Your Chemistry Is Still Out Of Whack
Assuming your water was green, then restored, and then went back to green, thats a strong indication youre having issues with your pool water chemistry.
Water testing and staying on top of the appropriate chemicals will be needed to balance the water, including:
- pH level: A pools pH level can make or break the water, and a properly balanced pH level is imperative. The recommended range is between 7.2 and 7.6, with 7.4 being ideal. If the water drops below this range, it becomes acidic, and if it spikes above this range it becomes alkaline both of which present challenges with water color .
- Chlorine level: Sanitizer must always be present in the pool, but too much chlorine can cause hazy green water, and lack of chlorine will be insufficient, making way for algae. The minimum level of chlorine should be 1.0 ppm, with 3.0 being the top end. Of course, if shocking the pool youll temporarily have higher levels present, and you should wait until the chlorine levels out before going swimming again.
- Cyanuric acid: Otherwise known as pool stabilizer, CYA extends your chlorines lifespan, protecting it from the harmful UV rays of the sun. But if too much CYA is present, it will lock the chlorine molecules, and the chlorine will become ineffective. Ideally, you want CYA to be testing at 50 ppm. If too high, the only way to bring it down is to dilute the pool.
How To Clear A Green Pool In 5 Days Or Less
Do you have a green pool without meaning to at all? That definitely wont be any fun to swim in, or to look at. Dont worry, though. All is not lost.
You dont have to drain your pool and start over. You can send that algae packing, and then take steps to keep it from coming back.
Use Flocculant To Clear Up The Algae
Youve disarmed the enemy , but its presence still lingers.
The best way to clear out the rest of the pool algae is to use a pool flocculant.
Flocculants are normally used to clear up cloudy white swimming pools. They work by clumping particles together and sinking them to the bottom of your pool making it easier for you to clean up and filter out.
Use 1 2 treatments of pool flocculant depending on the severity of the pool algae. After adding it to your pool, give the flocculant some time to settle in.
Once you see the algae sinking to the bottom, its time to finish the job.
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Consider The Nuclear Option
Unfortunately in some cases of green water, the pool can be too far gone to bring back to life and youll have to do a partial or full drain. But, as filling a pool skyrockets your water bill, this should always be a last resort.
If you can still see the floor in the shallow end of the pool, it may have a fighting chance. Run the filter non-stop, brush and shock like theres no tomorrow, and endlessly test and balance your water.
However, you also have to consider if your pool filter can handle the job. If its on the smaller side, gets overwhelmed by thick water, or is too noisy to run 24 hours a day, you may have to throw in the towel.
Additionally, stains from algae and other debris can be permanent on the pools finish. While you may be able to get rid of the green water color, the stains might have to be acid washed, which will require a full drain.
Im Running The Filter
Are you running the filter 24/7? That is what we would recommend when trying to clear up a green pool. Its often not even mentioned by customers seeking help, until later when we discover that the pump runs only 8 hours/day, and only at night A big part of algae prevention and algae cure is to keep the circulation and filtration working hard, so your pool chemicals dont have to shoulder such a heavy burden. Run your pump long enough each day to keep the water clear, and run during the day when the sun is beating down on the pool when photosynthesis is happening. For properly sized pool filters, 10-12 hours per day is possible, but for undersized and underperforming filters, running it less will only cause you more water problems. Small filters may need 18-24 hours daily, especially during hot weather, as a prevention against algae. Be sure to use a pump timer, dont rely on your memory or availability to turn on/off the pump each day. That will fail you one day, and can be all it takes to start an algae bloom.
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How To Clean A Green Pool
Green pool water is often caused by the presence of algae in your pool. Learn how to treat algae and get rid of green pool water.
Green pool water is often caused by the presence of algae in your pool. Algae blooms can appear when your pool has a low Free Chlorine. Exposure to high heat, heavy rain or poor circulation, without the use of a preventative algaecide, also increase your risk of developing pool algae. Stubborn pool algae can be hard to control if the appropriate steps arent taken to properly treat and prevent the problem. Follow these steps to treat and prevent green pool water.
Test and Balance Water
Always begin by testing your pool water. Your test results will tell you if your water parameters are unbalanced. Pay special attention to your Free Chlorine level. Low Free Chlorine can cause your pool water to turn green. Always maintain Free Chlorine between 1 -4 ppm. If needed, apply the appropriate chlorine and sanitizers to restore adequate sanitizer levels.
Clean Pool Water and Surfaces
Skim water surface to remove visible debris, brush walls, vacuum and empty skimmer baskets. Concentrate on areas with visible dirt and little or no circulation. Cleaning your pool regularly is an effective step to prevent algae growth.
Apply a Shock Treatment
Crystal clear water starts by applying pool shock. Shocking your pool water helps to remove contaminants that may cause algae to grow and helps to improve water filtration.
Apply an Algaecide
Clean Filter
How To Clean A Green Pool In 24 Hours
Are you looking for the how to clean a green pool in 24 hours? If you answered yes, then you are in the right place. This article has 9 steps for you to use to turn your water from green to clear, including how to use a sand filter.
First, you need to know that you cannot clear a green pool in less than 24 hours, so this article is going to tell you how to clear it in around 4 to 5 days. The best method to keep your water clear is to have weekly or bi-weekly maintenance and cleaning done by a pool service company regularly. This ensures that you will never have a green pool.
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Keep Up With Proper Pool Maintenance
After all your hard work is done and your pool isnt green or cloudy anymore it is time to concentrate on a routine daily, weekly, and monthly maintenance regime. Or when youre new to pool maintenance you can consult this Beginners Guide to Swimming Pool Maintenance for additional reading. Make sure you are backwashing your filters routinely in addition to skimming any debris that might have fallen in the pool too.
How Do You Keep Your Pool Blue
Once youve restored your pool to its crystal clear waters, youre probably wondering how you can keep it that way.
Proper maintenance is everything when you have a swimming pool, and making sure that youre not dealing with another gross looking green pool water situation in the future requires taking preventative measures.
Below are some tips on how to prevent your pool from turning green again:
Chlorine shocks and algaecide You need to shock your pool with a high dose of chlorine to kill any dormant bacteria or algae on a weekly basis.
In addition, if your pool is continuously affected by algae, you may also want to consider a weekly algaecide treatment that specifically targets algae.
Maintain proper chlorine levels The easiest way to prevent algae from growing in your pool again is to make sure that you maintain proper chlorine levels.
Install a filtration system Installing a quality pool filtration system in your swimming pool is another great method to keep your pool blue.
Algae tend to form in stagnant water, so a filtration system keeps the water flowing and thus can help prevent algae from growing in your pool.
Skim pool surface regularly Cleaning your pool is a given, but you will also need to regularly check your filter to make sure it is not full of dirt and debris that may cause improper flow.
To achieve this, ensure that you are regularly skimming the surface of the pool using a reliable pool skimmer to prevent debris from going into the filter.
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Swimming Pool Design Construction Refurbishment And Servicing
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Six Steps To Cleaning A Green Pool
Each of these steps is described in detail below. All information is based on an in-ground home pool of average size, from 12 to 15 thousand gallons.
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Preventing Green Water Caused By Heavy Metals
Note: The photo above is just a sample of the types of metal-pre filters available in the market
It goes without saying that if we want to prevent green water caused by metals is to prevent metals from entering your pool water in the first place! Now depending on the source of the metal contamination in your pool, the prevention method may be different.
Note: When were talking about pre-filtering your water for metals, were not talking about those vortex-type pre-filters but pre-filters designed to remove metals from your pool water without the use of chemicals.
Why Do Pools Go Green
So youve got your pool up and running and everythings looking good, then one day you look out and notice that your pool water is green. What happened? Today we will look at what causes pool water to turn green, how to troubleshoot to find the reason why the pool went green, and how to get the water clear again.
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Maintain A Balanced Pool Ph
Maintaining an optimal pool pH can also help combat green pool water. Thats because the pH level of your pool water can affect the efficacy of chlorine. If the pH of your pool is too low, chlorine will dissipate rapidly. This can lead to algae growth as well as discoloration caused by oxidation of metals.
If the pH of your pool is too high, the chlorine will lose its power to combat algae and kill off germs.
The ideal pool pH is approximately 7.4-7.6, although anywhere between 7.2-7.8 is considered acceptable.
How Green Is Your Pool
Because if it’s too green, these six steps wont be enough you may need to have the pool drained and acid-washed, instead of shocked. I have seen many pools that were not just green, but black. In severe cases like this, it is more cost-effective and less time-consuming to simply drain the pool and have it acid-washed, even though it costs money to refill the pool.
This is my general rule for determining whether the pool can be treated chemically or needs to be drained: if you can see at least six to eight inches below the surface of the water, most likely the pool can be treated chemically. An example is in the photo below you can see the top of the first stair down into the pool.
Once we establish that the pool doesn’t need to be drained and can be treated chemically, we can go from there.
An example of green pool water that can be treated chemically.
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Will My Swimming Pool Turn Green If I Dont Add Chlorine
Simply put, Yes!
Swimming pool water must have a sanitizer that will kill bacteria and algae. Algaecide alone without chlorine will not prevent the pool from turning green.
In order to stay on top of maintaining your pool and ensuring that it remains as blue as possible, you need to be shocking your pool water with chlorine every week or so.
The #1 Thing That You Can Do
So what is the most effective approach to rid your pool of algae and get it clear again?
Chlorine is the short answer. How much is determined by how big your pool is and how much algae is in it. So it is not a one-size-fits-all solution.
But the goal is to shock the algae with the amount of chlorine you add. There are products available that play on these words, such as algae guard and pool shock products.
Any of these will provide about the same level of power as the chlorine will.
When you shock your pools water, you will probably have to pour in at least a 2.5-gallon bottle of chlorine or several pounds of granules. So it is better to buy the larger sizes to get the best value. You can even purchase 25-pound bags of granules as well.
Plus, it takes more to eliminate all traces of the algae than it does to kill it. So you will need to read specific directions on the packaging of the product you choose for your size pool.
Start by calculating how much water your pool holds . Read on the packaging of your chlorine how much it takes for that amount of water. Start there and see what it accomplishes!
There are also free apps available to do the math for you, like Pool Pal.
You will also probably need to follow a protocol of letting your pump clean the pool for several hours and then check your pool chemistry. Dont forget to clean your pool or filter in the meantime. That will help you know how much chlorine to add to get the water levels right.
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Remove The Large Debris
Check the pool bottom for any large debris and remove it using a leaf net. You may have thought about using a skimmer, but dont. You will just stir up the water and make it look worse than it was. Remove the debris as carefully as possible without stirring the water up.
Important: If you are unable to see the bottom of the pool, do not vacuum it. You will risk clogging or damaging the filter, skimmer and underground plumbing pipes.
Do I Need To Worry About Pool Phosphates
You may have heard pool pros or other pool owners say that to control algae, you need to control pool phosphates, and use phosphate remover to do so.
We have one word for that: No.
No, you dont need to worry about phosphates, and no, you dont need to use phosphate remover.
Trying to remove phosphates from any environment is like trying to remove dust particles from the air. You will never, ever, ever be able to do it completely. Well, unless you build a clean room. The same is true for phosphates. Theyre everywhere and in everything.
Yes, theyre a food source for algae. But to control pests in your vegetable garden, do you remove the vegetables? Of course not. You kill the pests. The same is true for algae.
Sanitize, sanitize, test, balance, and sanitize some more. And use the money you wouldve spent on phosphate remover on a nice pool float.
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Getting Ready To Treat The Pool
