cloudy green water

[deelac]

Help! We are at wits end. we have had a pool for 25 years and never had this problem. When we opened the pool 4 weeks ago it was dark green water with algae on the bottom. we have shocked it app. 8 times, algaecide 3 times, iron out once, mimeral out once, clarifier twice, vacuumed on waste, backwashed and rinsed many times. The PH and alkalinity are perfect, plenty of chlorine, but the water is still cloudy light green.

[Larry]

What is the conditioner (cyanuric acid) level? The chlorine may be locked if the CYA level is too high.

[shyr]

If your pool is very dirty, it may need MANY gallons of liquid chlorine over a period of days before the water clears. You cannot overshock a pool. The more you add, the quicker it will clear. shock is available in liquid or powdered form, but we recommend using liquid (it works faster). You may also want to add a high quality algaecide to the water at this point.

[summernat]

have you wasted the filter at all? this gets rid of all the dirty water that is held in your filter even after backwashing and rinsing. if you have a sand filter make sure that its not the filter making this problem as some sand filters start blowing the sand back into the pool and will make water cloudy green. if its the sand filter thats the problem then it needs replacing.

[dalehileman]

Hi Dee: Over a period of 13 years I had resorted to massive doses of shock and replacement of filter sand and the like until my swimming visitors began to complain of skin problems whereupon I replaced most of my 35 kg water

....thereupon in spite of much opposition (and at one pool forum having actually having been banned for suggesting the practice), returned to Friendly Local Bills' Pool and Spa recommendation using tabs in the skimmer and weekly supermarket algi-clari with occasional Na di- and tri= shock. Easy, requiring only weeky or bi-weekly attention at most

Of course "experts" of the pool forums will loudly denounce the foregoing practice, censuring it for CYA buildup though Bill's maintains that the this problem is greatly exaggerated. Nonetheless, so far so good, but to deal with the supposed CYA and to allay the itchies we now intend to change the water on a regular basis, I say every five years though my Better Half insists every other year

The "experts" will drive you to distraction, while as one sci-fi writer expressed it decades ago, "Everything is 95% bullshit." As for shyr's massive dump of bleach, yes, that's one of the "expert"'s recommendations but my Helpmate wouldn't let me and, well, she's smarter than I

[chem geek]

This thread is old from 2006 and only recently had a new post. I don't see the point of posting to very old threads since the original poster is likely not following this anymore.

As for your advice, there are tens of thousands of pool owners on The PoolForum and Trouble Free Pool who properly manage their chlorine and CYA levels and don't have algae or cloudy water problems with their pools and also manage them inexpensively and without the need for regular shocking. Many of the problems with water quality are statistical events -- one can abuse their pool and be lucky and have no problems, but that's not good advice to give to others. The chlorine/CYA relationship is a chemical fact (see this paper and the links in the Chlorine/CYA Relationship section in this post for example) -- not an opinion -- and has been proven out in tens of thousands more real pools than just your own. It is not the only way to manage pool water -- one can spend more money and use algaecides, clarifiers, flocculants, phosphate removers, copper ions, etc.

Your wife telling you that you can't use chlorinating liquid (or bleach) in your pool does not make her smarter than you. If you or she understood chemistry, you would know that the resulting chlorine in the water is identical to that from the tabs, the only difference being that the tabs also increase the Cyanuric Acid (CYA) level (which reduces the active chlorine, hypochlorous acid, level), are very acidic, and are slow-dissolving. I've written about my personal experience with using Trichlor tabs and the resulting increasing CYA and dull cloudy water of an impending algae bloom elsewhere so will not repeat that here, but one experience is not particularly relevant compared to that from tens of thousands of pool homeowners and service professionals that is also consistent with the fundamental chemistry published in peer-reviewed well-respected scientific journals.

[dalehileman]

"This thread is old from 2006 and only recently had a new post. I don't see the point of posting to very old threads since the original poster is likely not following this anymore."

Aha Geek you're quite right but what brought it to my attentions was its appearance in "Active Pool Topics"

"Your wife telling you that you can't use chlorinating liquid (or bleach) in your pool does not make her smarter than you."

Yes perhaps I was being a bit offhand if not facetious. Furthermore I readily concede that not sharing your credentials I might even an unwitting member of the 95% above. But you should nonetheless view my gorgeous blue, clear pool

..if I weren't too lazy to learn how to post a photo

[fahavi]

I think they are just interested with the topic. That's the reason why they replied for it. Anyway, cloudy green water cause by not using it for a long time. I have always seen water which stocked in a native water container and I see the water in a cloudy green. In there, there are moss in the bottom of the jar. In cleaning, it needs special attention and a very high mixture of chemicals to clean it.