Green cloudy pool.......

LillyPie · Postby **LillyPie** » Wed 03 Jun, 2009 11:54

Hi everyone,

I am not a new pool owner but am having troubles and I keep seeking money in my pool. I do not understand all the testing and results that you are supposed to do on your water so for the last 3 years I have been keeping chroline tablets in my floater and pouring in 1 gallon of bleach in my pool every week and never had a problem at all. I have a 24x52 above ground pool that hold app 12,481 gallons of water, 2500 filter pump, with skimmer. I live in the Carolinas.

I went on vacation for about 2 weeks and I got back on 5/20 of 09 and my pool water was dark green. So I changed my filter and bought 4 gallons of clorox bleach and poured them into the pool and also stirred the water afterwards and brushed the hole pool. In the morning the pool was blue again but cloudy so I added a clarifier about three ounces(thats how much the bottle said) and waited for the next morning. It was better where you could see the blue pattern on the bottom but not all the way.

I had to go out of town 4 days ago and asked my hubby to keep up with the pool and what not. When I got back he didnt do nothing and now my pool is back to being green and this is the first time I have ever noticed that there is a smell coming from the water. So I went to the pool store and bought more chroline tablets and put 2 in the floater and I also poured 3 1 gallon bleach in the pool and again stirred it and brushed it again. This morning there is no differnce. So I added 2 more gallons of bleach to the pool and vacuumed what I could see and brushed and stirred the water again. Can someone please tell me what I am doing wrong if I am and how to clear up my pool.

I am sorry about not giving you any numbers on the water but I dont understand that at all. I guess I am just dumb when it comes to that.

Thanks for any kind of help.

Lilly

Postby **Denali** » Wed 03 Jun, 2009 23:36

LillyPie wrote:Hi everyone,

I am not a new pool owner but am having troubles and I keep seeking money in my pool. I do not understand all the testing and results that you are supposed to do on your water so for the last 3 years I have been keeping chroline tablets in my floater and pouring in 1 gallon of bleach in my pool every week and never had a problem at all. I have a 24x52 above ground pool that hold app 12,481 gallons of water, 2500 filter pump, with skimmer. I live in the Carolinas.

I went on vacation for about 2 weeks and I got back on 5/20 of 09 and my pool water was dark green. So I changed my filter and bought 4 gallons of clorox bleach and poured them into the pool and also stirred the water afterwards and brushed the hole pool. In the morning the pool was blue again but cloudy so I added a clarifier about three ounces(thats how much the bottle said) and waited for the next morning. It was better where you could see the blue pattern on the bottom but not all the way.

I had to go out of town 4 days ago and asked my hubby to keep up with the pool and what not. When I got back he didnt do nothing and now my pool is back to being green and this is the first time I have ever noticed that there is a smell coming from the water. So I went to the pool store and bought more chroline tablets and put 2 in the floater and I also poured 3 1 gallon bleach in the pool and again stirred it and brushed it again. This morning there is no differnce. So I added 2 more gallons of bleach to the pool and vacuumed what I could see and brushed and stirred the water again. Can someone please tell me what I am doing wrong if I am and how to clear up my pool.

I am sorry about not giving you any numbers on the water but I dont understand that at all. I guess I am just dumb when it comes to that.

Thanks for any kind of help.

Lilly

Hi,

Without the numbers it is hard to give advice. Perhaps a trip to a pool store with a water sample. Bring the numbers back and post them.

If I had to guess I'd say that your CYA level has gotten high so that what you once did no longer works. The chlorine tabs you use increase the CYA (stabilized). When the CYA level gets high, the chlorine you add is not as effective. So if you can have a pool store test your water we can find out if the CYA level has gotten too high.

It can all be confusing especially if the numbers have no meaning for you. But that is what forums like this one is for. There are many people with the knowledge of what the numbers mean here on the forum. Most are happy to help.

LillyPie · Postby **LillyPie** » Thu 04 Jun, 2009 07:08

Thank you for answering. I took my pool water this morning to a pool store for testing. Here are the #'s which I have no earhtly idea what they mean and I didnt listen to the guy at the store. He tried to get me to buy about 400.00 worth of chemicals that supposly will clear my water.

Free Chlorine: 2.6
total Chlorine: 2.7
PH: 7.1
Cyanuric Acid: 0
Copper: 0
Iron: 0
Total Alkalinity: 130 ppm
Tested negative for algae

Since yesterday I have added 2 more 1 gallons of bleach in my pool and vacuumed and now I dont have any green it is blue but still very cloudy were you cant even see the bottom of the automatic skimmer. Should I add more water clarifier? Or wait?

Waiting an your replie.
Thanks soo much
Lilly :thumbup:

LillyPie · Postby **LillyPie** » Thu 04 Jun, 2009 07:35

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

Postby **chem geek** » Thu 04 Jun, 2009 10:52

Arm & Hammer Clear Balance Pool Maintenance Tablets are nothing more than baking soda (sodium bicarbonate). It will do absolutely NOTHING to clear your water. It will only increase Total Alkalinity (TA) and possibly raise the pH a little.

Denali has give you good advice. If you want more education, please read the Pool School and start out by getting yourself a proper test kit, either the Taylor K-2006 you can get at a good online price here or the TF100 from tftestkits.net here with the latter kit having 36% more volume of reagents so is comparably priced per test.

Postby **Denali** » Thu 04 Jun, 2009 11:21

Lily,

Your numbers are good except for the CYA level. I expected it to be high and it is listed at 0. Have you recently emptied the pool? Using the 3" tabs puts CYA into the water yet the pool store lists 0ppm.

Either their testing is inaccurate or you haven't used the tablets very long or you recently replaced the pool water.

You do need a certain level of CYA in the water otherwise the sun will destroy the chlorine you add rather quickly.

chemgeek gave you good info on the test kit you ought to have. Without being able to test you can only guess what the pool needs or rely on the pool store who will generally try to sell you piles of chemicals. Even if you don't know what the numbers mean when you use the test kit, you can bring the numbers online and get advice. The pool school that he pointed you to is a good place to get info. It's free, painless and you can learn at your own pace.

For now, keep up with the chlorine until the pool is clear. Getting the green out is step one. Clearing the cloudiness will happen by keeping chlorine level up and running the filter.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

LillyPie · Postby **LillyPie** » Thu 04 Jun, 2009 11:37

Thank you Denali and Chem geek.

First I will not buy the Arm and hammer. Thank you Chem for telling me that so I dont waste money on buying that.

And yes, I had to refill the pool when I found a small hole in the hose that goes from the pool to the pump and I didnt see it for probably about 2 weeks until I noticed the water level going down in the pool and a swamp around the table where the pump sits. I had to replace the hose.

So I will keep the chroline up and not put any other chemicals in the water and wait for the pool to clear on its own and I will keep everyone posted. And I will also buy the test strips also.

Thanks again so much
Lilly :thumbup:

LillyPie · Postby **LillyPie** » Mon 08 Jun, 2009 18:44

Thanks to you guys I have a clear pool. My pool has cleared up soo much that I can see that I didnt vaccum enough

I am thankful for this forum and if I have any other questions I know where to come.

Thanks a million.
Lilly

Postby **Denali** » Mon 08 Jun, 2009 18:51

LillyPie wrote:Thanks to you guys I have a clear pool. My pool has cleared up soo much that I can see that I didnt vaccum enough

I am thankful for this forum and if I have any other questions I know where to come.

Thanks a million.
Lilly

Glad to hear it worked for you. Enjoy the pool!

LillyPie · Postby **LillyPie** » Thu 11 Jun, 2009 15:29

Okay I have a problem again :crazy:

, and need some advice to make sure I am doing everything right.

Today I went into the pool to vacumm the bottom. Now remeber my pool cleared up very nicely where I could see the bottom. As I started to vacumm up all the leaves and waste, my water started to turn green again. So I finished vacumming and I did get everything, I checked the filter and it was dark green. I put a new filter in the pump and I checked the floater to make sure there was enough chorline it did have enough. The water reeks of the chroline smell. Then I took my brush and brushed every little corner I could, walls, floor everything. Then I tested the water and these are the results.

Free Chlorine: 3.0
total Chlorine: 2.9
PH: 8.1
Cyanuric Acid: 30
Copper: 0
Iron: 0
Total Alkalinity: 135 ppm

I dont understand why my water turned green again after it was totally clear. What else do I need to do?
Do I leave my pool alone again and wait for it to clear up again? We have been getting a ton of rain here lately could that affect the water? HELP!! :problem:

Postby **chem geek** » Thu 11 Jun, 2009 21:10

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 · Postby **mwelby** » Thu 25 Aug, 2011 11:07

LillyPie wrote: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 · Postby **mwelby** » Thu 25 Aug, 2011 11:34

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 · Postby **Guest** » Thu 25 Aug, 2011 11:48

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 · Postby **florida pool owner** » Sat 20 Aug, 2016 16:54

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.