Cloudy Pool

Cloudy Pool

Swimming pool water should always be crystal clear to ensure maximum bather comfort and safety. Prior to adding chemicals to fix this problem we need to understand what causes the water to become cloudy.

Your water can take on a cloudy appearance when it contains fine particles, that are too small to be gathered in the filter. These particles are too small to be filtered out by a sand or cartridge filter but will be filtered out by a D.E filter. Particles that cause cloudy water can be from any number of sources such as poor filtration, low chlorine levels, poor water chemistry or contaminants in the water usually from swimmers.

Which Product Is Best For A Very Cloudy Pool?

If you notice that your pool has become cloudy and you want sparkling water in a short period of time, then Maxi-Floc Plus is the product. This heavy duty flocculant will floc most pools in under 6 hours and may also be used to remove dead algae and other floating particles.

Which Product Is Best To Keep Your Pool Crystal Clear?

On commissioning the pool at spring open up your pool water is crystal clear and you need to keep it that way. Prevention is better than curing so we recommend the following products to be used throughout the season:
Miraclear Pool Clarifier – Our strongest clarifier where one dose last up to 30 days.
Miraclear Clarifier Cubes – The simplest way to dose as no measuring is required. Each cube slowly dissolves and last up to 30 days, so just mark your calendar when you next need to put it in.

Which Product Is Best For Eliminating Scum Lines After Heavy Bathing?

After heavy bathing during good weather unwanted suntan oils in the water can be unsightly and problematic. Our natural clarifier Ultra Pool Clarifier+ is the only product that will take out the oils stopping them forming unsightly marks on the water line.

Download our guide to Clarifiers & Flocculants

In order to recommend the correct treatment, it is essential to determine how cloudy the water is. As a guide we use three definitions:
Hazy – This is where the pool water has just lost its sparkle.
Cloudy – This is where the water is no longer clear but a pool owner would be able to see the bottom of the pool in the shallow end.
Very Cloudy – This is where the water is no longer clear and a pool owner is unable to see the bottom of the pool.

High pH – This can cause Calcium Carbonate to come out of solutions, meaning the pool takes on a milky appearance. Algae also prefer swimming pool water with a high pH.

Algae – At the start an algae infestation the pool can seem hazy but after a day or two the familiar green colour develops.

Heavy Bather Load – After periods of heavy bathing swimmers can contribute pollution from suntan lotion, body fats and skin proteins. All these react with Chlorine to form insoluble compounds which have to be filtered out.

Insufficient Filtration Time – Pool filtration systems are sized so as to give a complete pool water turnover in eight hours. It follows that all pools need eight hours’ filtration every day. It is also possible that filtration equipment too small for the pool has been fitted.

Garden Run Off – After periods of heavy rain fall and/or a severe thunder storm water can run off the garden and other surrounding areas into the pool. This water contains a variety of chemicals which effect the pools clarity including algae spores, detergents, nitrates, phosphates and metals that can also stain.

There are two main methods of treating a cloudy pool:

  1. Use of a clarifier – Clarifiers bind together the small particles, that normally pass through the filter, into a larger mass which gets taken out by your filter. Clarifiers are great preventatives to problems occurring and ideal for hazy and cloudy issues
  2. Use of a flocculant – Flocculants work in a different way by binding together the particles, which when the pump is turned off, fall to the floor of the pool under gravity and are then vacuumed to waste. Flocculants should only be used for cloudy and very cloudy pools.

No – Overdosing of clarifiers and flocculants will not improve the clarity faster nor will twice the dose clear twice as much cloudiness, in fact it can make matters worse. The reason is that these products work by neutralising the positive electric charge on the particles, which then clump together and are either filtered out or fall to the floor. Too much can reverse the charge on the particles making it much harder to filter them out.