How To Remedy a Green Pool
Unfortunately, there is no magic way to make a green (or black) pool clear overnight ! It usually takes a lot of time, effort and money to clear up a green pool. It is best if you never let your pool water get this dirty, however most pool owners experience a green problem every so often.
It isn’t easy work, but there is a procedure for clearing up a green pool quickly.
Make sure you have the necessary chemicals and cleaning products that you will need to do this job:
- Granular Chlorine
- Chlorine FREE Shock
- PH Adjusting Chemicals
- Algaecide
- Vacuuming Equipment
- Backwash Hoses
Follow the directions below to make your green pool clear again.
1. Remove large debris and particles from the pool floor with a large leaf net. This will stir up the water, and may make your pool look worse, however the stirred up particles will settle within a few hours. Don’t attempt to vacuum the pool if you can’t see the bottom or if you have excessive debris on the bottom. You could clog your system!
2. Adjust the pH and Alkalinity levels of the water using pH Plus, pH Minus and Alkalinity Plus. These levels must be within proper ranges or the water will not clear.
3. Super chlorinate the water to kill off any bacteria and algae. If your pool is dirty, it may need many Kilograms of shock over a period of a few days before the water clears. Start by adding 10 or 14 Kilograms, and if you see no results within 12 hours, add 10 to 14 more Kilograms the next day. Continue until you notice the water changing color to either cloudy white, light green or clear. You may also want to add an algaecide to the water at this point.
4. Run your filter 24 hours a day and backwash 3 – 4 times a day for the fastest results. Green or cloudy water will quickly clog a filter, so you may have to backwash your filter many times a day until the pool clears. You can’t over-backwash a pool filter. The more you run your pool, and the more you backwash the filter, the faster the pool will clear up. If you have a D.E. filter, remember to add new D.E. to the skimmer closest to your filter after each backwashing.
5. If you follow these instructions and your pool does not clear up within 4 – 5 days, your filter may not be functioning as it should be. If this is the case with your pool, have the filter system checked by a professional. The pool will never clear up if the filter is not working as it should!
6. Once the water clears up, you will probably see debris on the pool floor remove any large debris with your leaf net and vacuum. This will save wear and tear to your filter system, and keep the debris from clogging your pipes.
Note: Liner Colour Fading
Blue vinyl swimming pool liners are susceptible to bleaching or loss of colour if exposed to chlorine concentrations that are too high. If recommended concentrations are adhered to, slight bleaching and fading occurs gradually over a period of several years. This is due to the limitations of the pigments available to match the desired blue shades, and occurs with all vinyl manufacturers.
Direct contact of the liner with trichloroisocyanurate stabilized chlorine can result in an almost total bleaching of color in a time period as short as 6 to 24 hours. This is because of a high available chlorine content (90%), the low solubility (rate of dissipation of the granules or pucks), and the extremely low pH produced in the contact areas.
The immediate effects of other types of chlorine, such as dichlorisocyanurate, calcium hypochlorite, sodium hypochlorite (liquid chlorine), are not as rapid and severe — as long as they are not mixed with other chemicals, during or shortly after addition to the pool. Solutions of the above chlorines can be applied directly to the liner for several hours to bleach stains without adversely affecting the liners.
If the concentrations of the above chlorines are allowed to remain higher than the recommended levels (5.0 ppm for superchlorination, or 10.0 ppm for shocking) for long periods of time, gradual bleaching of most blue liners will occur.
Liner colours, other than medium shade blue, that have almost total resistance to chlorine bleaching and colour fading are: white, turquoise, light blue, grey and dark royal blue. The print patters pool liners have excellent resistance to bleaching in most cases. The exceptions are medium blue prints, which can only be obtained with the inclusion of a bleach-able blue pigment.