Just like a chlorine-based pool, saltwater pools turn cloudy when chemicals are not balanced. You need to ensure that all chemicals are balanced all the time to avoid cloudy water and growth of algae. The major causes of cloudiness are chlorine, pH, Salinity, total alkalinity, cyanuric acid, and calcium hardness.
Clogged saltwater cells can cause cloudy pool water. To fix this, you need to clear the calcium on the salt cell. The salt cell can be cleaned by soaking it in muriatic acid, vinegar, or a salt cell cleaner.
Lower pH by adding muriatic acid or sodium disulfide to the water, and raise it by adding baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) or soda ash (sodium carbonate). Check the total alkalinity of the pool water before raising pH. If it's near the acceptable range of 80 to 120 ppm, use soda ash.
Cloudy water may still be safe to swim in, but if the chemicals are not balanced, then swimmers can experience red eyes, irritated skin, and rashes. If the cause is environmental factors, it can usually be cleared up with a clarifier and regular cleaning.
It's usually just a temporary reaction as the sanitizer works its magic, and doesn't always indicate a problem. But if the cloudy water persists long after you've shocked the pool, you're likely having an issue with water balance, circulation, or filtration.
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.
Rapid pH Change
It drastically raises the pH in the water around it, which leads to clouding. This explains why the cloudiness does not happen all at once, rather the process creates a cloudy plume that slowly expands across the pool.
The pH of a pool should be between 7.2 and 7.8, with 7.6 being the ideal balance. Levels below 7.0 indicate acidic water. Levels above 7.8 mean that the water is too alkaline or basic. Both instances can lead to a cloudy pool.
Low chlorine level is the primary cause of cloudy water. Firstly, ensure that pH is stable between 7.4 and 7.6, and then balance your free chlorine to read 3 ppm; combined chlorine should be at 0 ppm.
Shock your pool once a week with Salinity Surge Shock or Salinity Oxidizing Shock. Pool shock works as an added defense against bacteria and contaminants. With Oxidizing shock, you can use your pool after just 15 minutes!
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.
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.
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.
When the pH levels are imbalanced, it renders the free chlorine ineffective and the levels decrease. Too little free chlorine forms chloramine and it is this combined chlorine that results in your pool's cloudy appearance.
pH Up is sodium carbonate which will increase both pH AND Total Alkalinity (TA). If your water is close to being saturated with calcium carbonate already, then adding this product can not only cloud the water, but it will remain cloudy for some time.
Alkalinity Balance, pH up, pH down, Calcium Balance, Water Stabilizer, and clarifier are all swim-safe chemicals. Wait about 20 minutes, and you are free to swim.
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.
If using 6% liquid chlorine bleach, add 5 gallons per 10000 gallons. Add the Shock: With the filter system running, and the pH on the low side, 7.2-7.4, add the chlorine (granular or liquid) slowly to the pool, dispersing it around the pool edge, or broadcasting the pool shock over the surface.
Should the green be due to pollen, there may be little to do in the way of minimizing the discoloration short of erecting a building around the pool. Fortunately, assuming there are no allergies to the pollen, it is safe to swim in a pool with that as the cause for green water.
If your pool is truly low in salt, then you can add salt at any time, but you need to use external sources of chlorine such as chlorinating liquid to shock your pool to kill the algae; you can't kill the algae in a bloom fast enough with an SWG alone..
The algaecide isn't a requirement for saltwater pools, but there's no reason not to use it. However, the best way to control algae is to keep the pool water balanced because algae love it when pH or total alkalinity gets too high.
Generally, it's recommended to wait about 10 minutes between adding each pool chemical. Some pool chemicals like pool salt and cyanuric acid take longer to dissolve in the pool water. The aim is to avoid strong concentrations of chemicals mixing together.
It's recommended to wait at least 20 minutes to swim after adding salt to your pool. If you're adding calcium chloride to your pool water, it's recommended to wait two to four hours before swimming again.