Water turned white after adding PH increaser

[Chris]

My pool water IMMEDIATLY turned from crystal clear to milky white after adding PH increaser. I have a 10,000gal pool. The PH level was low so I added about 1lb. As it was entering back into the pool, it was turning the water white. Now I can't even see the second step on the ladder. Has anyone had this happen to them?? PLease help

[elf]

it's ok just keep filtering until clear should not be that long.

[chem geek]

See this post for more info.

[dalehileman]

For a decade using only trichlor tabs and a supermarket algicide-clarifier though ignoring Ph, my 35,000-gal inground pool was clear as crystal. However I was unable to keep my eyes open swimming underwater

Sure enough the Ph was low--very--as I needed 60 lb of soda ash to bring it up to normal. No that's not a typo, it took 60 lb. Now I could open my eyes but because the soda ash caused a heavy milkiness I couldn't see anything beyond the tip of my nose

When I inquired at our friendly local Pool Establishment I was assured that my sand filter wold eventually clear it up. Indeed after a few months running 3 hours a day the clarity improved until finally at least I was able to see the outlet at the deep end. In hope of further improvement I doubled the dose of clarifier but with no success whereupon my Pool People advised it was unlikely to further clear unless I extended running time to 8 hours. But between it and home air conditioning our electric bill was already some $400/mo and so now I just live with the slight murkiness

However, if it's not prohibitively expensive I'm wondering if you might know and alternate means to clear the water

[dalehileman]

PS: After submitting I note a few typos in the post above but I can't fine the "Edit" link--so Admin, if you're listening, here's a detail you might want to pick up during the next housekeeping regimen

[Chris]

Thanks all for the help. I have never seen this before. My pool is literally a giant bowl of milk.

[chem geek]

This is not a mystery. pH Up is sodium carbonate and increases BOTH pH AND TA substantially. If your water is already near saturation with calcium carbonate or if you are adding a large amount of pH Up, then the water will turn cloudy from having too high a combination of pH, Total Alkalinity (TA) and Calcium Hardness (CH). You should get your own good test kit such as the Taylor K-2006 you can get at a good online price here or the TF100 you can get at tftestkits.net here with the latter kit having 36% more volume of reagents so is less expensive per test.

Then use The Pool Calculator to calculate the saturation index. If it is substantially > 0, then this is the cause of your cloudiness. You could lower the pH somewhat for a temporary relief, but most likely you will need to lower the TA by following the procedure outlined in this post. In the future, if you find that the pH is too low, do not use only pH Up to raise it, especially if the TA isn't very low. Instead use at least some 20 Mule Team Borax and, if the TA is high, try aerating the water.