G'day Everyone,
I hope no one get's upset, but I see a whole lot of posts here about how to
clean up a really green pool. So I though I'd write a post that will help everone out!
Firstly...I'm going to explain things in a very basic way so that everyone reading
this will understand. You don't need to be a pool professor to do this ok...
There is only 2 things that you need to do to get a pool perfect...Yes only 2!
Now I say this assuming that your pump and filter are the correct size
and running perfectly.
OK...The 2 Things are...
1. Chemicals – How are the levels?
2. Visual – Does it look good?
When looking at your pool you need to check what is like chemically and
what it looks like visually.
Now...with chemicals you obviously need to test the water to do this you
can do it at home with your own test kit. Otherwise you can go down to
your local pool shop.
Any decent pool shop will offer free pool testing. Another way to find
out if your pool shop is Crud or not is if they are testing your water
using strips. Instead of drops or tablets.
You want to test the following 7 things in your water.
Free Chlorine
Total Chlorine
Total Alkalinity
pH
Calcium Hardness
Cyanuric Acid
Salt (if you have a salt pool)
Your pool shop can test for these.
If your doing a test at home you can probably only test for
Chlorine
Alkalinity
PH
Cyanuric Acid
And that perfectly OK, as long as your using tablets or drops...don't
use strips as they are Crud.
Now your only trying to clean up a green pool here...your not going
for the worlds best water test!
You want to clean up this Dang thing as quick as you can before you
suffer the embarrassment of someone seeing it less than perfect.
So as a bare minimum you want to check chlorine and Ph if that is
all you can test at home. But i do stress to get all 7 done to do it properly.
Anyway you want to get the chlorine high and the ph normal...that
means a big shock dose of chlorine and this is usually 4-7 times your
normal daily dose of chlorine in one hit.
A shock dose of chlorine should be enough to change the color of the
water within 10-15 minutes. If it has not changed within this time
period...add some more until it does. Even if it only changes the
water a couple of shades lighter that will be fine.
But before you do that you want to adjust the ph to be within 7.5 – 7.6.
Then shock the pool with your chlorine.
If its only green water that maybe all you need to do...but if it much
worse you will need to do a few more things.
Now lets say that your pool is worse...its a moldy looking green pea
soup of a science experiment gone wrong. We can still fix this...
This is what you do...
Adjust the ph to 7.5 – 7.6
Shock the pool with chlorine
Add a floculent
Make sure all the chemicals are churning in the pool really well.
Getting the pump to circulate all the chemicals you've added into
the pool for about 1 hour.
Then turn everything off so the water is completely still for 24-48 hours...and
I mean completely still. Unplug everything that runs on electricity during this
time just in case the timer kicks in and stirs everything up. You need the
floc to settle the dead algae and debris to the bottom of the pool.
Once the floc has settled everything to the bottom of the pool it should look
like the water is perfectly clear at the top and a sludgy type gunk at the bottom.
Don't touch the pool until this happens. If it's still a little cloudy it means you
need to wait a little longer because it is still trying to settle. Have patients...
Once the pool is ready its time to vacuum the gunk at the bottom to waste.
You want to vacuum this stuff right out of the pool. If you have a sand filter or
D.E. Filter all you have to do is turn the filter handle to waste and start vacuuming.
If you run out of water...just fill the pool again and vacuum again until you
have gotten everything.
Remember your vacuuming water out of the pool, so you want the pool to
have plenty of water in it to start with. That is so you don't run out of water
half way through vacuuming. But sometimes that cant be helped...just fill
and vacuum again until your done.
Its always a good idea to have a running hose filling up the pool while your
vacuuming- this might just give you enough time and water to finish the job.
Make sure that the water from this hose doesn't stir up the water again.
Otherwise you'll have to wait another 24-48 hours to vacuum again.
Another tip is to not vacuum to fast...go slow so you don't stir up the gunk again!
Well...there you go! You've just learnt the basics of how to clean up a green
pool, but you must remember that this is basic knowledge.
Hope this helps someone?
Take Care,
Michael Silvester
I hope no one get's upset, but I see a whole lot of posts here about how to
clean up a really green pool. So I though I'd write a post that will help everone out!
Firstly...I'm going to explain things in a very basic way so that everyone reading
this will understand. You don't need to be a pool professor to do this ok...
There is only 2 things that you need to do to get a pool perfect...Yes only 2!
Now I say this assuming that your pump and filter are the correct size
and running perfectly.
OK...The 2 Things are...
1. Chemicals – How are the levels?
2. Visual – Does it look good?
When looking at your pool you need to check what is like chemically and
what it looks like visually.
Now...with chemicals you obviously need to test the water to do this you
can do it at home with your own test kit. Otherwise you can go down to
your local pool shop.
Any decent pool shop will offer free pool testing. Another way to find
out if your pool shop is Crud or not is if they are testing your water
using strips. Instead of drops or tablets.
You want to test the following 7 things in your water.
Free Chlorine
Total Chlorine
Total Alkalinity
pH
Calcium Hardness
Cyanuric Acid
Salt (if you have a salt pool)
Your pool shop can test for these.
If your doing a test at home you can probably only test for
Chlorine
Alkalinity
PH
Cyanuric Acid
And that perfectly OK, as long as your using tablets or drops...don't
use strips as they are Crud.
Now your only trying to clean up a green pool here...your not going
for the worlds best water test!
You want to clean up this Dang thing as quick as you can before you
suffer the embarrassment of someone seeing it less than perfect.
So as a bare minimum you want to check chlorine and Ph if that is
all you can test at home. But i do stress to get all 7 done to do it properly.
Anyway you want to get the chlorine high and the ph normal...that
means a big shock dose of chlorine and this is usually 4-7 times your
normal daily dose of chlorine in one hit.
A shock dose of chlorine should be enough to change the color of the
water within 10-15 minutes. If it has not changed within this time
period...add some more until it does. Even if it only changes the
water a couple of shades lighter that will be fine.
But before you do that you want to adjust the ph to be within 7.5 – 7.6.
Then shock the pool with your chlorine.
If its only green water that maybe all you need to do...but if it much
worse you will need to do a few more things.
Now lets say that your pool is worse...its a moldy looking green pea
soup of a science experiment gone wrong. We can still fix this...
This is what you do...
Adjust the ph to 7.5 – 7.6
Shock the pool with chlorine
Add a floculent
Make sure all the chemicals are churning in the pool really well.
Getting the pump to circulate all the chemicals you've added into
the pool for about 1 hour.
Then turn everything off so the water is completely still for 24-48 hours...and
I mean completely still. Unplug everything that runs on electricity during this
time just in case the timer kicks in and stirs everything up. You need the
floc to settle the dead algae and debris to the bottom of the pool.
Once the floc has settled everything to the bottom of the pool it should look
like the water is perfectly clear at the top and a sludgy type gunk at the bottom.
Don't touch the pool until this happens. If it's still a little cloudy it means you
need to wait a little longer because it is still trying to settle. Have patients...
Once the pool is ready its time to vacuum the gunk at the bottom to waste.
You want to vacuum this stuff right out of the pool. If you have a sand filter or
D.E. Filter all you have to do is turn the filter handle to waste and start vacuuming.
If you run out of water...just fill the pool again and vacuum again until you
have gotten everything.
Remember your vacuuming water out of the pool, so you want the pool to
have plenty of water in it to start with. That is so you don't run out of water
half way through vacuuming. But sometimes that cant be helped...just fill
and vacuum again until your done.
Its always a good idea to have a running hose filling up the pool while your
vacuuming- this might just give you enough time and water to finish the job.
Make sure that the water from this hose doesn't stir up the water again.
Otherwise you'll have to wait another 24-48 hours to vacuum again.
Another tip is to not vacuum to fast...go slow so you don't stir up the gunk again!
Well...there you go! You've just learnt the basics of how to clean up a green
pool, but you must remember that this is basic knowledge.
Hope this helps someone?
Take Care,
Michael Silvester
.
