Excessive levels of pool chemicals can cause your water to become cloudy. High pH, high alkalinity, high chlorine or other sanitisers, and high calcium hardness are all common culprits.
How long does it take for a cloudy pool to clear? 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.
Not to worry, this is normal and should resolve itself in a day or so as the chlorine level drops. Just keep your filter running in the meantime. If it doesn't clear up, either your filter-system is compromised, the rest of your water chemistry is out of whack, or you're using some cheap-ass, low-grade shock.
For the most part, yes. It can be unattractive and it should be addressed, but it is mostly safe to swim in cloudy water. The only exception would be if the pool is cloudy because there are too many chemicals in it. This pool water would be unsafe to swim in and should be avoided.
Excessive levels of pool chemicals can cause your water to become cloudy. High pH, high alkalinity, high chlorine or other sanitisers, and high calcium hardness are all common culprits.
With a rain storm, any number of contaminants can be washing into your pool – acid rain, pollen, insects, tree droppings, dust, sand and even phosphates. Any one or combination of these things in rain can make your pool cloudy.
If the chlorine smell is very strong, however, you may soon spot “red-eyed” swimmers emerging from the pool. That's when the pool water is assumed to have “too much chlorine” in it. Ironically, a strong chemical smell around the pool and “swimmer red eye” may be signs that there is not enough chlorine in the water.
Baking soda, also known as sodium bicarbonate is naturally alkaline, with a pH of 8. When you add baking soda to your pool water, you will raise both the pH and the alkalinity, improving stability and clarity.
The simple answer is No. Baking soda cannot be used to clear up a cloudy pool because it is a base. Bases raise PH levels, which causes the water to turn cloudy. Some people suggest using baking soda as a quick fix to high alkalinity levels, but it's not reliable as a pool chemical.
Algae is the primary reason for green water in your pool. Algae are normally kept in balance by water circulation, natural die-off in cool weather, and appropriate chemical balance. If the water circulation or chemicals are off, algae can bloom and cause a pool to be cloudy and green.
When pool water is cloudy, you may wonder why. Pool chemicals could be out of balance or the pH might be off. Chlorine levels and the right pH are key to keeping a pool clear. If a pool's pump or the filter isn't working right, the water may look murkier than usual.
Here is why: Sunlight is white, which is made up of all the colours of the spectrum. The molecules in pool water absorb light from the red end of the spectrum when sunlight falls on the water. By removing the red, the light which ends up being reflected has a slightly blue hue which can vary in richness by water depth.
Pool water with a high total alkalinity (TA) is often associated with cloudiness. This is because it can cause an imbalance in the pH levels and lead to calcium scaling. Typically if your TA is higher than 200 ppm, you're at risk of a cloudy pool and just like imbalanced pH levels, your chlorine will be less effective.
Baking Soda
Most remedies call for adding additional chlorine into the water. If your water's pH balance is between 7.2 and 7.5, however, you can add baking soda to the water to help clear it up. This serves as a replacement for chlorine because baking soda is a natural cleaning agent.
A pool turns green when there is algae in the water. There are several reasons why algae could grow, but it is most commonly caused by prolonged exposure to the sun, rain and temperature spikes. These factors affect the chemical balance of the pool and result in the pool turning cloudy and/or green.
There are three main causes for cloudy pool water, including poor filtration, chemical imbalances, or environmental factors, like nearby construction, trees, or wildlife. Filter and pump problems can be caused by a range of different issues.
The Bottom Line
Adding a Magic Eraser sponge to your pool skimmer is not a professional-approved pool maintenance technique. It may remove some algae, but it may also cause other problems you're not anticipating – including serious health risks.
I think the answer to your question is about 3-6 days. The problem is that the chlorine that you need to keep the bacteria in check is used up more quickly as the temperature rises, the activity increases, and as sweat and other body stuff is put into the pool.
Raise the Level of Pool Chlorine
Raising pool chlorine can be much easier than trying to lower chlorine levels. Simply adding chlorine in the form of chlorine tablets, granular chlorine, liquid shock or powder shock will increase the total amount of chlorine within the pool.
Lowering Free Chlorine
Chlorine neutralizing chemicals such as sodium thiosulfate or sodium sulfite will lower chlorine levels more quickly, but they will also significantly alter the pool's pH level and will neutralize all of the chlorine in the water if they're overused.
Using baking soda will not actually lower your pool's chlorine level. To raise your ph levels, it can be as simple as adding seven to nine pounds of baking soda to your pool water. It will raise the ph slightly and raise the total alkalinity.