WATER QUALITY
Cloudy water that is still blue
Cloudy but still blue water is almost always filtration rather than chlorine, so clean the filter and run the pump 10 to 12 hours a day before you add anything to the water.
Cloudiness is very fine particles held in suspension — too fine for the sand to catch in a single pass, so the water has to go round several times before it clears. Which means the answer is nearly always more filtration and cleaner filtration, not another chemical.
Work through these
Read the pressure gauge on the filter. If it is 8–10 psi above its clean reading, backwash now.
Switch the pump off, then lift out the skimmer basket and the pump strainer basket and clear the leaves and hair from both.
Refill the pump body with water before you close the lid and restart it.
Raise the run time to 10–12 hours a day for three days.
Test free chlorine — it should read 1–3 ppm. Below 1 ppm, chlorinate first and follow the green-water article instead.
Test the pH and bring it into 7.2–7.6, then give it 24 hours before you judge the result.
If it is still cloudy after three days
A flocculant clumps the fine particles together so they settle on the floor and can be vacuumed out instead of filtered. Start it in the evening — the pump has to stay off overnight for it to work.
Add the flocculant per the label in the evening, then circulate for 2 hours.
Switch the pump off for 8–12 hours so the floc settles on the floor.
In the morning vacuum it out slowly to waste. Never through the filter, or the whole lot comes straight back into the pool.
Related articles
What customers usually read next.
Last updated