Cloudy Green Water!!! Help

[Queen B]

I have a pool that continues to grow green algea and display cloudy water. I have treated my pool with algecide remover and preventer.I have shocked the pool and noticed a thick white sudzy film on the top surface.The film resembles liquid dishwasher.Help!!!!

[muss08]

The film is probably caused from using too much algaecide. Most are non foaming but when used in excess they can still foam. If you have a plaster pool brush the entire pool with a steel pool brush. When you get at least 90% of the algae off the walls (shoot for 100%) shock the pool and run the filter pump for 24 hours. IF you have a sand filter place a small amount of shock in your skimmer to shock the sand. If you have a DE or cartridge filter clean these. After 24 hours vacuum to waste all debris that has settled on the floor and clean your filter again or backwash. Check your chemistry. If your combined chlorine is above .5 ppm then shock again and wait another 24hrs and recheck. Maintain free chlorine at 1.0-3.0 ppm and pH between 7.2-7.8. For more information on chemistry check out www(dot)asipools(dot)com/chem(dot)html. After this has normalized add the manufacturer's recommended dosage of algaecide. Also get a water clarifier and add this. Add both the clarifier and algaecide once a week unless otherwise instructed. Make sure to brush your pool at least once a week. You may also want to look into a phosphate remover.

[chem geek]

Get a good test kit with a FAS-DPD chlorine test and other needed tests such as the Taylor K-2006 kit here or the TF100 kit that has 36% more quantity of reagents (so is similar in price per test) here. Be sure and test your Cyanuric Acid (CYA) level.

If you do not maintain a minimum Free Chlorine (FC) level that is 7.5% of the CYA level, then your pool may get algae. This is especially true if the phosphates level is higher and the rule works up to around 3000 ppb phosphates above which you'd need a higher FC/CYA ratio or could just use an expensive phosphate remover. You can use a lower FC percentage of CYA if you use a regular algaecide such as PolyQuat 60 weekly.

If your CYA level is very high, then the only way to reduce it is through partial drain/refill to dilute it.

Richard