My water has gone from a little cloudy to GREEN in the matter of just a few days. I have always maintained a proper level of FC and kept up with my other numbers. I know the obvious answer is green algae, but I suspect that my sand filter is no longer filtering properly. I am currently shocking the water at a VERY high level and not noticing ANY clearing of the water(it actually seems to be getting worse as the pump runs) Could a sand filter that isnt filtering cause green water? I have not even had an overnight FC loss so I really don't think its algae
Green water?
- Thread starter budysr
- Start date
It's algae, and almost certainly caused by low chlorine. Filtration problems can cause the water to be cloudy or dirty, but all you need is circulation and chlorine to keep the green away.
Post your actual test numbers for CYA and chlorine for advice.
Post your actual test numbers for CYA and chlorine for advice.
John, how long should it be before I start to see the green fade? I have been trying to bring the FC up to about 28ppm and testing about once an hour(I started this shocking in the morning today) My cya is 40 and ph 7.5 TA around 100
It seems like I should be seeing SOME improvement but the water seems to be getting worse as the pump runs on high.
It seems like I should be seeing SOME improvement but the water seems to be getting worse as the pump runs on high.
budysr said:
After the first day or two, the green should start turning more gray, and then after a little while longer the water will be a blue-gray color which indicates the algae is dead.
You may have a filter problem in addition to the algae, but you can kill the algae as long as you can circulate the water.
I experienced the same thing a few weeks back. I was using commercial 'shocks' and it seemed to only get worse. I too thought I had a filter problem, but once I got the chlorine bleach in I started noticing improvement in about 1 day. I too kept mine in the mid 20's to 30 range and I noticed rapid improvement. It took about 5 days to get to the gray dead algae stage, then two days to clear up the water with the help of some leftover water clarifier, now it is sparkling clear!
I do not know if it was a good thing or bad, but I alternated pouring the bleach into the skimmer one application (with two skimmers, I alternated there as well), then directly in the return stream the next time. I figured that way, if it was in my filter, it would get a direct hit as well as the water in the pool getting a direct hit.
Good Luck in getting your algae cleared up quickly!
I do not know if it was a good thing or bad, but I alternated pouring the bleach into the skimmer one application (with two skimmers, I alternated there as well), then directly in the return stream the next time. I figured that way, if it was in my filter, it would get a direct hit as well as the water in the pool getting a direct hit.
Good Luck in getting your algae cleared up quickly!
You were right John. The water looks much better this morning. Its now blue again but still cloudy. I'm gonna keep on keepin on with the shocking. I have noticed though that the ph has shot up to 8.2 again. Should I wait till the shock process is over to mess with the ph?
High FC levels will make the pH reading unreliable; don't mess with the pH until you're done shocking.
--paulr
--paulr