Allow the flocking chemical to bind the particles that are suspended in the water. Once bound, they will sink to the bottom of the pool. This action may take between 24 and 36 hours depending upon the amount of chemical used and how bad the water was clouded.
With a clarifier, you can still swim while it's working, but you will probably have to wait a few days to see the results. Either way, there's always a way to get your water crystal clear: you just have to find the right product and decide how long you can wait to get results.
It just coagulates the tiny particles in the water so they can settle out or be filtered. It's the last step after everything else is fixed. That being said, Floc takes 24-48 hours to settle out with the pump OFF.
Floc can't take care of live algae. All of the algae needs to be dead before you try to use floc. There are some other situations where floc might not work completely the first time, but they are far less common. The most common of the uncommon cases is probably not using enough floc.
Flocculation refers to suspended particles in the water that give it a murky appearance. Flocculants are substances that help clear the cloudiness and restore the clarity to your swimming pool water. You can use too much floc, however.
You can even vacuum twice to be sure to catch everything. Usually while vacuuming to 'Waste', you can run the garden hose into the pool to keep the water level the same. But when vacuuming after floccing, we recommend topping the water up afterwards, as the inflow of water will also disturb the debris at the bottom.
Run your filter until the water is clear
Once the clarifier has been added to your pool, turn on the pool filter and run it 24/7 until the cloudiness is gone. This can take two to three days, but swimming in the pool at this time is safe after about 20 minutes.
Flocculant, or floc, is a chemical used to clear up algae or cloudy pool water. Flocculant works very quickly and clears cloudy pool water by clumping small particles together and dropping them to the bottom of the pool to be vacuumed out.
Use HTH Drop Out Flocculant when chlorine levels are between 1 – 4 ppm and the water is balanced. Distribute the flocculant evenly over the entire pool surface. Keep the pump running for two hours and then turn off. Allow the particles to settle to the pool bottom overnight and then vacuum debris to waste.
Pool flocculants, also known as flocc, make quick work of clearing up your cloudy pool water. After being added directly to the pool water floc causes cloudy water particles to clump together and sink to the bottom of your pool. Your job is to then vacuum the clumped up “clouds” from the bottom of the pool and voila!
So instead of running your pump continuously until your water is clear, you add the floc to your pool usually through a skimmer, run your pump for a couple of hours, shut the pump off for 12-24 hours allowing everything to settle to the bottom.
Answer: Shock can be added at any time. Especially since you are treating a green pool. The hot sun can tend to burn off chlorine faster, but the green pool needs to be treated and the sooner, the better. The chlorine will remain high for a few days after shocking anyway whether or not the sun is out.
Do you use Clarifier in conjunction with Flocculant? Flocculant can be used after clarifier. However, using too much of any product can work against the clarifying process.
The main difference between the flocculant and pool clarifier is where the clumped particles go. Clarifier keeps the bounded matter at the top of the pool to be grabbed by the pool filter. Meanwhile, pool floc snags the particles, assembles them, and then sinks them to the bottom of the surface.
Sand filters can more readily recover from a proper floc treatment, but long-term it will ruin those too. One of the few times TFP recommended the use of a flocculent was to clear a pool of ashes from a wildfire. We advise to exhaust every other possibility before using a flocculant.
“Emulsion” flocculants have a shelf life of between 6 and 18 months and should be stored between 50°F and 90°F in a tightly sealed container.
Allow 8-16 hours for the floc to work.
Depending on how cloudy your water is, it may take 2-3 days for your water to clear. If you're using a clarifier, you'll need to run your filter 24/7, keep your water chemistry balanced, and add the proper amount of water clarifier every other day until it's clear.
Clarifier does take some time to work, unlike flocculent. It usually takes 3-5 days. From the time you put the clarifier in the water, you'll need to filter your water for at least the first 24-48 hours, then as much as possible. Note that if you have algae, you should take care of that before using clarifier.
When Do You Need to Flock? Typically, you need clarifiers and flocculants when swimming pool water is cloudy, yet chemical levels are correct and filtration units are working fine. Often, fine particulate matter that leads to cloudy pool water ends up in a pool after heavy winds and rain.