Brand New Pool Cloudy— Help I’m Desperate!

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Royaloaker

Royaloaker

Silver Supporter
Jul 2, 2024
144
Royal Oak, Michigan
Pool Size
7600
Surface
Fiberglass
Chlorine
Salt Water Generator
Please be kind, I’m rlly desperate. Brand new fiberglass small pool, 7,600 gallons, SWG. It’s taken us 7 months to get to the point where the concrete is poured and now the pool will NOT clear up & we still haven’t been able to use it. It’s been difficult bc our pool contractor is not forthcoming. I have not known what he HAS done, what we are SUPPOSED to be doing, but I’m just going to deal w it now bc summer is 1/2 over. We have a spa too, and I was able to get that balanced and the water is clear, but the pool is another story. I’d think if filter was off, spa would be screwed up too, but idk.

Contractor couldn’t clear it after opening (mustard algae and construction debris) so he just drained and refilled it Monday and then kind of abandoned us. It’s super cloudy and will not clear up. I added shock yesterday bc he left it super low. Levels look relatively good, but the baking soda is sitting on the steps, not clearing up (contractor added about 20 hours ago). We’ve been running filter on high, brooming, contractor has backwashed, nothing.

I know, I know— I just ordered a Taylor test kit. But for now, all I have are the strips. Should I add flocculant? But read that can gum up filter. Clarifier? Turn off pump and just vaccuum? If I need to wait for test strips, should I just maintain levels for now? Please help!!

P.S. my husband went to Leslie’s and nothing of note besides them freaking him out saying copper was too high (I’m sure contractor added preventative aglaecide) & our whole system was going to be ruined. I’ve read a zillion threads saying they’re not to be trusted so kinda annoyed abt that).
 

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Throw those strips away now and you'll never want them once you get the hang of how we do it here. Get 5ppm of liquid chlorine into the water daily till the kit arrives. No, don't use any of the stuff you mentioned. Here are some links while you wait for the kit and make sure the pump is moving water.
Pool Care Basics
Test Kits Compared
FC/CYA Levels
Test Kits Compared
 
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wireform said:
Throw those strips away now and you'll never want them once you get the hang of how we do it here. Get 5ppm of liquid chlorine into the water daily till the kit arrives. No, don't use any of the stuff you mentioned. Here are some links while you wait for the kit and make sure the pump is moving water.
Pool Care Basics
Test Kits Compared
FC/CYA Levels
Test Kits Compared
Click to expand...
Yes, I’ve read all the basics, thank you— it’s overwhelming to say the least. I just don’t get how a brand new pool with brand new water can be so screwed up. Looks like pump is running at abt 16 psi on high— I think that seems reasonable?
 
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I need help. Just had our new pool refilled Tuesday because our contractor couldn’t get it clear after initial fill/cover in Dec, and our contractor dumped a bunch of stuff in willy nilly Tuesday, (including algaecides), which I’m not happy about. We CANNOT get it clear. We did have a ton of construction dirt, and we’ve been vacuuming and running our robot (which has been filthy every time), but it’s still milky & can’t even see the 2nd step (never have been able to!!). Filter is running at 10 psi, we’ve been backwashing every other day, cleaning filter basket, etc. I am confused about how to treat the high alkalinity/high ph, and I don’t understand why it’s not clear— just got the Taylor test kit, & levels don’t seem to be THAT out of whack? Help please!!!
 

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Can you Please retest and show your Total Chlorine, and Combined Chlorine results. Just wondering if the pool is cloudy due to chlorine killing bacteria etc. I personally have a regular chlorine pool, and it seems your calcium hardness is definitely on the higher end. Which is concerning because the only way to lower is a partial drain so want to be sure. If you're CYA is 70 due to you having a SWG pool your free chlorine should always be within 5-10 PPM, but MIN. FC 3 PPM. To lower your PH and Alkalinity you can pick up some Muriatic Acid, I just did today at Walmart. Do the pool math calculations for your pool with all the test results so you can get your pool balanced ASAP.
 
eG_massacre said:
Can you Please retest and show your Total Chlorine, and Combined Chlorine results. Just wondering if the pool is cloudy due to chlorine killing bacteria etc. I personally have a regular chlorine pool, and it seems your calcium hardness is definitely on the higher end. Which is concerning because the only way to lower is a partial drain so want to be sure. If you're CYA is 70 due to you having a SWG pool your free chlorine should always be within 5-10 PPM, but MIN. FC 3 PPM. To lower your PH and Alkalinity you can pick up some Muriatic Acid, I just did today at Walmart. Do the pool math calculations for your pool with all the test results so you can get your pool balanced ASAP.
Click to expand...
Pool Math says CH is a little low, actually. I’m going to put the muriatic acid in tomorrow. I was just reading that high alkalinity causes particles to not dissolve, so hoping that’s what it is. I turned our chlorinator off and will see how much it decreased in the AM. Thanks.
 
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@Royaloaker Funny I grew up in Birmingham and played hockey in R.O. Small world!

Deep breath. We got you.

For your cloudy pool, do this test tonight or tomorrow. It will tell us if algae or something else is causing the clouding and we'll fix it. Link-->Overnight Chlorine Loss Test

On your chemistry, your FC is fine for your CYA. Your first duty is to maintain FC based on your CYA. You can always lookup your target FC here. Link-->FC/CYA Levels

Leave your pH alone! When your FC > 10, the pH test does not work. Turn down your SWCG a bit and let FC drift down to about 9, then retest pH.

In general, with a TA of 200, your pH will rise naturally. When pH gets to 8.0, reduce your pH to 7.4. Wait for pH to rise to 8 again and repeat. This process will lower your TA over time. When your TA gets to 80, stop lowering to 7.4 and only lower to 7.8 and pH should stabilize.

Do not fret TA, just manage your pH.

Stabilizer is just fine at 70. You need to manage your FC and make sure you stay in range for your CYA (see link above). CYA will degrade over time and you may need to add CYA when it drops.

Your CH is high, and without a gas heater, a fiberglass pool (without a tile line) does not need CH. Do you have a grouted tile line? If so, a CH of 250 is just fine. There is no need to reduce it yet. You have an SWCG, so go to pool math, gear in upper right, scroll down to "track" and turn on temperature and CSI. Scroll further and enable sharing with TFP so we can see your logs here. Once we get a handle on CSI, then we can talk next steps to lower it if necessary. The only issue with high CSI is that your SWCG may create calcium flake. Don't sweat it at this point, we'll get to it.

Where did you get the water for your fill? Can you test the water from your hose that you might top up your pool for TA and CH please? (Take a sample from the hose and test TA and CH).


Got You GIF by DrSquatchSoapCo
 
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Ah, B’ham! Where’d you go to high school?

This just made me more confused though. Bc Pool Math said to lower the alkalinity— you don’t think we should? I was so excited to see it was so high bc I thought that would the a reason why it was cloudy. I haven’t added anything since Tuesday, but powder keeps collecting on the top steps (you can see in one of the pics and we have also been getting a line of white residue along the water line on the walls). I thought since the chlorine level was so high and since our installer dumped so much algaecide in that it couldn’t be algae, but maybe it is 😭

We have been waiting so long to use this thing. But I will breathe, test the hose water, and test pool before the sun hits it in the AM. 🧘 Btw, we do have a gas heater and no grouted tile line. And I enabled CSI & temp— says CSI is good at 0.14. Thanks for your help.
 
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Royaloaker said:
Ah, B’ham! Where’d you go to high school?
Click to expand...
Seaholm and Cranbrook.
Royaloaker said:
This just made me more confused though. Bc Pool Math said to lower the alkalinity— you don’t think we should? I was so excited to see it was so high bc I thought that would the a reason why it was cloudy. I haven’t added anything since Tuesday, but powder keeps collecting on the top steps. I thought since the chlorine level was so high and since our installer dumped so much algaecide in that it couldn’t be algae, but maybe it is 😭
Click to expand...
Yes, lowering TA is good. The way you do that is to add muriatic acid when pH gets to 8.0 lowering to 7.4. Re-read the section on lowering pH I posted above. Lowering pH with muriatic lowers TA and pH. pH will rise naturally, without raising TA. Repeat that process, over time TA will come down. The ONLY implication of high TA is that pH will rise faster. Nothing else, and no bad will happen with high TA. High TA <> Cloudy. The powder may be calcium. Because of the high TA and high CH, your Calcium Saturation Index may be high and the powder is likely the result...and maybe the clouding.

Let's go in order. Chlorine and algae is king. Let's rule that out. Do the OCLT. Link-->Overnight Chlorine Loss Test If you pass, it is not algae and is may be your CSI with your SWCG.
Royaloaker said:
We have been waiting so long to use this thing. But I will breathe, test the hose water, and test before the sun hits it in the AM. 🧘 Btw, we do have a gas heater and no grouted tile line. And I enabled CSI & temp— says CSI is good at 0.14. Thanks for your help.
Click to expand...
Ok, so gas heater, no tile line, CH of 200 is just fine. Did you or builder add calcium? Test your fill water for TA and CH and we go from there. Make sure you use the same login on TFP and Pool math. Go back to the gear and enable sharing of your logs...makes helping you so much easier...

Tom Cruise Help GIF by MOODMAN
 
One other thing you can do is collect some of the powder collecting on the top step. Get enough to form a little pile. Add a few drops of muriatic acid. If it fizzes, it is calcium.

Where did you get your fill water from when builder refilled? Test YOUR hose water for TA and CH. We'll get you fixed up...
 
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PoolStored said:
One other thing you can do is collect some of the powder collecting on the top step. Get enough to form a little pile. Add a few drops of muriatic acid. If it fizzes, it is calcium.

Where did you get your fill water from when builder refilled? Test YOUR hose water for TA and CH. We'll get you fixed up...
Click to expand...
I enabled sharing my logs through my profile (and confirmed same logins for both— see pic), so idk why it’s not showing up? No idea if contractor added calcium. He’s a terrible communicator. We def did not. He brought in a water truck to fill. Will do everything you suggested in the order above then bug u again in the AM! 😃 Appreciate your help.
 

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Hi! Good news. FC increased a little, so hopefully that means no algae. Can you all see my logs now? I’m putting the Muriatic acid in now! I tried to get some of the dust on the steps but it’s impossible.
 
I do see your logs. If you hover your pointer over your pic a drop down shows and your pool logs are at the bottom. Well done!

For getting up some of the *stuff* up use a turkey baster. Every pool should have it's own toothbrush and turkey baster LOL
 
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kimkats said:
I do see your logs. If you hover your pointer over your pic a drop down shows and your pool logs are at the bottom. Well done!

For getting up some of the *stuff* up use a turkey baster. Every pool should have it's own toothbrush and turkey baster LOL
Click to expand...
Good idea! Thanks for letting me know it worked. Just added the TA test result for today. I may have made an error yesterday since it was the first time I used the Taylor test kit, so it’s not quite as high after I watched some videos on what the optimal “red” should look like.
 
To properly perform the OCLT, you need to turn the SWCG off.

Step one in the instructions...LOL

"How do I perform the overnight chlorine loss test?

  1. If you have an SWG, tablet chlorinator, or other chlorine feeder, shut it off completely."

Re-read the instructions (HERE-->Overnight Chlorine Loss Test) Do the test again tonight.

Increase because there is no FC demand at night (no UV), so your cell added FC.
 

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