Green pool

[cookiejar]

Hi there
pleasE help....
Took cover off to inground pool and it is really green. Put vacuum in pool and let it bounce around picking all leaves and rubbish off bottom, but did this with it still on filter.....(NOT WASTE)
Yesterday i added aprox 2kg of shock then let it cirrculate around pool for an hour then turned filter off.
Got up this morning and its not as green but still green....
To be honest not sure what to do next..... Have switched filter back on this morning ..... HELP PLEASE

By the way my pool is 10,000 gallons

[Guest]

I have the same problem, looks like I added food coloring to my pool. Does anyone one have suggestions to help. I already added algecide. and my levels all are in the ok range

[Mrs. Duck]

Im by far an expert here, and still learning myself.
But obviously if the water is still green your levels cannot be fine.

I have a 18 foot above ground, and its probably around 10,000 gallons of water. I have shocked it already 5 times and the water is now starting to turn from green to a blueish hue. If I don't see any more improvement by tomorrow I plan on taking a sample of water to the pool store.

In my opinion, I don't think one thing of shock (1 pound) is going to do it.

[me_too]

Im by far an expert here, and still learning myself.
But obviously if the water is still green your levels cannot be fine.

I have a 18 foot above ground, and its probably around 10,000 gallons of water. I have shocked it already 5 times and the water is now starting to turn from green to a blueish hue. If I don't see any more improvement by tomorrow I plan on taking a sample of water to the pool store.

In my opinion, I don't think one thing of shock (1 pound) is going to do it.

Well, you have to get enough chlorine in there to oxidize whatever's left after you've vacuumed out the big stuff.

For 10000 gallons (37854 liters) use about 1455 grams of 65% cal hypo. That will take you to about 25 ppm. That will take you to a clear pool within 48-72 hours. You may have cal hypo already if that's what you used last year.

Also pay particular attention to the "active chlorine content" in what you're buying. I've seen "shock" sold as 42%. Just to give you an idea, my cal hypo is 70%.

There is no reason to buy shock if you have (unstabilized) chlorine already.

[Guest]

Im by far an expert here, and still learning myself.
But obviously if the water is still green your levels cannot be fine.

I have a 18 foot above ground, and its probably around 10,000 gallons of water. I have shocked it already 5 times and the water is now starting to turn from green to a blueish hue. If I don't see any more improvement by tomorrow I plan on taking a sample of water to the pool store.

In my opinion, I don't think one thing of shock (1 pound) is going to do it.

Well, you have to get enough chlorine in there to oxidize whatever's left after you've vacuumed out the big stuff.

For 10000 gallons (37854 liters) use about 1455 grams of 65% cal hypo. That will take you to about 25 ppm. That will take you to a clear pool within 48-72 hours. You may have cal hypo already if that's what you used last year.

Also pay particular attention to the "active chlorine content" in what you're buying. I've seen "shock" sold as 42%. Just to give you an idea, my cal hypo is 70%.

There is no reason to buy shock if you have (unstabilized) chlorine already.

I tested it yesterday and it said 1 ppm for cholorine. Which I thought was extremely low. I noticed the bags of shock from Walmart had only about 50% chlorine. So I am wondering if that's my problem, just not enough chlorine. Last year when we closed the pool the water was cyrstal clear. We only dropped the water line and put the filter on winter. And didn't bother to put a cover on it. We live in the south, so don't have much of a winter.

What exactly is unstabilized chlorine? What should I put in the pool?
I also added algacide, but someone told me that only prevents it not help get rid of it.

[Dan Burr]

I'm not a chemist but it's my understanding that stabilized chlorine is called that because it is stable under sunlight. If you chlorinate with unstabilized chlorine in the daytime the sun will dissipate it quickly.

Also, someone correct me on this but I believe that just because an algecide kills algea it dosn't remove it. If you need potable water and you boil swamp water to kill bacteria, you will do that but you won't REMOVE the dead bacteria. That is a job for a filter. Filtering dead algea residue out of the pool will take several days for the cloudyness to go away. Anyone have similar experience?

Also, read the label on those one lb bags of pool chemicals closely. Some product big print labels will give you the impression they contain algecide but they do not...as a close reading of the fine print will tell you. Some of those products only contain clarifiers, buffers, and other goodies of unknown utility supposedly to make the water look perfect ...provided it is in balance.

[greenqueen]

The chemical levels in my pool were in the acceptable range and the water was clear, but there was lots of algae on the walls of the attached spa - not heated. I added shock to the spa and pool, and the whole pool turned green. What now?

[me_too]

I'm not a chemist but it's my understanding that stabilized chlorine is called that because it is stable under sunlight. If you chlorinate with unstabilized chlorine in the daytime the sun will dissipate it quickly.

Also, someone correct me on this but I believe that just because an algecide kills algea it dosn't remove it. If you need potable water and you boil swamp water to kill bacteria, you will do that but you won't REMOVE the dead bacteria. That is a job for a filter. Filtering dead algea residue out of the pool will take several days for the cloudyness to go away. Anyone have similar experience?

Also, read the label on those one lb bags of pool chemicals closely. Some product big print labels will give you the impression they contain algecide but they do not...as a close reading of the fine print will tell you. Some of those products only contain clarifiers, buffers, and other goodies of unknown utility supposedly to make the water look perfect ...provided it is in balance.

Yes without being too technical the stabilized chlorine breaks down in water into chlorine and stabilizer. The chlorine eventually gets consumed but the stabilizer remains. If you already have stabilizer in the water the unstabilized chlorine will be protected by whatever amount of stabilizer is in the water. So yes shocking with a granular stabilized chlorine is a good way to introduce stabilizer to the water at pool opening, but my preference is to go with unstabilized chlorine for regular chlorination and shock and a separate addition of stabilizer.

For the algae, you are certainly correct. You start off with a green pool with visible algae and add sufficient amount of chlorine to kill it off. Literally in front of your eyes the pool goes from a dark green to a lesser green to then milky white. That's dead algae, everything has been killed and oxidized by the chlorine. At that point filtration takes over and filters out the particles in a few days. I've read somewhere that oxidation is like cleaning up the yard after a bbq, you throw all the dishes in garbage bags (big debris) then set fire to the garbage bags (oxidize 'em - makes for smaller debris). These smaller debris can be caught by the filter media.

The secret, really, is to carefully read the labels and know what you're buying. It affects the dosage and the efficiency of treatments. In a large retail chain over here last year they had 65% cal hypo in huge pails. This year you think you're buying the same thing but the chlorine content has gone down to 47%. That's a huge drop.