It stayed fairly crystal clear until it went slightly out of round. I was able to cover the pool nightly, until that point.
In the last few weeks, we endured 13 days straight that included heavy rain each day.
The pool’s algae problem is so bad that I’ve shocked it several times. Teach time, it goes fairly clear as far as visual clarity, and the pH and chlorine levels are okay, we can use it for a day or two, then the algae levels rise again.
Is this a problem of exposure overnight each night? A problem of the excessive rainfall that has entered the system? A problem that cannot be solved by frequent shocking and filter changes ( One cannot use the pool for roughly 24-36 hours after shocking it ).
It’s frustrating, I’m trying to keep it going and maintain the proper chemical levels. I do test the water daily using a commercially available pool test kit.
If indeed it is the lack of pool cover overnight, then how can algae grow in the dark? I’d think it would flourish during the sunlit hours, when the pool waters are normally exposed anyway.
Any ideas of why this is a recurring problem, and what I can do to solve it? We’ve got at least a month of nice pool-use weather left, and I hate to just stop and drain it now.
The Shock Treatment was supposedly an algaecide ( sp?? ), but clearly it’s not cutting the mustard. I will go to my local Pool supply place and ask for JUST algaeieaiueacide ( I like that spelling better)
Is there any way to bring it back into round, or get a cover that will still cover? I don’t know enough about pools to know if that is root of the problem, but if you noticed a correlation it might be worth it to fix that.
This is way too easy to go unanswered Ready? Here is advice to make you enjoy pool ownership again.
You pH is wayyy off. Shock it all you like…shock is just alot of chlorine…and chlorine is almost USELESS if the pH is not in the right range. Rain lowers pH.
Rain definitely knocks pH down…so you need to test the level, increase the pH, and then boost alkalnity by adding some baking soda. (alkalinity will stabilize the pH) (couple of small boxes).
SKIP the algaecide…skip it. NOTHING works as well as simple chlorine.
Set the pH by testing and adjusting it, shock and then re-shock after the shock is burned up fighting the algae. Run filter non-stop for 24hrs.
Did you ever ‘stabilize’ you wate with cyuranic acid? If you answer no to this question, you already skipped step number one at season’s beginning.
Wanna chase your tale? Buy algaecide.
Is water “stabilized”? Yes? go to step 2
pH ok??? adjust with pH increaser product and boost alkalinity with baking soda
Shock with chlorine (shock is chlorine)
Reshock…keep filtering
Covering your pool will accomplish nothing.
Algaecide is marketing working well, not chemicals.
I agree that PH can and will affect your pool, as well as a lack of stabalizer. BUT algicide can and will get rid of cloudy or green water when PH and stabalizer are where they should be. I’ve had a pool for 10 years and take very good care of it. The husband and I have learned through trial and error what works best. For my money I would say that clorine stabalizer is the most important thing before PH .My pool is always crystal clear with little fuss.Stabalize the clorine when you first open the pool,check the PH and clorine level almost daily, adjust as needed.If you start seeing a little cloudiness or algae growth on the sides of the liner pour some algicide in and boom, problem taken care of.Algae will grow a little faster if the cover is constantly off but it does not matter how often you put clorine in or shock it , if there is no stabalizer in the water the clorine will not take and you will get cloudy water.
chlorine left ‘unprotected’ gets destroyed quickly, especially by the sun. So…you need cyuranic acid (aka ‘stabilizer’) to help the chlorine spread out it’s service life over a period of time. The acid protects it.
Shock (cyuranic acod) needs to be tossed into a stabilized pool at the proper rate - too much gobbles up all the chlorine and won’t release it.
Final Word on Algaecide:
From start of season to end of season, all you need is chlorine as the killer of evil things in the pool. If anyone jump in and casts a vote for algaecide, it’s because they use algaecide to cover other mistakes and chem problems that they don’t understand.
If you look up at my 4 steps I gave you above, that’s all you need to know. If you ignore my advice, you too will be buying other chemicals (like algaecide) to cover chem mistakes you’ll be making.
Think of algaecide as the equivalent of ‘oil conditioner’ for a car. If you skip oil changes, and run low on oil and your engine is out of tune, do you think you really need to worry about oil conditioner at this point?
(note: chlorine tablets are usually stabilized and they return some stabilizer over the course of a season that is lost to backwashing and playing. So, tablets chlorinate all week and you shock once per week at night.)
You don’t need algaecide, clarifier, sparkler, flock this, flock that, etc. The pool store needs it to boost profits so they don’t go hungry this winter, but you don’t need it.)
Should read “stabilizer”!!! (cyuranic acid) needs to be tossed into a stabilized pool at the proper rate - too much gobbles up all the chlorine and won’t release it.
:eek:
Sorry!
Thank you all so much, this is much needed advice. ( The kids, they’re all green. Oh Cecil, my kids are greeeeeeeeeeeeen ).
I’m away for two days now, and so left the pool with a new filter, the chlorine tablets float and not much else. Gimme till Wednesday to work on it ( I didnt’ want you wondedrful folks to think I was ignoring this excellent advice ).
By all the aquatic gods, I SHALL FIX THIS POOL !!!
Back in '97 I installed an in-ground 85,000 gallon pool. Within 4 weeks, I began the endless algae battle. My water was balanced and sanitized properly yet I could not get a handle on the algae. I have tried every product/method on the market and have wasted a ton of money in the process. I finally found something this past spring that really works and as a result have not had one bit of algae all summer. Normally I would be battling an algae bloom about every 2 weeks. We have been able to really back off from the massive weekly shocks as well.
See, that’s the problem…the algae is a sympton of a problem that should be corrected at the source: pH and chlorine issues have not been rectified. Rectify and understand the basics and you won’t have to cover mistakes with other products and additional cost.
Some years ago I read about a method to keep water clean that used electricity instead of chlorine, what did come out of that?, I really hate chlorated water up my nose. :mad:
Ozone, easily created by arcing electricity through air, kills just about anything in high enough doses. It’s a component of smog, as well as the smell of an electric motor or lightning.
I feel kind of insulted that my advice has been blown off. If you notice I said that aglicide is only good if your PH and clorine is where it should be.I normally do not have a problem with algae, or cloudy water. I’ve never once had a green pool. Sometimes though your PH is balanced, your clorine and stabalizer are fine and your water still seems a little off, that’s when we add the algicide and it always takes care of the problem. I do have a purifier on my pool, I admit I don’t know if that makes a difference.
Qwisp, we need to establish the basics with the poster first. The first thing the OPer needs to do is establish the basics. After that, then we can dive into fine tuning techniques.
There is no reason to have someone run out and buy algaecide when we haven’t even seen them pass pool chemistry 101. GQ is great when we stict to facts and go in order, especially when it comes to eliminating variables.
You have this guy start tossing in all sorts of stuff and there will be no control.
The first step is to get the basics in synch, especially when that will almost certainly solve his algae problems. He had rain and more rain and doesn’t know the pH. So, bingo, algaecide is a foolish purchase at this point.
Based on the volume you gave, and the fact that your filter uses cartridges (I assume this is what you mean when you say you got a new filter), I have to ask: Is this one of those quick-set inflatable pools? I’ve had those, and for a variety of reasons they are a bitch to keep clean. One of the problems is that algae tends to grow in the seams of the pool. The fact that the vinyl is textured, with lots of places for the algae to get a good grip, doesn’t help either. Once it’s in there, you have to scrub it out with some kind of a brush or something or it grows back very quickly. Secondly, the filters aren’t really strong enough to do as good of a job as a sand or DE filter. The cartridges become clogged very quickly even with a modest amount of dirt or algae in the pool. I used to have to hose off the cartridge after every 4-6 hours. I notice that the manufacturers of these pools now recommend replacing the cartridge every two weeks (at 15 bucks or so each, not cheap!).
I just put up a permanent above ground this year, and it has been much easier to keep clean.
A few years back, I got an ad from a company that had developed a stabilized form of copper sulphate, as an alternative to chlorine…I haven’t been able tolocate this company since!
It would be nice of there were a substitute for Cl…the stuff (chlorine) smells and bleached your hair!
Anybody ever used this stuff?
Ready? Here is advice to make you enjoy pool ownership again.