ByRossi

Before buying a pool, each of us has a picture in his head of luxurious relaxation in clear water and forgetting all the difficulties of life.

Unfortunately, after a few days of using the pool in practice, these fantasies are shattered by the harsh realities.

We bet that every pool owner is familiar with the situation when after a few days of swimming in the pool, the water becomes so cloudy that it is even disgusting to look at. It’s as if the filters are on around the clock, and the weather is great, but the water still becomes muddy.

We can immediately reassure you that the problem is not in your pool. Every user of the pool faces the phenomenon of cloudy water at least once during the swimming season. The vast majority of them with the help of special tools successfully solve this problem. So let’s find out how to quickly and easily make the water in your pool always clear.

3 reasons why pool water gets cloudy and how to fix it

There are dozens of physical and chemical reasons why pool water can become cloudy. This is the violation of the level of calcium in the water, uneven levels of chlorine, insufficient power filters, and much more. Most likely, you have already met all these scientific definitions when you first tried to solve your problem. It hardly helped your way. So understanding that not all of our readers are professionals in these areas, so we decided to break all the possible causes of muddy water into three simple blocks:

Filter and pump problems

😒 Problem: It should be understood that water purification is a rather slow process, so if your filtration system works only a few hours a day, no matter how powerful it is, it will not be able to purify water well. If the filter works regularly, the problem may be in a worn or broken part. Mechanical problems that may occur include clogged filter media, poor water flow directionality, and a full skimmer basket.

😏 Solution: If you see that water starts to become cloudy, you should immediately empty the skimmer basket:

1. Make sure the pump is turned off;
2. Remove the skimmer lid; 
3. Take out the skimmer basket; 
4. Empty the skimmer basket;
5. Replace the skimmer basket;
6. Install the skimmer lid and turn the system back on.

You should backwash the pump and filtration system to prevent clogging:

1. Turn off your pool’s pump and filtration system;
2. Clamp the backwash hose to your water outlet;
3. Set the filter value to backwash and ensure the handle locks in place;
4. Wait for a few minutes until the water runs clear;
5. Turn off the pump to cease the backwashing.

If clogging is not a problem, but the filter cannot purify the water for a long time, try checking the pump and filtration system for damaged parts that could affect the water pressure or the ability of the system to clean the debris. If any parts are badly worn or broken, they need to be replaced. The filter material can also become dirty and clogged. It must be removed and dry-cleaned with a filter cleaner. In some cases, the filter material is so clogged that it is better to replace it with a new one.

Chemical imbalance in your pool

😒 Problem: If the water in the pool has improper levels of chlorine, imbalanced pH and alkalinity, or very high calcium hardness levels, then with a probability of 99% this is the cause of water turbidity.

😏 Solution: Check the water with a pool water test kit to figure out what water quality indicators need to be balanced:

• Low levels of sanitizer (chlorine or bromine) may not be able to kill algae spores, resulting in algae blooms and cloudy pool water. Chlorine levels should range between 1 to 3 parts per million (ppm) and bromine has a slightly wider range between 2 to 6 ppm. Add the pool chlorine or bromine to rapidly return the pool water to a balanced level;

• Imbalanced alkalinity and pH also could result in cloudy water, and it can be a safety hazard. The total alkalinity of the pool water should remain between 8 to 120 ppm. In accordance pH level in swimming pool water — between 7 and 7.6;

• Also, if the calcium hardness is above 220 ppm, it can cause cloudy water. If the test shows such indicators, it should be reduced by adding in pool flocculant to clump the calcium. It’s a chemical that will cause the excess calcium to clump together. When these clumps form, they sink to the bottom of the pool. To remove them, vacuum the waste instead of pulling the debris through the filter. If the calcium hardness is less than 180 ppm, it must be increased by adding calcium chloride to the pool water.

We advise you not to spare money on the water testing system. Because if you really have a problem with chemical elements, the whole process of water purification depends on the correct determination of the negative substance.

Environmental impact

😒 Problem: This includes almost the entire environment of the pool, such as bad weather, wildlife, construction, trees, algae in the pool, and the number of people who use the pool. Interesting fact, most of us believe that only wildlife (dust, pollen, and algae blooms) cloudiest the pool, but according to statistics, the most common cause of water turbidity is the infiltration of hair, skin, and cosmetics, that people often forget to wash off before diving into the pool. Therefore, if the filtration and chemical composition of the water is good, it is likely that the pool is not used properly and is your main problem.

😏 Solution: To combat environmental factors, use a pool cover. Objectively, if you do not use a pool cover the rest of the time then the water dusts and absorbs from the environment many negative substances, which actually lead to the cloudy of the water. The coating allows you to minimize this effect to a minimum. Therefore, it is a must for every pool owner.

Except for this water pollution from pollen or human cosmetics easy can be solved simply by adding a clarifier to the water. This chemical acts as a coagulant, bonding together the loose dirt, pollen, and other small debris, which increases the size of the loose particles and makes it easier for the filtration system to pick up the particles.

As you can see, it turns out that even most problems from environmental factors can be solved very easily.

How to prevent cloudy pool water

When your water is clear again, do not forget about timely cleaning measures to prevent re-turbidity of the water in the pool:

• During the swimming season, filter the water for at least 8 hours daily and rinse the pool once a week;
• Check the nozzles in the pool to make sure they are tilted down so that the water at the bottom of the pool circulates through the filtration system;
• When you are not swimming, be sure to use a pool cover. This equipment will minimize 90% of negative environmental factors;
• Every 2 weeks, check the balance of the chemicals in pool water. If the tests begin to tend to a chemical imbalance, add the appropriate chemicals to the pool to return the pool water to a balanced state.

Summary

Sometimes in every pool, the water is cloudy. This is due to numerous factors, and completely getting rid of this phenomenon is impossible, unfortunately. However, you should not put up with muddy and smelly water every couple of days. 

If you use filters regularly, cover the pool when it is not in use, and wash off your cosmetics before swimming, then the water in your pool water will not be muddy for a long time. Using the described tools you will encounter this phenomenon no more than 1-2 times during the entire swimming season.

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