Cloudy water only when my pool is running in spa mode

[pharbrian]

The water in my spa that spills over into my pool is crystal clear except for when I run spa mode where the water recirculates in the spa only.
The spa water will become cloudy within 5-7 minutes in spa recirculation mode. If I run the air blower while in spa recirculation mode, this both prevents the water from getting cloudy and clears up the water if it is cloudy. If the spa water is cloudy and I turn off my equipment, the cloudy water clears within 5-7 minutes.

The spa water becoming cloudy in spa recirculation mode occurs regardless of where my pool chemistry is running and will become cloudy and return to being clear in the same time frame with the following pool chemistry ranges having been recorded over the past year:
chlorine 4-11 ppm
combined chlorine is always 0
pH 7.2-8.0
total alkalinity 70-80 ppm
calcium hardness 400-600
CYA 40-75 ppm
Salt 3000-3400 ppm
Boric acid 30-50 ppm

The temperature of the water also does not affect this issue. The spa water in recirculation mode will become cloudy and clear in the same time frame as discussed above in temperatures ranging from 63 to 104 degrees fahrenheit.

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[ajw22]

Welcome to TFP.

Your signature says you have a Hayward Aquarite SWG with your Jandy Aqualink. That means you cannot have different SWG % when in pool mode or spa mode.

What % output do you have your Aquarite set to?

I suspect the cloudiness you are seeing in your spa is from the chlorine and hydrigen generated from your Aquarite. You don't see it in a large body of water like your pool. But for the small gallons of your spa it is generated a lot of chlorine in a small space. You should see the cloudiness come and go as the % generation cycles on and off.

 

[pharbrian]

Thank you for your response ajw22.

You are correct, that a jandy aqualink can not remotely control the hayward aquarite SWG natively. I installed the chlorinator translator available from a website of the same name (I don't know if website links are permitted). This device allows my aqualink to remotely control my aquarite SWG.
I currently have the SWG set to 30% for pool chlorination and 3% for hot tub chlorination.

Before I installed the chlorinator translator, we would manually decrease the chlorine level to between 3-5%. We sometimes would turn the aquarite SWG off altogether if the chlorine level was towards the upper range of recommended levels when the hot tub was used. Even in those instances when chlorine generation was turned off during hot tub use, the cloudiness still occurred. There was no change in how cloudy it appeared or in how quickly it developed or resolved as mentioned in my original post.

 

[mknauss]

Air is still pulled into the spa returns even with the blower off. I suspect you are getting very tiny bubbles of air in your returns. When the blower is on, the air is much greater in volume and the bubbles are larger and thus dissipate quickly.

 

[pharbrian]

Air is still pulled into the spa returns even with the blower off. I suspect you are getting very tiny bubbles of air in your returns. When the blower is on, the air is much greater in volume and the bubbles are larger and thus dissipate quickly.

That makes sense sense since it resolves so quickly after the pump is shut off or if the air blower is running. They must be very fine bubbles. I have noticed small, but visible bubbles that will continue running into the spa returns, when in spa mode, after the air blower has been running and then shut off.