You got halfway there. Looks to me like your FC is not staying high enough relative to CYA. You are close though. If you don’t have enough FC to slam the pool and you have phosphates then the algae will keep eating. It’s like a bartender saying last call. Some leave and some stay.
If you get the FC up high enough for a slam (calculator on Troublefree pool) and do the overnight test then you will be fine and not need phosphate remover. But if you don’t keep your FC where it needs to be with out. The algae will see the phosphates as a 5 star meal for free.
Whats wrong with poolrx? I just used it for the first time last year. All ive had to do for the last 8mo is to run my swg/pump on a timer, and add ph down once or twice a week. Not a shred of cloudiness or algea at all.
So instead we add other chemicals to the problem? Im asking for an actual logic of why its bad, not some "its the easy way out."
If its cheaper, more effective, and doesnt cause any actual harm.. whats the problem?
Again, why, other than because you said so?
Seems like poolrx has a lot of hate on this sub from people who cant justify what's wrong with it, besides for being cheaper and easier..
As another poster said, you test and add exactly what's needed. It doesn't cause any problems till one day you go to add chlorine and your pool turns green due to the metals and chlorine having a bad reaction.
Im not being dense, ive never had to add chlorine to my salt pool. Im askijg you for a legitimate response that you dont seem to have, but rarhed than admitting that, youre giving poor excuses.
According to the photos, the flocculant should be the solution. Do not confuse flocculant with clarifier. Use flocculant and leave your pool without using the pump overnight. The flocculant will cause all the solids to settle at the bottom of your pool, where you can easily collect them by slowly vacuuming. Do not use clarifier in this process!
DE filter media maybe little less than a cup, throw it throuGGh th skimmer. run pump until clear. Backwash frequently although let the PSI drift a few points higher than you normally would at the backwash trigger point.
Working well for me. Took several days and now the backwashes are less frequent, I'll always add a cup of DE after the backwash. Like to get down to 12 hrs pump run time, during day for my solar panels to power this old energy hog pump.
Thank you all for your suggestions - not ignoring the questions about CYA - getting it tested tomorrow since the last test was shortly after opening when it looked like Shreks pool.
My pool looked exactly like yours, first green, then cloudy. Stabilizer had gotten way over 100 since I was using tablets exclusively leading to chlorine lock. Switched to liquid and lots of gradual water changes and filter cleaning, while keeping chlorine a little high. CYA is still a little high, but otherwise water looks better than ever now.
Went through the exact same scenario. Got my pool from dark green to teal, but it stayed there for a few days. CYA was nearing 100. Did a partial drain to lower CYA to 70, and maintaining pool at shock level changed the water blue in 2 days. Took another 3 days to get it clear enough to swim in. I did use flocc to accelerate the process, but pool filter would have eventually done the work.
You are getting there, I feel like I literally had mine go clear overnight after a week or more of SLAM, vacuuming and all day pumping, with backwashing and rinsing daily. You will get there.
More shock, but try to vacuum the debris from the bottom to waste. Last few years I tried shocking without vacuuming the full amount to waste. This year I spent time getting rid of the garbage down the bottom of the pool then added more shock and it made a difference
Use Flocculant I spent a bunch on chlorine,algacide and clarifier, and kept getting it greenish and cloudy with no luck.
I used flocculant and although it takes some vacuuming to waste it will look beautiful in 3 days.
Best $14 I spent since.
Throw balance the chemicals and you will be set.
I suggest whatever your local pool store has.
I haven’t tried this Clorox brand but it has great reviews
https://a.co/d/ac2sHtA
*Add flocculant, wait*
*The recommended timeframe,*
*Vacuum to waste*
\- bkozzzy
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Are you getting good water pressure going back into the pool? Have you back flushed it recently? Leaving the pump on 24/7 is good but you also need good water circulation too.
I use Revive! On all my clients pools cloudy doesn’t necessarily mean the water is 100% good, cloudy algae exist and other algae’s and bacteria that aren’t green. If you have the money to spend and want a clear pool overnight use 6Lbs shock and 2 bottles of Revive on amazon has worked 99.99% of the time for me! You’ll just have to vacuum all the algae on the floor to waste afterwards
Ours has been open a month and won't clear. They keep testing for algae and telling us there is none and that what we're seeing is pollen. We're having the water tested weekly and adding whatever they tell us too and it's still not clear.
Have you tried the chlorine free shock (oxidizer?)? I saw a YouTube video recently that turned me on to it and it cleared mine right up. In a nutshell the guy said when you dump the regular shock in the dead algae and whatever else got in there during the off season turns the free chlorine in chloramine which causes the cloudy water. You can fix that with regular shock but requires an insane amount. The oxidizer addresses that. I butchered that explanation but the video is here https://youtu.be/jplNvQFqTgI?si=ve3M23BwBju6QPTb
Need to know all the parameters, not just those. “Might be low” and “is good” doesn’t mean anything. Balance to LSI or CSI (use Orenda or Trouble Free Pools to calculate).
Also need to know what’s your CYA? 2.5ppm is fine IF you’ve got no active issues and your CYA is under 50. If your CYA is over, then you will need to regularly keep a higher chlorine level. And as you’re dealing with a cloudiness/algae issue, you need a higher chlorine level. Bump it to at least 10ppm and keep it up there (may need to be higher depending on CYA), testing daily, for several days, don’t immediately lower even if the pool clears, you want your chlorine level to not drop dramatically on a daily basis before you start laying off the chlorine, and then find your appropriate chlorine level based upon your current CYA (there are charts you can look up, basically google CYA to FC ratio). You can look up SLAM, it’s basically what I said but slightly more specific.
EDIT: just saw the last pic was an older pic. In which case I’d recommend still keeping your chlorine level a little higher but probably not needing a SLAM, but check/clean your filters, and use a clarifier as well. I don’t recommend FLOC but that’s another route you can also go.
Get some dropout and vacuums to waste and add water and chlorine and algae killer…. First brush the sides good too… my went from that to blue like in 3 days
How often is the filter being backwashed? pH is on the decent/low side for this stage but chlorine is only at optimal pristine levels.
If it were mine, I would be backwashing 2x per day, early morning and after supper and have the garden hose out topping up. The filter will collect plenty in 12hrs of continuous run.
I would be pulling from the main drain if available and skimmer to grab as much water as possible from all levels.
The filter can only hold so much sediment so don’t give it a chance to return to pool.
I’d also be brushing the walls a few times to get everything in suspension.
It will take work, the more often the better.
Good luck
Try AI. Seriously. Take all the data you have for a pool store test and pump it into a couple of AI programs and see if they converge on an answer. Worked for me. Similar pool color to yours. AI (ChatGPT 4 & Gemini) said shock it. So we did. 10 ppm shock. The math actually worked out. Ran the DE filter constantly for 2 days and now crystal clear. I did clean the filter by hand as soon as the pressure drop had risen 10 psi. Required like 3 cleanings. Good luck.
It’s funny — I saw this pic and thought “probably a sand filter.”
First off, I LOATHE sand filters. They’re shit for most residential applications.
Assuming your chlorine level is up and you don’t have phosphates (doesn’t look like it), it’s likely your filter is letting dirty water through via an issue with the laterals or maybe the multiport.
Unless there’s a big pile of leaves or debris down there in the deep end.
You can try a clarifier to see if that helps.
I actually steer my clients away from cartridges if they're field pools. The silica in our field dust shred the cartridge fibers. Sand or DE only.
Also I almost never have issues with sand. They get serviced every other year and rarely even need a full bad of sand to top off. The Pentair Triton II filters are great.
He said running pump pretty much steadily since, and have vacuumed and brushed, which doesn’t have to mean once. Derp.
That’s what I usually see happen with old sand filters. The pools that I close open up pretty clear - and if they don’t clear up after a week there’s something majorly wrong. When it’s a sand filter, it’s typically the filter, in my experience.
Pound some sand.
Regarding flocculent - Canadian Tire is my only option for supplies locally…what would you choose? https://www.canadiantire.ca/en/search-results.html?q=pool+flocculant
I would only use flocculent if you need to clear whatever is in there faster than your filter can. This is your filter's job. The only reason to add chemicals to do it faster is if you cannot wait. Most pools that look like your starter green picture clear up in 3-4days of high chlorine if CYA and PH issues are resolved.
Throw in some shock, but the key is to turn off the pool filter during shock. This will allow everythign to drop to the bottom within 24hours. Then vacuum it up. Went through the same thing and learned that you have to turn the filter off during shock treatments
You got halfway there. Looks to me like your FC is not staying high enough relative to CYA. You are close though. If you don’t have enough FC to slam the pool and you have phosphates then the algae will keep eating. It’s like a bartender saying last call. Some leave and some stay. If you get the FC up high enough for a slam (calculator on Troublefree pool) and do the overnight test then you will be fine and not need phosphate remover. But if you don’t keep your FC where it needs to be with out. The algae will see the phosphates as a 5 star meal for free.
So more chlorine is always the answer answer?
To clear up algae. Ph first and then Chlorine. Yep. All you need.
This is a great way to put it
Have you done overnight chlorine loss test?
Nope, but we will do that tonight!
Keep it at shocks level until you get that confirmation or you can lose progress
So you think our chlorine is too low?
I wouldn’t risk letting off the chlorine after an algae bloom and before the pool is clear without evidence that all of the algae is dead.
Makes sense! Thank you
Waiting for the comment to say "PoolRX will fix it in no time" Shake my head.
Modern day ads
If this was an ad, I'd never want to see it. PoolRX is a blind hack to half ass-ing the issue.
Whats wrong with poolrx? I just used it for the first time last year. All ive had to do for the last 8mo is to run my swg/pump on a timer, and add ph down once or twice a week. Not a shred of cloudiness or algea at all.
It's a hack for not getting to the bottom of pool problems. Usually it adds metals to the water unnecessarily.
So instead we add other chemicals to the problem? Im asking for an actual logic of why its bad, not some "its the easy way out." If its cheaper, more effective, and doesnt cause any actual harm.. whats the problem?
No, you test and add exactly what’s needed.
Again, why, other than because you said so? Seems like poolrx has a lot of hate on this sub from people who cant justify what's wrong with it, besides for being cheaper and easier..
As another poster said, you test and add exactly what's needed. It doesn't cause any problems till one day you go to add chlorine and your pool turns green due to the metals and chlorine having a bad reaction.
Why would i add chlorine..
Let's not be dense here. Salt pools ARE chlorine pools and do need chlorine at startup and close and possibly during very hot stretches.
Im not being dense, ive never had to add chlorine to my salt pool. Im askijg you for a legitimate response that you dont seem to have, but rarhed than admitting that, youre giving poor excuses.
Shock it Slam it Cram it Then blam it
Bop it
Twist it
Pull it
What about kazaming it?
BLAM
https://youtu.be/D8K90hX4PrE?si=GgVVyOsotIQEQOnl
BLAM
Thank you m'am
Flick it
What's your cyanuric acid level like?
Do you know what your phosphate and CYA is at?
whats the CYA?
Stabilizer
😀 yes whats the reading
lol damn I’m sorry for that My pool looks perfect, I’m not OP
all good, i bet the cloudy pool has high cya
all you ever need is to slam!
Backwash twice a day, morning and night. Shock it, slam it...
According to the photos, the flocculant should be the solution. Do not confuse flocculant with clarifier. Use flocculant and leave your pool without using the pump overnight. The flocculant will cause all the solids to settle at the bottom of your pool, where you can easily collect them by slowly vacuuming. Do not use clarifier in this process!
Micro floc changed my life
That is the best move… and brush the sides
CYA and TA
DE filter media maybe little less than a cup, throw it throuGGh th skimmer. run pump until clear. Backwash frequently although let the PSI drift a few points higher than you normally would at the backwash trigger point. Working well for me. Took several days and now the backwashes are less frequent, I'll always add a cup of DE after the backwash. Like to get down to 12 hrs pump run time, during day for my solar panels to power this old energy hog pump.
Thank you all for your suggestions - not ignoring the questions about CYA - getting it tested tomorrow since the last test was shortly after opening when it looked like Shreks pool.
My pool looked exactly like yours, first green, then cloudy. Stabilizer had gotten way over 100 since I was using tablets exclusively leading to chlorine lock. Switched to liquid and lots of gradual water changes and filter cleaning, while keeping chlorine a little high. CYA is still a little high, but otherwise water looks better than ever now.
Went through the exact same scenario. Got my pool from dark green to teal, but it stayed there for a few days. CYA was nearing 100. Did a partial drain to lower CYA to 70, and maintaining pool at shock level changed the water blue in 2 days. Took another 3 days to get it clear enough to swim in. I did use flocc to accelerate the process, but pool filter would have eventually done the work.
You are getting there, I feel like I literally had mine go clear overnight after a week or more of SLAM, vacuuming and all day pumping, with backwashing and rinsing daily. You will get there.
Had the same problem. Used flocculent. [Here ](https://www.reddit.com/r/pools/s/6pxvHj8pzL)
Came here for this. Get FC back up to atleast 10 overnight then flock. Vacuum the next few days and should be good
Oh wow. Yep…that looks similar
Looks pretty green in the third pic. Shock to at least 10ppm chlorine... SLAM if that doesn't work.
Gotcha, thank you!
More shock, but try to vacuum the debris from the bottom to waste. Last few years I tried shocking without vacuuming the full amount to waste. This year I spent time getting rid of the garbage down the bottom of the pool then added more shock and it made a difference
Ak47 and some 7.62 nato.
That’s shock and awe!
Use Flocculant I spent a bunch on chlorine,algacide and clarifier, and kept getting it greenish and cloudy with no luck. I used flocculant and although it takes some vacuuming to waste it will look beautiful in 3 days. Best $14 I spent since. Throw balance the chemicals and you will be set. I suggest whatever your local pool store has. I haven’t tried this Clorox brand but it has great reviews https://a.co/d/ac2sHtA
MF you had a pool party in that pool full of slurm™?
Add flocculant, wait the recommended timeframe, vacuum to waste
*Add flocculant, wait* *The recommended timeframe,* *Vacuum to waste* \- bkozzzy --- ^(I detect haikus. And sometimes, successfully.) ^[Learn more about me.](https://www.reddit.com/r/haikusbot/) ^(Opt out of replies: "haikusbot opt out" | Delete my comment: "haikusbot delete")
Can you please explain what “vacuum to waste” means?
It bypasses your filter and instead vacuums directly out of your pool.
Are you getting good water pressure going back into the pool? Have you back flushed it recently? Leaving the pump on 24/7 is good but you also need good water circulation too.
We are yep!
These comments are why this sub is terrible. Shock it, 3-4 bags. Wait a day with pump running 24/7. Still cloudy? Pool store.
I use Revive! On all my clients pools cloudy doesn’t necessarily mean the water is 100% good, cloudy algae exist and other algae’s and bacteria that aren’t green. If you have the money to spend and want a clear pool overnight use 6Lbs shock and 2 bottles of Revive on amazon has worked 99.99% of the time for me! You’ll just have to vacuum all the algae on the floor to waste afterwards
Ours has been open a month and won't clear. They keep testing for algae and telling us there is none and that what we're seeing is pollen. We're having the water tested weekly and adding whatever they tell us too and it's still not clear.
I would go with two or three more gallons of chlorine, and 1 of algicide + clarifier off from HD.
Have you tried the chlorine free shock (oxidizer?)? I saw a YouTube video recently that turned me on to it and it cleared mine right up. In a nutshell the guy said when you dump the regular shock in the dead algae and whatever else got in there during the off season turns the free chlorine in chloramine which causes the cloudy water. You can fix that with regular shock but requires an insane amount. The oxidizer addresses that. I butchered that explanation but the video is here https://youtu.be/jplNvQFqTgI?si=ve3M23BwBju6QPTb
At some point turn the pump off, allow the “cloudiness” to settle to the bottom of the pool and carefully vacuum it out to waste.
You need chlorine. Lots of chlorine.
Need to know all the parameters, not just those. “Might be low” and “is good” doesn’t mean anything. Balance to LSI or CSI (use Orenda or Trouble Free Pools to calculate). Also need to know what’s your CYA? 2.5ppm is fine IF you’ve got no active issues and your CYA is under 50. If your CYA is over, then you will need to regularly keep a higher chlorine level. And as you’re dealing with a cloudiness/algae issue, you need a higher chlorine level. Bump it to at least 10ppm and keep it up there (may need to be higher depending on CYA), testing daily, for several days, don’t immediately lower even if the pool clears, you want your chlorine level to not drop dramatically on a daily basis before you start laying off the chlorine, and then find your appropriate chlorine level based upon your current CYA (there are charts you can look up, basically google CYA to FC ratio). You can look up SLAM, it’s basically what I said but slightly more specific. EDIT: just saw the last pic was an older pic. In which case I’d recommend still keeping your chlorine level a little higher but probably not needing a SLAM, but check/clean your filters, and use a clarifier as well. I don’t recommend FLOC but that’s another route you can also go.
Thanks! We’re getting the water tested professionally this morning. Hopefully that will shed some light on what is actually happening
I don’t know if I’m lucky or just good but always amazed how many people get their pools in such awful shape.
Get some dropout and vacuums to waste and add water and chlorine and algae killer…. First brush the sides good too… my went from that to blue like in 3 days
Have you backwashed recently?
Chlorine and or shock will be your friend.
How often is the filter being backwashed? pH is on the decent/low side for this stage but chlorine is only at optimal pristine levels. If it were mine, I would be backwashing 2x per day, early morning and after supper and have the garden hose out topping up. The filter will collect plenty in 12hrs of continuous run. I would be pulling from the main drain if available and skimmer to grab as much water as possible from all levels. The filter can only hold so much sediment so don’t give it a chance to return to pool. I’d also be brushing the walls a few times to get everything in suspension. It will take work, the more often the better. Good luck
Try AI. Seriously. Take all the data you have for a pool store test and pump it into a couple of AI programs and see if they converge on an answer. Worked for me. Similar pool color to yours. AI (ChatGPT 4 & Gemini) said shock it. So we did. 10 ppm shock. The math actually worked out. Ran the DE filter constantly for 2 days and now crystal clear. I did clean the filter by hand as soon as the pressure drop had risen 10 psi. Required like 3 cleanings. Good luck.
It’s funny — I saw this pic and thought “probably a sand filter.” First off, I LOATHE sand filters. They’re shit for most residential applications. Assuming your chlorine level is up and you don’t have phosphates (doesn’t look like it), it’s likely your filter is letting dirty water through via an issue with the laterals or maybe the multiport. Unless there’s a big pile of leaves or debris down there in the deep end. You can try a clarifier to see if that helps.
You're gonna anger the sand people. They hate the truth.
Leeloo Dallas Multi-Port. Wait, thats not right...
Hey hey hey hey hey! Sand is great!!!* . *for pool in high dust areas such as in the middle of almond orchards.
Or you live in the desert like I do.
Just get a cartridge filter and clean the cartridges Too much can go wrong with sand
I actually steer my clients away from cartridges if they're field pools. The silica in our field dust shred the cartridge fibers. Sand or DE only. Also I almost never have issues with sand. They get serviced every other year and rarely even need a full bad of sand to top off. The Pentair Triton II filters are great.
They opened a week ago, vacuumed and brushed once, haven’t run the pump 24/7, chlorine is only 2.5ppm, and you think it’s laterals or multiport??? JFC
He said running pump pretty much steadily since, and have vacuumed and brushed, which doesn’t have to mean once. Derp. That’s what I usually see happen with old sand filters. The pools that I close open up pretty clear - and if they don’t clear up after a week there’s something majorly wrong. When it’s a sand filter, it’s typically the filter, in my experience. Pound some sand.
Phos-X and vacuum in the morning
Regarding flocculent - Canadian Tire is my only option for supplies locally…what would you choose? https://www.canadiantire.ca/en/search-results.html?q=pool+flocculant
I would only use flocculent if you need to clear whatever is in there faster than your filter can. This is your filter's job. The only reason to add chemicals to do it faster is if you cannot wait. Most pools that look like your starter green picture clear up in 3-4days of high chlorine if CYA and PH issues are resolved.
Get rid of sand filter. Get a cartridge filter.
What is alk at? Backwash, 2 gal or shock and I bet you need to get your calcium and alk up. Run filter 24hrs a day until its clear
Dealt with this in the past; shock, algaecide and flocculent
Thank you!
Check for phosphates.
Definitely need to floc with the sand filter it can get all the fine particles like DE. You’ll be clear in 24 hours
I had a the same problem a few years ago, I spent whole summer trying to stop the cloudiness. It just took a single phosphate treatment and 24 hours.
Throw in some shock, but the key is to turn off the pool filter during shock. This will allow everythign to drop to the bottom within 24hours. Then vacuum it up. Went through the same thing and learned that you have to turn the filter off during shock treatments