My pool (21') is green, and cloudy. We've had our water tested. We have an unusually high chlorine count, but that does not cause cloudiness. All of our levels are perfect. No chemicals need to be added. We've had it running and filtering for about 2 weeks now. We put algaecide in when it first started up. That turned it a light blue. Then we put in Alkalinity plus, and sodium bicarbonate. To get all of the levels right. Stabilizer, conditioner, the whole lot. But, after we put the calcium up and alkalinity up it turned green. We've tried several clarifiers. Nothing is working at all. We've brushed the walls, and there is not much on the bottom of the pool. If we run the net over the bottom of the pool, we don't get any leaves, just gunk from trees. Not even a lot of that stuff either. I did not discover unti after I had done it that I was ot supposed to add the Calcium up and the Alkalinity solution at the same time. What type of damage could this have done, and how do I reverse the cloudy effect? I want clean and clear water. If I put my broom in I can see it about 2 1/2 feet down until it disappears completely. We also have no copper or metals in the pool. ph is 7.4. Chlorine is 10 ppm (When it should be 3 ppm) but we have been told by many pool professionals that this will not cause cloudiness. All else is perfect. No clarifiers have delivered results. Help me!
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The green is algae. It is growing faster than you can kill it because the tree gunk / leaves are providing nitrogen in the water. You must remove all foreign materials, vegetable and animal (I am not kidding about small animals and birds drowning during the winter). Even a little bit will keep providing nitrogen for algae growth.
Once you have all the foreign materials out of the water, balance the water. You have already achieved a ph of 7.4 which is ideal.
Add a "Chelated Copper" Algaecide. Follow the directions on the bottle for your pool size and algae condition. Don't skimp on algaecide as you will leave the hard to kill algae to create a super resistant algae.
Next add massive amounts of unstabilized chlorine until the water clears. You want to hold the chlorine level over 3.5 ppm until the water clears. It can take a couple of hundred dollars worth of unstabilized chlorine if you have a lot of nitrogen in the water.
Once you have achieved clarity, check to see if you need Cyuranic Acid. Most likely you won't as Cyuranic Acid is normally added to a pool only when a lot of water (25% or more) is lost and fresh water must be added to replace the water lost.
Switch to using stabilized chlorine, and keep your pool on an algae preventive routine. Add aglaecide once a week or anytime someone swims in the river or lake and then wears the same clothes in your pool, the aglae will be back within 3 days if you don't have a preventive routine.
Next fall add a couple of gallons of algaecide to the water before you close the pool up. When you uncover the pool next spring, it will be crystal clear. Immediately Balance, Add Algaecide and Unstabilized Chlorine in amounts above 3.5 ppm. Go right into your summer preventive routine and you will have crystal clear water all summer.
There are a couple of possibilities. First, you have an algae bloom. That would cause the symptoms you're describing. The solution is to properly shock the pool. You don't mention what your cyanuric acid (stabilizer) level is. One of the problems with CYA is that the higher the levels of CYA, the higher you need to keep your chlorine level. If you put too much CYA in, your 10 ppm of chlorine may not be adequate to keep algae from blooming. The cure is unscented bleach (liquid chlorine). Lots and lots of bleach. How much depends on the rest of your test results.
The other possibility is that you used a copper-based algaecide, which can cause water discoloration and staining (green). The cloudiness may be from the calcium that you added. It might also be from the baking soda that you added. (Yes, Alkalinity Up is just sodium bicarbonate, sold at the grocery store for $0.98/lb, and sold by the pool store for 5x as much). Baking soda by itself is fine, but it can change the pH to where the calcium precipitates. That might make things cloudy. It's hard to tell without solid test results.
The bottom line is that if you want to maintain your own pool, and avoid spending $$$ at the pool store, you need your own pool testing kit. Don't rely on the pool store's numbers or test strips, since both are horribly inaccurate. If you can find one, pick up a Taylor k-2006 with the FAS/DPD Chlorine test. Leslies will sell one as the "pool professional kit," or you can get a better deal on the TF-100 at tftestkits.net. Spend the $50-$70 on a good kit before you spend $400 on the chemicals that the other Answer and your local pool store recommend. The tests themselves are extremely easy to perform.
Of course, you can always rely on the high schooler at the pool store, who gets paid to sell you chemicals, to give you exactly the wrong combination of chemicals. He'll say to use flocculent, and clarifier, and here's a 50 lb tub of chlorine tabs (increases the CYA and makes the problem worse), and use shock every week, and ph+, and then ph Minus and algaecide and.....
And your pool will still be green, because for the most part, they only know what their chemical suppliers tell them. Don't fall for that. Get a test kit, and do it right.
Algicide...and strengthen the pH.Your pool is packed with algae. I wager you acquire a sort of decrease priced above floor swimming pools with the small little filters, they`re very difficult to maintain sparkling, my neighbour had to drain hers two times final twelve months.What a waste of water.There are clarifies that should help...yet maximum persons don`t have lots success protecting those abovegroud swimming pools thoroughly sparkling.the clarification why I paid one among those hefty value for y swimming pools became for the effectual sand clear out,( which has a back flush gadget that filters algae).