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How To Make Your Pool Clear

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What’s The Difference Between Free Chlorine Combined Chlorine And Total Chlorine

How to make your pool water clear

Free chlorine refers to the available chlorine that can sanitize your water. It differs from “combined chlorine,” which is chlorine that has already been used up, oxidized, or diluted with the ammonia and nitrogen compounds in the water. Unlike free chlorine, combined chlorine is ineffective after disinfecting and killing microorganisms. Total chlorine is the sum of free chlorine and combined chlorine.

Ideal chlorine and combined chlorine to avoid chloramine in your pool.

Administer Shock And Algaecide Weekly

Even if you maintain proper chlorine and pH levels in your pool, the water may need a little boost to keep it clear and sparkling. Once a week, you should shock or super-chlorinate your pool to kill any lingering bacteria or algae that may be growing. Shock treatments are available at your pool supply store make sure to read the package instructions carefully to know how much shock to add to the water since it varies based on the size of the pool. If youve noticed algae growing on the walls of your pool, you should also treat the water with an algaecide, a product designed specifically to kill algae. Algae can turn your pool water green, yellow or cloudy, so its important to prevent the growth.

Remove Foreign Particles Scrub And Vacuum The Pool

The environment and weather may also be the cause of cloudy water. To fix and prevent cloudy water, follow all of the best practices below.

  • Foreign particles, small and large, may find their way into the water, especially during spring. Body oil and sunscreen from swimmers also washes off in the water and accumulates in the pool, causing cloudiness. You can use nets to remove visible particles, and you may have to use pool clarifier to clear up the water when cloudiness persists. Also, I prefer using pool flocculant and vacuuming the pool to do away with fine particles that cannot be removed by leaf net or clarifier.
  • Algae also causes cloudiness in its early growth stages. To remove algae, scrub and clean the pool using a large leaf net and vacuum: Then do a pool shock to get rid of any remaining algae. Control the amounts of pH, chlorine, TA, phosphate, and other pool sanitizers to prevent algae growth.
  • Free chlorine depletes more quickly in full sunlight, but if trees and buildings are next to your pool, direct sun will be blocked. If your pool is in direct sunlight, consider using a chlorine stabilizer and a pool cover when not using the pool.
  • Rain also contributes to cloudy water because it dilutes and therefore reduces free chlorine levels. All you have to do is test the chemicals, paying close attention to the chlorine levels, and adjust them as appropriate.

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Wait Just How Cloudy Is Your Pool

Cloudy is a pretty vague term, and you should know that there are different stages of cloudy pool water. And yes, it goes from bad to worse.

Personally, Id break cloudy water into three categories:

  • Flat. The least severe form, in that your pool water still has its color but it doesnt have the sparkle it once did.
  • Hazy. The water is starting to lose its color and its now difficult to make out small details on the pool floor.
  • Milky. The water is no longer translucent, meaning the pool floor is not visible at all. This is pretty much as bad as it gets.

How Much Shock Does It Take To Turn A Green Pool Blue

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That may be fine for normal conditions, but if you have a severe algae attack, a triple shock is needed. 1 bag will get reach 7-9 ppm, but for 30 ppm, you need 3, 4 or sometimes even 5+ lbs per 10,000 gallons of pool water. Shock it until the water turns Blue-ish, said Davy Merino, our blog editor.

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How To Clear Up Cloudy Pool Water After A Rainstorm

Rainwater can make your swimming pool cloudy in a hurry. We just had a big storm today due to a tropical depression here in the North Texas area and have a number of swimming pools that were flooded in Flower Mound, TX.

Get your water to a proper level.

I would first suggest that you make sure you drain off any additional water in your swimming pool to bring the water level back down to the center of the tile or skimmer throat. Note: If you have a working swimming pool overflow line then this wont be necessary.

Ensure you have good circulation and filtration.

Also be sure to check your circulatory system and make sure that the water is flowing smoothly through your equipment and back to your swimming pool. This means having clean skimmer baskets and that your filter pump basket is not blocked with debris. Also check your filter pressure to make sure it is not higher than normal. If it is you will want to backwash it and add DE if necessary.

Test your Chlorine and pH.

Note: You will need to have your TA between 80-120 for your pH to be stabilized.

Leave your equipment running.

Once you have good circulation, filtration, and chemistry in place you should be able to clear your pool water with your equipment assuming the equipment is working properly and your pool water has not been cloudy for too long.

It is important to note that the time for your filter to clear the water will depend significantly on the type of filter that you have.

Why Is My Swimming Pool Water So Cloudy

So youre asking yourself why the water in your pool looks murky and unclear? You should probably

Check the Chlorine Contents

Adding some amount of chlorine to your swimming pool is recommendable to keep it fit for swimming in. The presence of chlorine wards off organisms or bacteria present in pools that eventually causes athlete foot, ear infections, and legionnaires disease, amongst others.

The concentration of chlorine in your pool fluctuates depending on three factors:

  • Amount of rainfall at that time or season if the amount of rainfall is high, it will definitely dilute the chlorine concentrations, giving pathogens and unhealthy organisms the chance to reproduce.
  • Amount of sun radiation that has reached the pool Ultra Violet radiation can destroy chlorine levels.
  • The number of people that frolic in the pool

Now, a pool with high chlorine concentration is bound to look really cloudy opaque. As more rain pours, sun rays or more people use it the chlorine levels should drop drastically, leading to a much clearer and more transparent pool. The point is not allowing chlorine concentration in your pool to get too high or too low. It should be tested every day to ensure it doesnt deviate from the average chlorine concentration of 2 to 4 ppm .

Check the Calcium Contents

Check the Hydrogen Concentration

Check if its caused By Too Much Rainfall

Pool Shock-ing

Shocking Hard Water

Now To the Business of the Day

1. Ensure the Water Is Tested
How Does It Work?

Finally

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How To Fix A Cloudy Pool

The good news is that, in most cases, the fix for how to clear a cloudy pool is fairly simple. All thats normally required is the administration of the correct dose of a water clarifier and/or flocculants.

I recommend this clarifier and this flocculant here.

Remember the two important things about the particles? Theyre small, and they repel each other because theyre all negatively charged. The way that clarifiers and flocculants work is that they neutralise the electric charge so that the particles bond together into something either big enough to be filtered, or else heavy enough to sink to the bottom of the pool for later vacuuming. The important thing, however, is DONT USE TOO MUCH. Using too much wont just neutralise the electrical charge, it will reverse it. The result will make the pool even cloudier.

For Dull/Flat or Hazy Water:

  • Start the pump running.
  • Adjust the pH to between 7.2 and 7.6.
  • Add the recommended dose of clarifier for your pool size.
  • Keep the pump and filter system running for 12 hours.

For Cloudy Water:

  • Adjust the pH to between 7.2 and 7.6.
  • Add the recommended dose of clarifier for your pool size.
  • Keep the pump and filter system running for 8 hours.
  • Turn off the pump and allow the pool to rest for 8-10 hours.
  • Vacuum the pool thoroughly, and run to waste.
  • Run the pump for another 4 hours.

You can read our in-depth article on flocculant here.

Balance Your Pool Water Chemistry

How to keep your pool crystal clear in just a few easy steps!

Once youre sure your water is as clean as it can be, test it or take a sample to your local pool store. To test it yourself, just use either test strips or a liquid test kit. Test strips are easier and quicker to use but are less accurate than a good liquid test kit.

Adjust pool chemicals as needed until your water is balanced. Use a chlorine stabilizeralso called cyanuric acidto protect your chlorine levels.

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Why Is The Pool Water Still Cloudy After Shocking And/or Adding Algaecide

In most cases, your pool water may still be cloudy but FC is fine or high. Cloudy or milky water after shocking is normal, and the water should clear up within an hour or so. Just make sure your pump and filter are running properly.

If you add algaecide, keep in mind that some algaecide contains copper, which can actually make a pool cloudy. If the cloudiness persists 24 hours after shocking, then it’s possible that you used a poor-quality chlorine shock. In this case, you should take another reading of free chlorine and do the shocking again using liquid chlorine .

You should also check that all chemicalsespecially pH, total alkalinity, cyanuric acid, and calcium hardnessare within the recommended levels. Remember that calcium hypochlorite chlorine shock and chlorine tablets are not recommended for daily pool sanitization, because they raise calcium, pH, and cyanuric acid in your water. You need to be extra careful when using them, or else these chemicals will get off the chart, causing cloudy water, algae, or ammonia in the long run.

Finally, debris could cause continued cloudiness in the water even when chlorine level is fine. You can try using a water clarifier to send all the particles to the filter, or you can use pool floc to gather all the debris together and then vacuum it up using a manual pool pump.

My Pool Was Clear To Start All Parameters Ok Then Hot Humid Weather Came And The Water Turned Emerald Green

We suggest the following procedure:

1. Adjust the pH and Alkalinity levels of the water using pH Plus , pH Minus and Alkalinity adjustment . These levels must be within the proper ranges or the water may not clear completely.

2.Shock the pool. This means chlorinating the water to kill off any bacteria and algae. Start off by adding 3 or 4 gallons, and if you see no results overnight, add 3 or 4 more gallons the next day. Continue this process until you notice the water changing color to cloudy white, light green or clear. YOU CANNOT OVER SHOCK A POOL ! The more you add, the quicker it will clear ! Noteshock is available in liquid or powdered form, but we recommend against using powdered shock .

3.Add a high quality algaecide such as CLEAN & CLEAR MINERALS from C-Pool Minerals to the water immediately. If C-Pool is already in the water, double the weekly dosage and broadcast.

4. Run your filter 24 hours a day and backwash 2 times a day for quickest results. Run the backwash cycle for 60 90 seconds. The backwash should be a greenish cloudy color. The more you run your pool, and the more you backwash the filter, the faster the pool will clear up. If you have a D.E. filter, remember to add new D.E. to the skimmer closest to your filter after each backwashing. A D.E. filter is more work than a sand filter, but the D.E. filter will clear a green pool about 50% faster than a sand filter.

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Reasons Why You Might Have A Cloudy Pool

Before you set about clearing cloudy pool water, it helps to understand what is causing the problem.

In some ways, getting to the source of your pool’s cloudiness requires you to play chemist. We’ll try to break it down for you in plain English, though.

Related: A beginner’s guide to pool chemistry

Take a look at a few of the more common causes of cloudy pool water and then we’ll got over how to clear cloudy pool water.

Tip : Make Clear Rules About What You Need When

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Now building a money pool with friends can all be done online, but its still wise to create an outline of how much you are raising, by when, and how to do it. Also, you should have clear rules that ensure that no one person is the driving force behind the collection and everyone has a responsibility.

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Have You Shocked Your Pool Lately

  • Powerful chlorine shock treatment that is great for regular maintenance
  • Quickly eliminates algae, bacteria, and other harmful contaminants from your pool water

Sometimes, the best way to correct issues with the water in your pool is to “shock” it.

If you notice that your pool has a powerful chlorine odor or if the levels of combined chlorine are higher than they should be when you take a water sample, shocking the pool is in order .

Shocking your pool raises the chlorine to up to 10 ppm, and the super high dose of chlorine leads to the breakdown of dangerous chloramines .

The high level of chlorine also kills bacteria and pool algae in the pool or pool’s filter system.

An undesired aftereffect of shocking your pool is this: it can cause cloudy pool water.

In some instances, the cloudiness is a temporary thing .

Running your pool’s filter right after shocking can help it quickly clear away the particles and debris that cloud the water.

The condition of your pool’s water before you shock it can also play a role in whether or not it ends up as cloudy pool water afterward.

For example, if the water is fairly basic, with a pH over 7.6, shocking the pool can disrupt the solution of bicarbonates in the water.

To keep that from happening, test your pool’s pH before you shock and only use the treatment if the pH is 7.4 or lower .

Having hard water in your pool can also present a problem when you go to shock it.

The Cause Of Cloudy Pool Water

The cause of your cloudy water is easily determined by the color of your pool. If the water takes on a green or yellowish color, your problem is very likely algae. The easiest way to treat algae is to use a calcium hypochlorite treatment, or in simple terms, using a pool shock.

Take a look at our article on how to remove algae to help treat your case of pool algae.

If your water takes on a colorless or white-ish cloudiness, your problem may be chemical. Test your pool water using test strips to find which chemical is causing the issue.

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How To Clear Cloudy Pool Water

  • |October 13, 2020

I hate cloudy pool water as much as I hate cloudy lemonade . Theyre ugly, dirty, and generally not ideal for swimming thanks to a number of potential health risks.

The worst part? Cloudiness can strike your pool in a matter of hours, leaving you scratching your head as to what exactly went wrong.

In this article, Ill walk you through the exact steps to identify, clear and prevent a cloudy pool for both inground and above ground pools.

Need a quick answer? The cause is either chemical imbalance, circulation/filtration issues, or environmental effects. To fix it, youll first want to test your pool chemistry to make sure everything is in balance, then throw in some clarifier or flocculant to clump the debris. Your filter will take care of the clumps and voilà clear water.

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Get A Pool Pump Timer

HOW TO KEEP YOUR POOL WATER CRYSTAL CLEAR

Hopefully, your pump already has a timer. If not, I would invest in one. They are a crucial part of proper pool care.

Set the timer to run the pool at least 8 to 12 hours a day. If you can split up the times, great! If not, it wont be a problem for it to run 24 hours a day. Running your pump and filter is very important to keep your pool clear and its better to leave a timer in charge rather than a human.

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Clearing Up A Green Swimming Pool On Opening

If your pool is already green upon opening it, please first read our post How To Open An Above Ground Swimming Pool or How To Open My Inground Swimming Pool.

We suggest the following procedure:

1. Remove most of the large debris from the pool floor with a large leaf net . This will stir up the water, and may make your pool look much worse temporarily, but the stirred up debris will settle within a few hours. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO VACUUM THE POOL IF YOU CANNOT SEE THE BOTTOM OF IT OR IF YOU HAVE A LOT OF DEBRIS ON THE BOTTOM. YOU MAY CLOG YOUR SKIMMER, FILTER OR UNDERGROUND PIPES.

2. Adjust the pH and Alkalinity levels of the water using pH Plus , pH Minus and Alkalinity adjustment . These levels must be within the proper ranges or the water may not clear completely.

3. Shock the pool. This means chlorinating the water to kill off any bacteria and algae. If your pool is very dirty, it may need MANY gallons of liquid chlorine over a period of days before the water clears.

5. If you follow these instructions and your pool does not clear up within 4 or 5 days, your filter may not be functioning properly. Read our blog on Pool Filters, The pool will never clear up if the filter is not working properly.

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