Tips for dealing with a green pool

[Joker]

This is the colour of our pool at the moment:

It's very pretty but probably not the best for swimming in. It's a saltwater fibreglass pool. 

The pool went green last weekend, presumably because the chlorine level had got too low. So I superchlorinated and got the water checked. It got the all clear from the pool shop - heaps of chlorine, stabiliser, ph a little low but fine, salt levels fine. So I bought algaecide, dumped a load of it in the pool on Sunday, and have been regularly cleaning the pool this week with both the vacuum and a brush. After cleaning I've been backwashing the sand filter to dump the dirty water (and hopefully the algae. 

But still it's green. Any tips on how to speed up the transformation into crystal clear (blue) water again? The algaecide said it would take up to 7 days to work but I expected it to be starting to clear up by now. 

And to help the process, should I have the pool cover on or off? And should I have the solar heating on or off? Any advice appreciated.

Community manager's note: Check out How to maintain a pool for expert advice.

[Jackson]

You've got the algaecide covered but this video also recommends using a pH neutraliser, super shock chlorine and flocculent to fix your green pool.

[Kermit]

Pool colour looks perfect to me!

[Joker]

Thanks for that. Its starting to clear up now. I think I was doing a couple of things wrong. 

Firstly, I didn't use the flocculent. I put some in yesterday and then vacuumed this morning and it does seem to really help remove the cloudiness. I can see the bottom of the pool again now. 

Secondly, I read on the flocculent bottle that its really important to vacuum to waste. The algaecide bottle didn't mention this, which it probably should. Maybe that video should too! I suspect that as I've just been vacuuming into the filter and then backwashing, I haven't been getting rid of the dead algae from the system and that was why it was dragging on. Lesson learned. 

[Joker]

After being good for the past few weeks the pool has gone a bit green again, so for the past couple of days I've been going through the regime of getting the Ph down, turning off the chlorinator for 24 hours, adding the algaecide, and finally the focculent. Vaccuumed to waste a couple of times now to get rid of all the dead algae and lost a lot of water but its already looking pretty clear again now. 

Really not sure what I'm doing wrong for the algae to come back though. I've been monitoring levels and they've all been fine - chlorine, ph, stabiliser, alkalinity. Its been very warm lately and the pool has been over 30 degrees consistently - could that be a possible cause? Anyone else got any suggestions?

[Joker]

Very happy with how the pool is looking now. It's really clear and a beautiful aqua colour that we've not really had before. It's always been more green.

This time I used an algaecide that said it was specially developed for salt water pools, as well as a salt water branded clarifier. Will be sticking with them in future and hoping the problem doesn't reappear.  

[Jason]

How's everyone's pool looking at the moment? 

Swimming season has begun at our place. I went for a couple of quick dips last week after a bit of spring cleaning. 

Our water is looking good but the recent windy weather is annoying as vacuuming needs to be a little more frequent than I would like! 

Jason

[ProjectPete]

Health of water is good and clairty is decent. Will geta  good clean this wknd ready for the beautiful weather. It's stayed surprisingly healthy throughout winter considering how little maintenance I put in - we did manage to prove our 2.5k investment in an electric heater at install was probably wasted (we went in once this winter) although it helps with the appeal of the pool when it comes time to sell

[Jason]

As a relatively new pool owner @ProjectPete, I'm amazed at the efficiency of solar heating. Weather over here hasn't been brilliant, but if its a sunny day in the low 20s the solar can get the pool to around 30 degrees. 

How long does the electric heater take to warm your pool to a point where you're happy to swim in winter?

Jason 

[ProjectPete]

@Jason Summer time there's obvs no need for the heater - the pool blanket alone gets it up to about 3-5 degrees below the outside temp, so we've had it up to 37deg on a 40+deg day. Obviously that's not refreshing so we take it off in the morning, but it just highlights the effectiveness of a blanket alone, especially on a smaller pool.

To get the water to 30+ degrees using the heater, depending on outside temp you're looking at at least 6 hrs off the top of my head - not practical or cost efficient, but nice if you commit to it