effects of solar cover on water chemistry

[NoMoreGreenWater]

First off I want to say how great this site is...I have done battle with my pool for the past 3 years and after finding this site, reading it and asking a couple of questions my pool looks great. I have not put my solar cover on for the past 2 years because everytime I do my pool turns green. Is this do to my solar cover or my water chemistry being messed up. Thanks in advance.

 

[PaulR]

Mostly the solar cover will reduce how much chlorine gets used up by sunlight, and possibly could reduce the rate of pH rise by restricting outgassing of CO2. As it tends to keep the water warmer it will have a consequent effect on CSI, which is not usually a problem.

I had an algae bloom a couple weeks ago, which happened because I wasn't paying attention and the FC got too low. Without the cover I probably would have noticed it sooner, but that's about the only effect I can attribute to the cover. Shocking with chlorine cleared it up in the usual amount of time and it has been fine since then.
--paulr

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

Maybe both.

I left on vacation June 5. Shocked my pool to 16 June 4, put cover on. Left pump running on low 24/7. Came home to clear water and a FC of 8, CC 0. My solar cover is on whenever my pool is not used and I've never had green water as a result of it.

Could be you have pockets of algae in areas of the solar cover, introducing it to the water. Could be your chemistry is not in balance....

If you post a full set of test results, we can advise better.

 

[JasonLion]

You don't want to leave a solar cover on for too long. Various strange things can happen to the water chemistry if the pool is not allowed any time to breathe for several weeks. Usually all it takes is a couple of hours a week uncovered during the day to keep things in balance, longer if you are having problems with high CC.