Cloudy Pool Water

It's Saturday afternoon. You've called your friends over for a barbeque and a swim in your backyard swimming pool. The last few weeks were really stressful at work and you didn't even get a chance to relax for a second. Which is why, a pool party will be the best way to enjoy the weekend. You've got all the necessary stuff for food and drinks, and all there's left to do is go out in the backyard and set everything in place. As you walk out, you're so busy arranging all the things, you didn't notice the cloudy water just waiting to be seen. As your friends are about to come over, you want to make sure if there aren't any dried leaves in the pool. So you go over to the pool with the leaf catcher and finally discover the horror that is your pool.

Your swimming pool is not only filled with leaves but it also has turned cloudy. What could be the reason for all of this? You couldn't find enough time to clean the pool earlier and now it's going to be too late. Everyone is on their way and there's no way you can get the cloudy water to vanish. Well then, how about this? What if we can reverse this scenario just a bit and see how you could've avoided it in the first place. In order to know that, you need to know what causes your pool into this in the first place.

Cloudy Water Causes

There may be various reasons why a pool would turn cloudy, but the most common cause is the chemical imbalance in your pool. This occurs only when you use chemicals to keep your pool clean. If you take a quick pH test, you will find that perhaps there is a low chlorine, high pH level, not enough shocking in the pool, and/or high calcium hardness of water, all combined will give you the cloudy results. Also, the presence of microscopic particles like bacteria, dirt, twigs, and debris can be the culprit. Apart from these basic causes, other factors that affect the clarity of the swimming pool are:

• Algae growth in the pool.
• Poor filtration; perhaps the filter is dirty or needs to be replaced.
• Inadequate pool circulation; need people to swim in the pool more often.
• People coming in pool with makeup, lotion, creams, and tanning oil on.
• Poor pool maintenance.
• More swimmers than the pool sanitizer can handle.
• Pool remains in shade too often; can't kill bacteria.
• Adequate vacuuming and cleaning of pool not done.

Cloudy Water Remedies

Well, that was all about the causes of cloudy swimming pool water. Now, in this section, we will go over some remedies that will help you keep your pool clean. Instead of spending hundreds of dollars for professional pool cleaning services, why not give these home remedies a quick try.

Remedy #1 - Clean the pool pump filter and turn it on. Take a plastic bucket, pour ½ cup diatomaceous earth (available in pool supplies stores) and enough water to fill the bucket. Take the bucket close to the water inlet of the pump and turn the bucket over. Make sure that the bucket doesn't close the gap between it and the side of the pool. This way, the pump won't be able to take out any water outside the pool. Once the diatomaceous earth is soaked inside the filter, you will see that it will trap all microscopic particles, if any. Once the pool is clean, remove the pump, wash it again, and place it back inside. You can repeat the process for as long as it takes to bring the pool back to normal (depends on the size of the pool).

Remedy #2 - If the diatomaceous earth can't remove all the particles from the filter, use aluminum sulfate. First you will check how many gallons of water is present in your pool. For every 10,000 gallons, use 8 oz. of aluminum sulfate. As the chemical does its magic, you will see that the minute particles are getting clumped together and sinking at the bottom. After this, all there's left to do is vacuum your pool. Till the pool water is clear again, keep repeating the process.

We've all heard the proverb, "Prevention is better than cure". So why not follow that here as well and keep the swimming pool clean in the first place. To do so, on a regular basis, you will have to empty out your pool, use a fiber brush, and start cleaning it. After the water is filled back into the pool, always do a chemical test to check if everything is in order. Regular pool maintenance is much better than getting a wake-up call from the cloudy water. These maintenance and cleaning tips are not just so you don't have to pay more for the cleaning services, but also to keep you and your family safe.