Why Your POOL WATER Is CLOUDY (And How To Clear It Up)

Swim University makes pool and hot tub care easy for millions of homeowners. Each year, we continue to help more people with water chemistry, cleaning, and troubleshooting. We know taking care of a swimming pool or spa can be difficult. And it’s hard to find a trusted source of information. This is the reason we created Swim University.

Why is my pool water cloudy and how do I clear it up? Whether it's a pool water chemistry or a pool filter system issue, fixing a cloudy pool is likely caused by one of these four common pool problems. Here's what causes cloudy water and a few pool cleaning and pool maintenance tips for clearing up your cloudy pool.

⏰ Timestamps:
00:00 - Introduction to Why You Have Cloudy Pool Water
00:14 - Reason #1. Low Sanitizer Levels
00:31 - Reason #2. Filter or Circulation Issues
01:44 - Reason #3. Poor Water Chemistry
02:13 - Reason #4. Algae In Water
02:25 - Pool Maintenance Video Course
03:12 - How To Clear A Cloudy Pool
04:03 - Quick Remedies: Water Clarifier and Pool Floc

[VikingsFan]

So basically it could be anything. Great!

[XRay]

Took a water sample to my local pool shop. They told me the chemicals I needed... Alk UP, PH UP, Stabilizer, and Shock and instructed me to put them in in that order. So I put in half the Alk UP, waited 30 minutes, put in the other half. Then put in the PH UP and at this point, the pool water got super cloudy. I wasn't supposed to put the stabilizer till the water was clear, so I just waited.... now 4 days later, it's still cloudy from the PH UP. The pool store tells me it'll clear up in a day or two but I'm thinking it shouldn't have taken this long.

[Serenoj]

I used the floc and indeed: even if you brush very, very slowly the whole pool is cloudy again. I use waste on my pump during vacuuming so no it does not get into my filter. Still, it is time consuming and adfter three days the problem I have is far from solved. I think the whole point of floc is that the particles are still very easily buoyant. If the flocc would make them heavy like say a twig, than it would be very helpfull. As it is I have to wait until everything it on the bottom, vacuum it than the whole thing become a soup again (but a lot is also sucked out andinto the sewer). Repeat that proces time and time again (I guess) until the pool is clean. Mine is 550 cm diametre Intex XTR pool with 27000 litres of water in it so it is pretty average I guess. But this will take more than a week half an our per day vacuuming I am afraid.

[hrbacon]

I have a pool. It sucks. I hate it. We are on year 3 and I have regretted every step of the process. For some reason our water is near impossible to keep clear. our filter runs 24/7, I backwash almost daily and get gross water out, so its working. Chemical test strips show good chlorine/Ph levels. Clarifier doesn't work, we use algeacide, all to no avail.

[msboku]

I’m confused you said you wanted out of the pool but no matter what you do is going to the filter system. How do you get it out of the pool? I’ve got an above ground pool and we have cloudy water. The total hardness is low the chlorine is low the free chlorine is high and the pH is high the total alkalinity and stabilizer are OK according to the test strip lol. But we have blue cloudy water.

[thiagoalmeida]

Hi, May I use my robot to clean vacuum the bottom of the pool? After FLOC treatment?

[billllib]

Thank you for this video. I may have a circulation issue and the floor drain is clogged. I tried cleaning with brush down there and got some green stuff to float out but was not being sucked into the floor drain. any suggestions or videos to look more into this ?

[Kiramco]

Im here watching cause I followed the advice to apply baby powder on my intex liner before putting it away for the winter, now here we are in the spring and my water is cloudy with a gunky film on the bottom!

[markmapson]

What’s your views on polyshere filtration balls instead of using sand in your pool filter??

[paulaflanagan]

Question: Would a solar cover "break down" and create small plastic debris, to cloudy the water? The bubbles on the solar cover seem to have broken open and no longer hold air? We have cloudy water; we are wondering if there is a connection??

[CarrollCanada]

You guys should talk about the cheap chemicals that have filler in it. I was told that is the reason I have cloudness which settles to the bottom because of this

[AlmightyPyro]

what I read that clarifier only works on getting rid of PH cloudy problems but flocculant gets the micro dust and dead algae and drops them to the bottom. Not sure if clarifier will also work with dead algae floating around the pool? It looks like gray dust.

[sorenweisshartmann]

I did not winterize my pool and when opening it up the water was a bit green. But that was quickly fixed. But around the edge of the floor and a bit on the wall I have scrubbed off some dark green growth. But now the water is not that clear anymore. Would the clarifier do the job or should it be shocked?

[oscarlontoc]

What number do I set my chlorinator? I have numbers on the dial that go fromm1 to 7 and Full

[shrtybgoodz]

Should we be putting the magic eraser in our skimmer to prevent and clear up green algae? Also is there any known issues in using it in a saltwater pool?

[zvezdapadalica]

So my pool is a bestway 12” steel frame. There is greyish dust on the bottom. When I try to scoop it out with a skimmer, it goes right through it. Then the water (since I disturbed it) has all these white little flakes through it. Eventually, they all sink to the bottom again. I have used clarifier and it doesn’t work. All my chemical levels are within normal range. I shocked the pool and chlorine was really high but still, it didn’t get rid of the flakes. My filter works fine but it can’t seem to pick up all these flakes. What can I possibly do to clear the water? Is it too much calcium? Is it algae? It appeared out of no where one day and I have been struggling for days!

[theresarottinghaus]

If I'm adding algaecide, should I wait to add clarifier after I vacuum to waste or before (directly after the algaecide)?

[patricktkeegan]

Thanks for the video. I was under the impression clarifier and floc were the same thing but clearly (ha!) I was wrong.

[atifkaramat]

Hey there I have sand filter and its mild cloudy I can see bottom of pool what should I do

[RD-vovq]

My pool is now clear but my testing strip is still off. Why?