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CLOUDY WATER
Cloudy water can be caused by a number of conditions, check in the following order:
Insufficient filtration-
Make sure your filter is clean and functioning properly.
Perhaps your
filter is due for a more thorough cleaning than backwashing alone will
provide.
Use a filter cleaner recommended by your pool professional
one to three times per season per label directions.
Has your pool
been circulating a minimum of 8- 12 hours a day, up to 24 hours a
day? Be sure to allow your filter to run continuously, 24 hours a day,
until your water clears.
Unbalanced Water-
High ph (above 7.8), high Total Alkalinity (above 150), high Calcium
Hardness (above 400) are all capable of causing cloudy water.
A
professional water analysis should be performed to determine if your
water is balanced, and if adjustments are necessary.
Low Sanitizer level-
Sanitizers can be consumed rapidly, especially in high heat and
heavy bather loads.
A low sanitizer residual can also allow for algae
growth, which in the early stages can appear as cloudy water.
Adding a dose of your maintenance sanitizer and shocking your pool
will often greatly improve the water clarity
Shocking with a non-
chlorine mono-persulfate shock will oxidize any contaminants without
adding calcium, found in granular chlorine (calcium hypochlorite),
which can add to the cloudiness,
see shock for more details
.
TREATMENT
After running your clean filter, balancing and shocking your pool water you may still find the
need to add a clarifier.
Clarifiers help filter out suspended particles that cannot be oxidized.
Most clarifiers are concentrated liquids that bind small particles together making them large
enough to be trapped by the filter.
Use the clarifier recommended by your pool professional,
following label directions for treatment of cloudy water.
Maintenance doses of clarifier may be
used, again see bottle label for dosage and application instructions.
In more severe cases of cloudy water your pool professional may suggest a floc treatment.
Powdered Alum or liquid Flocs restore water clarity and sparkle by flocking (dropping)
suspended particles (debris) to the bottom of the pool to be vacuumed to waste.
These
products act as coagulants attaching to free floating matter in the water to form larger, heavier-
than-water particles that settle to the bottom of the pool.
Flocs often require a higher than
normal pH, above 8.2, to be effective.
If the label directs, you will need to add pH increaser to
raise the pH prior to treatment. Read the label directions carefully and allow the pool to stand
undisturbed overnight, up to 24 hours, again, as label directions recommend.
After the debris
has settled to the bottom, vacuum the pool on the waste or drain cycle (see filtration) to rid the
pool of the unwanted matter.
Do not Floc the pool when it is raining, the rain will disturb the
water and prevent the settling.
Floc involves water loss, so carefully consider this option prior
to treatment.
Click below to learn more about
Click below to learn about
treating cloudy water using
treating cloudy water using
Natural Chemistry Products
SeaKlear Natural Clarifier