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.

[India77]

New reply to n old question...you don't, in likely hood, have algae you have pollen, either that or your filter medium is no longer doing it's job or, there is a problem with your filter, or your pool water is suffering from oxididative overload.

TEST FOR ALGAE BY RUNNING FINGERS AROUND UNDER THE WATER AGAINST THE WALLS OF YOUR SKIMMER BOX...IF IT IS A TAD SLIPPERY OR SLIMY IT IS ALGAE...IF NOT IT IS POLLEN. Solution...add a polymer based clarifier and filter the pool for 8 hours or more (overnite) and then backwash the filter. Pool water should be clear once more...if improved but not perfect repeat one more time.

If this fails to clear up the water then use a flocculent...Lo Chlor Maxi Floc is a good one...add the flocc and put the filter on recirculate (don't use filter setting) overnite with pump turning off at maybe 5am in the morning. There will be a lot of drop out cloudy type residue on the bottom of the pool...use you pool vacuum to remove to waste not back into filter or it will simply return back to the pool. Water should be clear as again.

If not then check the filter medium and change it preferably to recycled glass. If still (unusual but happens) having the same issues you are probaly looking at replacing the filter. Follow the rule of 5. Cloudy pool...1 balance 2 oxidize 3 clarify (first 3 fix 95% of issues) 4 flocculent 5 Filter.

Nothing outside of these 5 fixes...they descend as they do/don't fix the issue...move through them in order and enjoy the pool. 

[MitchellMc]

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @India77. It's fantastic to have you join us, and many thanks for contributing to the discussion.

You are obviously very knowledgeable in the field of pool maintenance, and I trust you'll have plenty of valuable information to share with our members.

We look forward to hearing about all your plans and projects around your house and garden and would encourage you to let us know whenever you need assistance or have something to share. I'm sure you'll find loads of inspiration for those projects within the community as our clever and creative members share their ideas here every day.

Mitchell