Left cover on pool for a week on vacation, came home to green algae, cleared, cloudy

[theskyisthelimit99]

I think i made the mistake of leaving the solar cover on the intex 18 foot pool (see sig for details/specs) for the week we were away.. we came home to find a bit of green algae on the bottom of the pool.

I used the robot and now its gone.

Only issue is that the water is now cloudy and reading about 7.15 for ph, so slightly low.

I checked the free chlorine level, its at around 5 right now (with the SWG and salt levels at 2690, which needs to be closer to 3000 technically, but plenty of chlorine i think).
Any thoughts as to how to rid the cloudyness or is it just a waiting game till it filters out?
I already have baking soda to put in (have to figure out the amount) to raise the ph slightly to 7.5 to 7.8...

Any suggestions? Thanks in advance

 

[Richard320]

That pH level is good for SLAM Processming. Break out the bleach and boost the FC to shock level. If you caught things in time, you might clear things up and pass all three tests by tomorrow morning. SLAM Process

 

[theskyisthelimit99]

That pH level is good for SLAM Processming. Break out the bleach and boost the FC to shock level. If you caught things in time, you might clear things up and pass all three tests by tomorrow morning. SLAM Process

Do i really need to boost that free chlorine level though? The test was showing a 5.. i think that was right where things were supposed to be (edit: actually 3 better, 5 getting high?), so more chlorine would be too high? or am i forgetting ? This is only the second season for pools for me, so i'm not fully in practice yet on this topic

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Your ideal FC of 5 is for a clean pool. Now you have algae, so you need to raise the FC enough to kill it.

Maddie

 

[Richard320]

You had visible algae. You have cloudy water. A jug or two of bleach is pretty cheap insurance against the quantities it'll require should it get worse.

 

[theskyisthelimit99]

You had visible algae. You have cloudy water. A jug or two of bleach is pretty cheap insurance against the quantities it'll require should it get worse.

Ok makes sense thanks for these tips guys

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Any harm in swimming in the cloudy water, even after the chlorine is dumped in (after waiting an hour)? Or best to wait till mid day tomorrow i guess

 

[Richard320]

Don't go over shock level on the FC and be able to see the bottom through the cloudiness, and no problem.

 

[Teald024]

Sky, can you post a full set of tests, at least the CYA? How are you doing your testing?
It seems like you might need a refresher read through PoolSchool.

 

[theskyisthelimit99]

Sky, can you post a full set of tests, at least the CYA? How are you doing your testing?
It seems like you might need a refresher read through PoolSchool.

I use the TF-100 kit, follow the instructions in there.

I cant recall the specifics offhand at the moment.. for the FC its fill the cylinder to 10ml then add a heaping spoon of the material, see if pink, if pink then squirt the drops one by one and count and divide by two (until clear).. i had 10.. so the FC was 5. I do need to recheck the CYA though.. i had a sock with the cya balancer in it, but it was exhausted (i had read on here that you really only need one application per season which i did).

My salt levels are at 2690 with the SWG from intex so far (should be 3000-3100), was going to add another half bag of salt, though the FC levels seem fine (and it runs 7 hours per day with the solar cover now permanently off and water at 81F in the daytime).

 

[Teald024]

It was your doubt about the need to SLAM that prompted me to suggest the PoolSchool refresher.
The solar cover won't cause algae. Feel free to use it to keep the pool warm n cozy. Maybe put it it back on for the SLAM so that it can get sanitized also.

 

[theskyisthelimit99]

It was your doubt about the need to SLAM that prompted me to suggest the PoolSchool refresher.
The solar cover won't cause algae. Feel free to use it to keep the pool warm n cozy. Maybe put it it back on for the SLAM so that it can get sanitized also.

Ah ok, I see. Any thoughts as to what could have caused the algae to appear over the 8 days we were gone? (i think the weather was relatively cool during the period too.. 65-73 max), or just what can happen from time to time?

 

[Teald024]

Any thoughts as to what could have caused the algae to appear over the 8 days we were gone? (i think the weather was relatively cool during the period too.. 65-73 max), or just what can happen from time to time?

Hmm... lack of sufficient chlorine is the only reason... lol.

Is it possible that your SWG wasn't working the whole time? You said it was reading low salt, maybe it stopped working for a couple of days? Did you loose power while you were gone due to some storms?

 

[Richard320]

Ah ok, I see. Any thoughts as to what could have caused the algae to appear over the 8 days we were gone? (i think the weather was relatively cool during the period too.. 65-73 max), or just what can happen from time to time?

If you have poor circulation, the cover may have made it even worse. And then there was no one swimming to mix things up, either. No one brushing, either.

 

[theskyisthelimit99]

If you have poor circulation, the cover may have made it even worse. And then there was no one swimming to mix things up, either. No one brushing, either.

That was probably it, with the cover on its real hard to circulate. It was a vacation period, so it never came off at all.

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Hmm... lack of sufficient chlorine is the only reason... lol.

Is it possible that your SWG wasn't working the whole time? You said it was reading low salt, maybe it stopped working for a couple of days? Did you loose power while you were gone due to some storms?

My salt test reads 2600, the swg isnt reporting low salt as of yet.. i think as i mentioned, it was vaca.. there was little circulation going on.. the free chlorine levels have always been 4-5 when i've been home and testing it each week or more.