Add a dose of algaecide, bring your chlorine level high by shocking, and run the filter continuously until the problem clears. The next day you should vacuum up the dead algae and backwash your filter. Algae thrives in hot weather and in pools with low or no chlorine.
5. Run the Pump. Your pool water may look worse at this point, but you are halfway there. Run your pump overnight, or if possible, for 24 hours to clean all the debris from your pool water.
Pour the algaecide dose into the water, depositing it in several areas around the pool. Your swimming pool pump should be running at this time to help circulate the algaecide. Wait about 30 minutes before allowing anyone to swim after the algaecide application.
Algaecide should be added to your pool water on a weekly basis. Preventing algae is the key to fun in your pool. Algaecides act as a backup to your normal sanitization program and prevent algae from starting and growing in the pool. Algaecide should be added after every shock treatment.
While shocking and adding algaecide is effective in getting rid of algae, it should not be done together. This is because when you mix chlorine and algaecide together, it renders both of them useless. Hence, you should first shock the pool and wait for the chlorine levels to fall below 5 PPM.
Add Algaecide After Shocking
Wait for the pH to fall to a safe level for swimming (3 ppm or below) and then add a product such as Pool Time Algicide + Clarifier in the amount recommended in the product instructions. Pour this incrementally into the water as you walk around the pool.
In a pool where algae is present, algaecides work in conjunction with chlorine to kill the algae cells. The algaecide causes the cells of the algae to burst, which destroys the plant. Different algaecides are used for different types of algae.
You can add 200mL every week to prevent algae from growing in your swimming pool. Also, algaecides tend to include metal bases, and you don't want to add too many metals to your swimming pool. Metals in your water can cause staining.
The presence of too much algaecide can lead to a foamy pool water. Small bubbles will begin to be produced as the water is pushed through the return jet and back into the pool. Do not confuse these bubbles and foam with another common problem, which is air in your pool lines.
5. Can I Use Algaecide to Clear Cloudy Pool Water? You can use an algaecide to kill early stages of green algae that might make your water appear cloudy, but the best method of getting rid of algae is to scrub and clean your pool using a large leaf net, vacuum, and kill algae with liquid chlorine shock.
There are a number of reasons why your swimming pool might be cloudy after using algaecide. Maybe you're not following the directions on how much algaecide to add or when to use it, but there are other possibilities. Algae can grow back quickly if you don't vacuum regularly and keep your filter running properly.
Now is the time to add Pool Clarifier and let it circulate for 12 hours. This will clump the algae together into vaccumable pieces. Shut your pump off and let the cloudiness settle. This may take up to a few days for very cloudy pools.
Shocking your pool and adding an algaecide to the water are two ways to get rid of the sickly green color caused by algae growth, but you shouldn't do these things at the same time. Chlorine combines with the algaecide ingredients and renders them useless.
So unless you're dealing with mustard algae or black algae, leave the algaecide on the shelf and get ready to shock the heck out of your pool. But when dealing with regular ol' green pool algae, chlorine is your best bet to kill it dead.
Recently Added Algaecide
There are a few different types of algaecides that contain various chemicals to suppress and fight off algae. Many of them include copper or copper sulfate. It's this copper that oxidizes in the water. And when copper oxidizes it turns a green color causing your pool to look green.
Baking Soda and Green, Blue, or Yellow Algae
You'll need to use an algaecide to kill the algae and superchlorinate your pool to clear the water. After this treatment, test your pH and alkalinity and add baking soda to raise alkalinity to at least 100 ppm and pH to between 7.2 and 7.8.
Grab a brush and some baking soda. Bicarbonate, the active ingredient in baking soda, is an effective spot treatment to help kill the algae and loosen it from the wall. Make sure you really get every last particle free; black algae has particularly long and stubborn roots which makes it a persistent strand.
In theory, if you have a cloudy swimming pool, you can add chlorine to “shock it” and clear things up. Chlorine will get the job done. But, the amounts may vary and you may have to really pound the pool with chlorine to get the water totally clear.
Baking Soda (Sodium Bicarbonate) is used to raise alkalinity and also slightly raise pH. And Soda Ash (Sodium Carbonate) is used to raise pH and slightly raise alkalinity. For example, getting a pH reading around 7.2 to 7.6 in 10,000 gallons (37,854 liters) of pool water would take roughly 21 pounds of baking soda.
If you add an algaecide containing copper or use Trichlor pucks that have copper (some HTH Trichlor pucks have copper in them) then that can cause the water to become colored and can stain pool surfaces.
Pool water turns green because of algae in the water. Algae can grow rapidly, particularly when it's warm like Summer, which is why it can surprise you overnight. This generally comes down to an imbalance or lack of chlorine in the water.