Debris & Algae Invading Your Pool
Those floating leaves are known to be annoying and even deterring for swimmers, but you dont want to skim them out only when youre about to cannonball. They actually make your sanitizer work much, much harderand if theyre focused on the impossible task of breaking down a solid leaf, theres a lot of smaller, more ill-willed bacteria that will be allow to float around undisturbed.
And dont forget the contaminants that the swimmers leave behind: sweat, sunscreen, leave-in conditioners, moisturizers, and more can also suck up your sanitizers power. This is why its important to always check your levels and consistently add more chlorine as needed. If you skip a week and are already dealing with a fair amount of contaminants, thats essentially offering up your pool house to dirty, dangerous, all-around-unwelcome cloudy water.
And if you have an algae bloom, you are in some serious hot waterwhether you have a pool water heater or not. Unfortunately, its best not to swim with algae. Even though the algae itself usually isnt toxic in residential pools, they cause a series of problems: they inhibit your sanitizer to seriously extreme degrees, and low visibility could lead to drowning. Yes, drowning. So reallyif you have algae, keep out until you clear it up with sanitizing chemicals, pool shock, and a lot of scrubbing and vacuuming. Get it out of here.
Can You Swim In A Pool With Cloudy Water
If you suspect that the cloudiness is caused by a lack of chlorine, avoid using the pool until the water has cleared. The bacteria and algae causing the cloudiness in the water can be harmful if ingested and can make you sick.
If your water does have a good chlorine level however you can most likely swim in a cloudy pool. If the pool has a chlorine level above 1ppm the cloudiness is almost always related to filtration or poor water balance. In this case the cloudiness is caused by harmless minerals and other fine particulate.
Why Is My Pool Still Cloudy After Shocking It
FILTER OR PUMP PROBLEMS: If your pool is cloudy immediately after shocking, its not a problem with your pump or filter, but if your circulation is poor, or the filter is dirty or clogs up quickly, or if the pump doesnt run long enough each day all of these can create a problem with hazy pool water.
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Using Hydrogen Peroxide In Your Pool
If you do choose to use hydrogen peroxide rather than chlorine in your pool, its important to remain cognizant of what hydrogen peroxide does and doesnt do as well as to keep up with the recommended safety precautions when using this pool chemical. Youre probably familiar with the household version of hydrogen peroxide, which is 3 percent concentrate that will not harm your skin or eyes when youre using it for things like stain removal. Your pool will require a much higher concentrate 35 percent. Be sure to always use gloves and safety goggles when handling this chemical.
Hydrogen peroxide breaks down in light and warmth. Therefore, youll need to store it in a cool, dark place if you plan to use it for your pool. Food-grade hydrogen peroxide has a shelf life of about 30 days, so dont plan to keep much more than a months supply on hand at any one time. If youre buying hydrogen peroxide from a pool supply company, it may have a longer shelf life.
To be sure that your pool is completely clean and safe, use a secondary disinfectant as well as an algaecide in conjunction with the hydrogen peroxide. Do not use hydrogen peroxide with chlorine. When you combine the two pool chemicals, hydrogen peroxide neutralizes chlorine via a chemical process that creates water, oxygen and salt, explains Lenntech.
Clogged Dirty Pool Pumps And Filters
Filter maintenance is another factor that contributes to cloudy pool water in an inground pool or an above ground pool.
If your pool filter system is clogged up or your pump isnt performing well, it can cause cloudy water. And to keep your water looking crystal clear, you should run your filtration system at least eight hours a day.
The takeaway: When your filter isnt clean whether you have a cartridge filter, a sand filter, or a diatomaceous earth filter — the water filtered through it wont be distributed well by the pressure side of the circulation system. So, keeping your filter and pump clean, maintained, and in good working order will help you avoid cloudy pool water.
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More Reasons Why Your Pool Is Cloudy
Vacuum Waste Out Of Your Pool
Your pools main skimmer is located at the top of your pool, helping to clear the upper portion of your pool water. It does not help to collect the cloudy particles situated at the bottom of your pool. Knowing this, we need to help your filter get to those particles.
Simply hook up your manual vacuum cleaner as if you were about to vacuum your pool, but instead of using it as per usual, leave the vacuum centred at the bottom of your pool and turn it upside down. Now your pool filter will be pulling water from the bottom of your swimming pool and releasing the clean filtered water at the top.
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Chlorine Is Too Dilute Or Concentrated
Adding chlorine to pool water helps to keep your pool safe for swimmingsimple as that.
Chlorine kills off bacteria and other micro-organisms which cause unpleasant diseases and health problems like athlete’s foot, Legionnaire’s disease and ear infections .
Your pool’s chlorine levels will fluctuate based on how many people swim in it, based on the amount of rainfall you receive, and based on the amount of sunlight that shines on the water. .
The sun’s UV rays can destroy the chlorine , and lots of rainfall will also dilute its levels, giving microorganisms a chance to multiply, which affects the appearance and safety of your pool.
If the chlorine level in the water is too high, it’s also possible for the water to take on a murky or opaque appearance.
As the levels drop, due to swimmers using the pool or the sun’s rays burning it off, the cloudiness should clear up.
You should test your pool’s levels each day to make sure they aren’t too low or too high!
If a lot of people swim in your pool regularly, you might need to test the levels more frequently.
The suggested amount of free chlorine is between 2.0 and 4.0 parts per million .
Balance It Out Then Mix It Up
To get the best results from pool clarifier on the first try, make sure your pool filter is in tip-top-shape, that youve checked your pool chemistry, and that your pH and chlorine levels are in the right place.
Now you can add the clarifier and go for a swim!
Actually swimming in your pool while the filter is on will improve the effectiveness of the clarifier! When you are swimming, youre kicking and splashing and getting all of those icky particles off the bottom of the pool. By doing this, your skimmer can grab the clumpy bits more easily.
I recommend pool volleyball and Marco Polo to really mix things up in the pool.
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Learn How To Clear A Cloudy Pool With Baking Soda Like A Pro
One of the most frustrating occurrences for any swimming pool owner is to have their pool water turn cloudy on them. Even though the pool water is most likely still OK to swim in, its cloudy appearance makes people apprehensive to go in the water.
So what can a homeowner do when their swimming pool water suddenly turns cloudy? For many people, the answer to that question is simply to add the proper amount of baking soda to their swimming pool.
Add Flocculant Your Pool
If youre in a hurry and your cloudiness isnt too bad, you can try using a pool flocculant. Once the floc does its job, all the suspended debris in your water will sink to the bottom of the pool.
You can follow the directions on the back of the bottle. But heres the best way to make sure the Floc will work effectively:
- Add the correct amount of Floc to the pool water.
- Circulate the pool water using the filter system for two hours. If you have a multiport valve, set it to just recirculate. This bypasses the filter media so it doesnt filter out the Floc before it has a chance to do its job.
- After circulating the pool chemical for two hours, shut off the filter system for the next 8-12 hours to let the particles settle to the bottom of the pool. Make sure your automatic timer doesnt kick back on in the middle of the night.
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I Have Cloudy Pool Water: What Is Going On
It can be quite alarming when you head outside, ready to take a dip in your pool, only to notice that your pool water is cloudy. What went wrong, and what can you do to fix it? Can you still swim in cloudy pool water? And, perhaps most importantly, how can you keep your water crystal clear going forward?
Quite simply, cloudiness means that your pool is dirty. Whether its because of organic matter or bacteria, youll want to resolve the problem before getting in, as its generally not hygienic nor safe to swim in a pool that is murky. The first step to clearing up your cloudy pool is figuring out the cause of the problem. A pool professional will likely tell you that there are a few reasons that this would be happening.
Give Your Pool A Deep Clean
Start by giving your pool a good scrub down. Remove large debris with a heavy-duty skimmer. Brush your walls well with a stiff pool brush, then vacuum manually. Do not use an automatic pool cleaner for this job because it wont properly suck up the finer debris that you need to get.
If you think youve got an algae problem, vacuum to waste. If you have pool algae, you should deal with that first. Learn how to get rid of pool algae here. And learn how to vacuum your pool to waste here.
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Cause #: Circulation & Filtration Issues
Pool water that isnt being properly circulated is always at risk of becoming cloudy water.
Thats because circulation pushes your pool water through your filter system, so without it, the filter cant work its magic and keep your water squeaky clean.
There are a few moving parts to this, so lets go through them.
Is Your Pump Powerful Enough?
A pool pump is a core part of your filtration system as it cycles your water through the filter in order to remove debris and maintain circulation, this prevents the water from stagnating which eventually breeds other problems.
With that in mind, you need to make sure your pump has the ability to cycle the entire contents of your pool at least once per day. Whats more, youll need a pump that can complete a turnover in an 8 hour period.
The speed at which a pump completes a turnover is based on two factors:
Note: Flow-rate tells you how many gallons of water pass through the pump each minute, and its appropriately measured in gallons per minute .
To properly size your pump, divide your water volume by 8, then divide again by 60. What youre left with is your pools required turnover rate in GPM. The flow-rate of your pool pump should be at least the same.
Is Your Pump Suited To Your Filter?
You wouldnt put all that effort into correctly sizing your pool pump only to neglect your pool filter, would you?
Are You Maintaining Your Equipment?
How To Fix Cloudy Pool Water:
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How Much Muriatic Acid To Add To Pool
When it comes to how much you muriatic acid you have to add to the pool, you can never an exact amount as it depends a lot on a number of things. As a result, you first have to get the current pH level of the pool, combine it with the size of the pool to find out just how much you have to add to the pool.
It should be hard to know the pH level of your water. This is because there are a number of methods you can use to test the pH level. You can use the standard test strips that will tell you if the pH is too high. You might not get the exact pH level, but you will know where it is situated.
In most cases, you will have to add a quart of muriatic acid for an average size ground pool holding about 15000 gallons and has a pH level higher than 7.8. It is recommended that you get to check the pH level after allowing the pool water to circulate and settle for an hour.
For the small aboveground pools, it is recommended to use a cup of the acid. Retest the water again to see if the pH has lowered. You can add more acid to lower the pH further if you have to.
Top Versus Bottom Simple As That
The main difference comes in when you have to get those clumps out of your pool. Whereas clarifier brings the particle clumps to the top and leaves your pool filter to do the heavy-lifting, floc requires some elbow grease on your part.
Once youve added flocculant to your pool, youre left with a ton of clumpy gunk on the floor of your gorgeous pool. Yuck. From here, it has to be vacuumed up. By you. Yep, thats where we come to the downside of floc.
Flocculant works really fast, but it requires a bit more effort on your part. In fact, you actually cant even use an automatic vacuum for this one. You have to do it manually on waste mode, which means youll be removing water from your pool.
The real advantage of flocculant is its speed in de-clouding your pool. If you dont have days to wait for clarifier to work, you should definitely give floc a try. Whether youre planning a pool party for the next day or just dont like to wait, using floc will be your best bet.
There you have it: fast-acting flocculant with added manual labor versus slower-acting clarifier with no work on your part. The choice is yours.
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Ways To Clear A Cloudy Pool After Opening
Also, dont forget to run the filter close to 24 hours per day during cleanup periods, and keep the pool water very well balanced, with a high chlorine level and low-ish pH level.
