Green pool, not algae.

Nathan Johnson

Gold Supporter
In The Industry
Apr 13, 2025
23
Alabama
Pool Size
20000
Surface
Plaster
Chlorine
Salt Water Generator
SWG Type
Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
I have a client that recently treated the pool with copper algacide and the pool is now green. I tried metal free and it's still this color. What else could I use?
 

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Welcome to TFP.


Drain the pool and refill it with metal-free water.

Emerald green water is caused by metals in the water—iron and/or copper. It turns green when the pH is spiked by a large addition of liquid chlorine.

You can wait a few days for the pH to settle down and the water may clear up. But it will likely happen again until you dump the water.


 
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Cl-4
pH- 8.0
Alk- 126
Cal- 168
Cya- 32
Copper- .7
Phos-1022
I have ltd experience regulating metal and now realize the copper is high in this one. Will a product like metal free by natural chemistry be effective enough to fix this or should I drain? I'd like to avoid draining.
 
Metal Free does not remove copper.

Draining is your only fix. Do it before you get copper staining or you will have more work to do.
Whole pool? Has to be related to the heater as no other pools have done this. Will anything keep the copper from doing this agn? Does pool rx do it too? Thx
 

Nope.

DO NOT PUT COPPER IN POOL WATER!

Yup, Pool RX contains copper.
Any idea why copper algacide is so prevalent in this situation? There's a penteir heater that can't be isolated from regular circulation. And do you think I need to completely drain the pool ?
 
It's not the heater. You or someone has added metals to the pool.
Drain the pool before it starts staining the plaster, you will have a bigger issue if that happens.
 
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Any idea why copper algacide is so prevalent
My poolstore had me add it every 3 months as a precaution then would sneer as they asked me what I was doing to make my copper levels increase. I must have been adding other chemicals that they didn't tell me to. :roll:

Many have never read a label. My GC on build #2 avowed that his liquid shock was 99%. Until I bet him a paycheck on 12.5% having never seen his brand. Then he got real babbly trying to recover.

Then when folks have enough of the pool store, 3/4 of the Walmart isle is laced with copper too. Blue this and XtraBlue that. (Blue is industry code for copper)
 

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To get a better understanding of what algaecides & sequesterants can and can’t do:
Sequesterants can only temporarily “hide” some of the metals up to a point. They don’t remove anything permanently.

Algaecides may help inhibit algae growth but do not eradicate it.

Neither type of product is a cure as advertised.
There are products in both categories that have worse side than others.
Read more about them here
👇
 
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