How do I kill the algae in my swimming pool?
Question:My pool is a 40000 gallon (20X40 feet) below ground swimming pool. It has poor circulation and it is very green. I just bought the house and I have been trying to kill the algae for about a month. The pump sucks from the skimmer, but not from the bottom drain. There are two water jets that feed water into the pool at opposite corners of the pool. Help!
Answers:
What is your water chemistry? Take a sample of water (about a pint) down to the local pool store and have them run a full spectrum analysis on it. Make sure they test for
Total chlorine
Free chlorine
Combined chlorine
pH
Alkalinity
Hardness
Cyanuric acid
Total dissolved solids
Metals
Phosphates
Bring these results back and post them here or email them to me at robandliz1992@yahoo.com and we'll get you straightened back out. Don't purchase anything from the pool store when you have the water tested. Sometimes their recommendations aren't spot on for your exact pool.
Please include the material the pool is made of (vinyl or concrete/plaster), filtration system, chlorination system, chemicals used in the pool in the last two weeks, and any chemicals you have on hand at home now.
You need to shock it---you wont be able to go into the water for a while (one week).
Call your local pool place and tell them you have algae--there's different types of algae and diff chemicals to use to shock it back to normal.
First of all, you need to pull out the clumps of algae with a swimming pool net. Then you need to shock it.(algae might be solid but it depends)You won't be able to swim in it for about a week. Then you should be able to swim in it again.
I have an in ground pool thats the same size as yours.What you need to do is purchase algaecide that has copper in it. Just ask your pool store, they will have it. Pour that along the perimeter of your pool with the pump running. The next day, scrub the whole pool with a brush and then shock the hell out of it. When you pour the shock in, what you want to do is set your pump on Recirculate and then pour the shock through the skimmer. It will not hurt anything since the pump is on recirculate. This helps better distribute the shock. You should be using 6 pounds of shock every time you shock. If the algae is very bad, you may need to change the sand in your filter. The bottom drain not working could be a problem for you, but these are the steps I have taken, and it always works. This is the number to the pool store in my hometown. (618) 993-8031. They are great guys and will be able to answer any other questions you have. Anytime I muck up my pool, they always tell me what to do, and it works.Good luck to you.
Blast it with a flamethrower until it dies.
Check the valve lineup at the pump station to see if the valve arrangement will allow you to pull suction off the main drain. This would be unusual, and should be corrected as your budget allows. Without the ability to pull water off the bottom drain, it will take a lot more time to clear the pool.
If you only have suction on the skimmers, you can purchase a Kreepy Krawler that attatches to the skimmer suction and will walk along the bottom and sides of the pool. It's important to be able to pull water from the bottom of the pool to reach all of the water. With the algae growth, if you don't take water off the bottom, you will probably get some layering of clean water on top of the dirty water.
The next thing is to add a biocide in conjuction with pool shock. Your local pool company can sell you the chemicals and give you the amounts. Again, these will only work if you have water circulation. You will need to run the pool pump continuously while bypassing the filter system, for 24 hours to allow the chemicals time to kill the algae.
Then shift the pump discharge to your filter system and allow it to filter the particulate out of the water. If there is a lot of green in the pool, you may have to backwash the filter during the cleanup period.
As the water begins to filter clean, you will be able to get a feel for the algae growth on the walls of the pool. Removing this will take manual brushing on the sides of the pool. Given the size of your pool, this will take several hours over a couple of days.
After the pool has made a visible change in color, I would add a product called polysheen. This is a liquid that acts as a surfactant to make the particles in the water stick together, and thus they will filter out more readily.
And finally, as the water begins to improve a lot, you can hasten the cleanup by draining water out of the pool, and adding clean makeup water. This will require you to closely monitor the pH, alkalinity, and chlorine level, because the fresh makeup water will dilute the concentration of pool chemicals.
One other important factor which you did not mention..what type of filter media do you have. The best type of filter media is Diatomaceos earth. This will pull particles out of the water as small as 10 microns. The second best is a sand filter. I have tried the new type of zeolite based filter media.sold under the product name "Zeobrite." It did not work with my pool and I would discourage you from using this type of filter media.
Some pools use a cartridge mechanical filter, but it's unlikely that you would have that on a pool of your size.
After the pool is clean, you can insure crystal clear water by maintaining the chlorine level high. The pool place will tell you 3-5 ppm, but I maintain mine close to 10ppm. Chlorine in the pool water insures protection against algae and also bacteria in the case your youngster should have an accident in the pool. Also, it is not chlorine that makes your eyes get irritated and red. The eye irritation is due to pH being out of specification.
And finally, pool maintenance is not that difficult if you run the equipment properly and frequently. And did forget to tell you.keep the chlorine level high.
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