went to Gifi to buy some more filters for my pump unit and spotted that they had some very reasonably priced sand filters for sale, €159.99 to be precise. In view of my earlier thoughts and mindful that I was probably going to be spending €100+ on disposable filters this year alone it was not a particularly difficult decision to make to so I bought one and plumbed it in and what a revelation !

Having been running my old pump 24/7 for the past 6 days with only partial success, overnight the sand filter has cleared the water almost entirely and hopefullyanother day will see it back to crystal as it should be !

Chuffed am I, not to mention that the new unit is virtually silent in comparison to the old pump which was irritatingly noisy plus it fulfils my other desire to have something that 'er indoors doesn't have to be messing with. The only minor downside is that the pump pressure seems lower than the old one and may not be sufficient to drive my cleaning robot but I can live with that and clean with alternative means if that proves to be the case.

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Nice one ErnieY, 

Looking at your chemical level, your PH is too high so you need to some pool acid (PH-) Chlorine does not work very well near the 8 mark.

Now you have a sand filter don't forget to backwash it now and again. Remember to use the rinse too as otherwise you may blast the dirt back in to the pool.

Remember to switch the pump off before moving the multiport valve handle.

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Thanks teapot.

I'll correct the PH this morning, good to have all these little tips !

Just done a backwash and the outflow was like potato water for want of a better description, and yes, did rinse afterwards.

Have actually read the manual too so know to switch off between functions but thanks for the warning.

Looking forward to a dip in luvverly clean pool this avvy then with a beer or 2 on my new decking, life is good sometimes [:D][:D][:D]

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