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Regardless of why your pool is cloudy, there are two products that can help clear things up. But you can’t use them in every situation. Luckily, once you start treating your water, the cloudiness should go away quickly.
Creators & Guests
What is Pool School?
A podcast for pool owners covering pool maintenance and water chemistry.
Hey, everyone, and welcome to Pool School by Swim University, where we help you keep your pool clean and clear all year. My name is Matt, and I am the founder of swimuniversity.com. And on this episode, we're talking about how to clear up a pool in 48 hours or less. Let's dive in. Real quick, if you want more help taking care of your pool, be sure to grab our free pool care cheat sheet at swimu.com/cheat sheet.
Matt Giovanisci:Cloudy water is caused by 4 common issues, pool filtration, low chlorine levels, poor water chemistry, and outside contaminants like debris or algae. Now regardless of why your pool is cloudy, there are 2 products that can help clear things up. That's pool flocculent and water clarifier. But you can't use them in every situation. You'll need to tackle the root of the problem first.
Matt Giovanisci:Luckily, once you start treating your water, the cloudiness should go away pretty quickly. Okay. So here are the 4 problems that cause cloudy pool water and how to fix each one of them. Now remember, you need to tackle the root of the issue first. Otherwise, the cloudy water can just come right back.
Matt Giovanisci:Number 1 is pool filtration. If your filter isn't functioning properly, then it can't remove the tiny contaminants that cause cloudy pool water. So the solution is to keep your pool water circulating properly and check for the following filtration issues. Number 1, your filter needs backwashing or cleaning, and that means backwashing your sand or your DE filter or cleaning your DE filter grids or soaking your cartridge in a cartridge filter cleaner. Alright.
Matt Giovanisci:Number 2 is your skimmer basket or pump basket is full of debris. So you wanna remove any leaves, twigs, or debris in your skimmer or pump basket. And if you frequently find debris in your skimmer, consider adding a skimmer door, also known as a weir, a skimmer weir. Number 3 is you or your, filter media needs replacing. So you need to change your filter sand every 3 to 5 years.
Matt Giovanisci:This usually does the trick, by the way, especially if you have old sand. And replace your filter cartridges every year or so depending on how bad they are. And if you have a DE filter, you can add some fresh diatomaceous earth or DE powder after each backwash. And number 4 is you're not running your filter long enough. All of your pool water must run through your entire filter system at least once a day.
Matt Giovanisci:So it's one turnover a day. And that usually means, give or take, rule of thumb, that you should run your filter at least 8 hours a day. 8 to 12 hours. Problem number 2 is low chlorine levels. So when there's not enough chlorine to sanitize your water, bacteria and other bodily contaminants like sweat can build up and cloud your water.
Matt Giovanisci:Chlorine levels can also drop if there's a lot of debris like leaves in your pool or your chlorine isn't stabilized. The solution is to test and adjust your chlorine and cyanuric acid or pool stabilizer. So start by testing your free chlorine and combined chlorine levels. If your combined chlorine is too high or your total chlorine, it means the chlorine in your water has been used up, and the combine and it's been combined with contaminants. Pool shock can help rebalance and reactivate your chlorine levels.
Matt Giovanisci:Also, test and adjust your cyanuric acid levels or your CYA levels. CYA helps protect your chlorine from breaking down under the sun's UV rays. And your CYA level should be between about 30 and 50 parts per million or PPM. Problem number 3 is pool, pour, pool, pour, pool water chemistry. High pH, alkalinity, and calcium hardness can form scale on your pool surfaces and even inside your plumbing and filter system.
Matt Giovanisci:And this scale can cause cloudy water. Now, poor water chemistry also makes it difficult for your chlorine to function well, which also leads to cloudy water. So the solution is to test and balance your pH, your alkalinity, and your calcium hardness, and then be sure to adjust your alkalinity first since it can impact your pH. And finally, problem number 4 is just contaminants like debris or algae. Particles, small debris, and early stage algae growth can cause cloudy water, especially during the springtime, which is when we're this episode is coming out.
Matt Giovanisci:The solution is to treat algae in its early stages by shocking the pool and balance and clean your water when you see debris, like right after a rainstorm or when the pollen is high. Now, we're gonna talk about flock later, but we have a video out on our YouTube channel all about the shock and flock method. So if you wanna if you got green water and it's cloudy and you wanna get rid of it fast, use the shock and flock method. And I know it's hard to do, but anytime you see debris in your pool, break out keep the skimmer nearby, break out the skimmer, the the net, and skim it. Now once your filter system is running smoothly and your chlorine levels are correct, your water is balanced, and you've eliminated algae growth, you're now ready to clear up your water.
Matt Giovanisci:So you can either use, which we just talked about, pool flocculent, also known as floc, f l o c, and water clarifier or water clarifier. Pool flocculent, what that does is it coagulates the small particles into larger clumps, the small particles that are making your water cloudy into larger clumps, and it sinks them to the bottom of your pool. Now flocculent is faster and more effective than water clarifier, but it does require more work on your end. You have to manually remove the clumped up particles with a pool vacuum. And you can only vacuum out flocculent if your filter has a waste setting or a drain port.
Matt Giovanisci:Now pool clarifier, on the other hand, coagulates these same particles into smaller clumps, but they are removed by your pool filter. So it turns those little tiny, particles, makes them a little bit clumpier so that your filter has a better chance of picking them up and getting and filtering them out. It's easier to use than flocculent, but it's not as powerful, and it generally takes longer to clear up your pool water. So if you wanna clear up your pool fast or if you've got really cloudy water, I recommend using pool flocculent. Even though the vacuuming takes more work, flocculent does work more effectively.
Matt Giovanisci:Just make sure that you have the ability to bypass your filter when you're vacuuming, because then, you know, well, if you're then it's just all gonna come back in your pool. Now if your pool is a little cloudy or you don't have a way setting on your filter, then I would opt just for pool clarifier. And you can use this in any situation with any filter setup. It's just not as powerful as flocculent. And, you know, you can technically use pool clarifier every single week.
Matt Giovanisci:We we have we developed a product called weekly clarifier, and that's the point, is to just give you a little bit of a crystal clear water sparkle every single week. Now okay. Let's get into the flocculent. So here's how to use pool flocculent to clear up your cloudy water in about 24 to 48 hours. The first thing you're gonna do is balance your pH.
Matt Giovanisci:You test your water's pH and adjust as needed. Proper pH levels, yes, will help flocculent work more effectively. PH just makes everything work better. Proper pH. 7.4 to 7.6.
Matt Giovanisci:Number 2 is you wanna add flocculent to your water. The pool flocculent will bind these contaminants that cause the cloudy pool water, and then those large clumps are gonna sink to the bottom of your pool. You're going to circulate your water with this filter system for 2 hours. Now if you have a multi port valve, you wanna set the filter to recirculate. This is gonna bypass your filter while helping the water move.
Matt Giovanisci:Now after circulating, you wanna shut off the filter system for 8 to 12 hours to let those particles settle to the bottom of the pool. And make sure that your automatic timer isn't turned on so it doesn't go on in the middle of the night. And then stir up all the stuff you just tried to settle out. Number 4 is you wanna vacuum the flocculent out of your pool. You should now see this big cloud at the bottom of your pool.
Matt Giovanisci:It looks pretty cool, actually. This means that the flocculent collected all the particles, sent them to the bottom, and now it's time to vacuum. So vacuum the water out of your pool on the waste setting. If you vacuum your water through your filter system, like I said, it's just gonna blow right back in through the return jets because it's not your filters no filter is powerful enough to filter out that thick of a cloud that fast. Right?
Matt Giovanisci:And if you don't have a multi port valve, you wanna open the drain port on your filter so that it drains out as you vacuum. Now you wanna move the vacuum slowly along the bottom of the pool or else you're gonna kick up all of that cloudy water. And you're gonna have to do this multiple times. You wanna let the cloud resettle before continuing. The flocculent filled pool will exit out of your filter's waste port as you vacuum.
Matt Giovanisci:So be sure to have a backwash hose connected and make sure that your water level doesn't drop below the skimmer. A good practice is to just fill your pool up a little bit higher than normal so that you have a buffer as it drains when you're vacuuming. Finally, you're gonna test and balance your water. Because you've removed a lot of water from your pool, you're gonna need to rebalance your chemistry. And once your pH and alkalinity are rebalanced, then you can add chlorine.
Matt Giovanisci:And then once you've got the cloudy water out of your pool, then you can start running your filter system normally. You know, put it back on filter, you're good to go. Finally, if your pool's only mildly cloudy or you don't mind waiting an extra day or 2 to clear things up and you got a powerful filter, then here's how to use pool clarifier. So first, you're gonna skim, brush, and vacuum your pool. This will help loosen up all the particles and remove any larger debris, and then test and balance your alkalinity and pH.
Matt Giovanisci:Then you're gonna shock your water. This will remove any early stage algae growth and help rebalance your chlorine levels. Run your filter and let the shock dissolve overnight, then retest your water. After your pool shock has dissipated, it's time to add that water clarifier. Keep your filter running 247 while the water clarifier is working, and the filter will collect those clumped together particles that, the water clarifier created.
Matt Giovanisci:Finally, clean your filters. After 2 or 3 days, your water should be clear. Since you've since the filters picked up all those contaminants, you wanna clean and backwash or clean or backwash or both, your filter and retest your water chemistry. So that's it for clearing up a cloudy pool in 48 hours or less. Pretty cool.
Matt Giovanisci:Remember, if you need more help with pool maintenance, grab our free pool care cheat sheet at swimu.com/cheat sheet. And if you found this episode helpful, subscribe for more pool maintenance tips on your favorite podcasting app. And when you do, please leave us a review because your support will help more pool owners just like you find this show. That's it. Thanks again, and happy swimming.