Green cloudy pool.......

[chem geek]

You probably should have vacuumed or physically removed everything that was in the bottom of the pool first before trying to clear the pool using chlorine. What happened is that you reintroduced stuff to oxidize back into the bulk pool water. So physically remove as much of the stuff as you can, including 24/7 filtering and cleaning/backwashing of the filter as appropriate, then shock with chlorine to clear the bulk pool water (and be patient doing so as you already know it takes a few days at high chlorine levels).

[mwelby]

Also, My father in law told me to get a tub of 3" tablets of Arm and Hammer clear Blue Pool Balancer, that I am supposed to put 1 tablet in my floater with the chroline tablets and that will help clear my water. Have you ever heard of this? I havent and I dont want to doubt him but I dont want to put something in my pool that I dont know what it is going to do.

I love this forum, it is great to get advice from everyone.

Thank,
Lilly

[mwelby]

lillypie
yes i have used arm & hammer clear blue pool balancer 3" tabs. your father in law is correct and the product is GREAT.!! I NEVER HAD A PROBLEM WITH POOL WHILE USING!!!!!!!!!!!!!
but i cant seem to find the tabs for the past two seasions i even went to arm&hanner web sight and had no luck.
if anyone knows where to buy, you will be king on my book.( or queen)
besides my water is cloudy and greening and i am getting furstrated i did add mass bleach, so i will check my CYA level. also jump start is a good product it makes forgem matter in pool cling together so you can vacume up easy.!!

[Guest]

lillypie;

just got off phone with arm and hammer.
the blue tabs are a WALLMART PRODUCT ONLY.! they might be out of seasion, but check on line. GOOD LUCK.

[florida pool owner]

I have had problems with my pool turning green this summer, too. It was caused by a combination of the pump not working properly due to a dirty filter, chlorine getting too low when a houseguest went for a swim and didn't put the chlorine floater back in the pool, and lots of rain. I drained my pool and gave it a good scrubbing and began refilling the pool with city water which has a lot of chlorine in it any way. It started raining and barely stopped for a whole week, and my pool started turning green again. I use the color coded test strips that come with a chart to indicate chemical balance. Even with the chlorine at high levels the pool stayed cloudy and a little green. I found a great website that stated both chlorine and alkalinity must remain high to battle green water, and daily filter flushing is a must. I've been keeping the pump running 24/7, cleaned the filter thoroughly 3 times for the past week,skimmed out debris, and added extra chlorine granules and Arm & Hammer Clear Blue tablets twice. I am happy to report I can once again see the bottom of my pool. No more green water and the cloudiness is also clearing. The other website stated as long as you can see at least 8 inches under the water, you can get your clear water back. If not, drain the pool and start over. Then keep the filter clean and chlorine levels up.

[chem geek]

The active chlorine (hypochlorous acid) level that is proportional to the FC/CYA ratio is what kills algae. So using Trichlor pucks builds up CYA over time so the chlorine becomes less and less effective. That's why once you started to have algae growth you couldn't get rid of it with normal chlorine levels. You need to SLAM the pool but probably should lower the CYA level by water dilution first.

You may very well get unusual chlorine demand, dull/cloudy water, and visible algae growth again because you have not managed your Cyanuric Acid (CYA) level. Your temporary elevation of the chlorine level is a band-aid fix that doesn't resolve the fundamental problem of CYA buildup.