In the summertime, green pools become more and more common everyday. You can find them in vacant homes, residential swimming pools or in any pool that isn’t properly maintained. We think it is extremely important to tackle this issue in a variety of different ways so we hope this blog post gives you a better understanding of why this happens and all the different factors that go into turning that green pool blue again! Typically, you will see a direct correlation to green algae filled pools with lack of sanitizer or poor filtration/circulation. Whenever you have warm water, algae loves to grow and if you don’t have the proper amount of chlorine in the water, algae will grow rapidly! The same goes for filtration, if you’re not filtering your swimming pool long enough your chances for algae growth increase. With that said, we also want to focus on other reasons why your swimming pool can be taken over by algae.
- High calcium hardness
- High phosphates
- High cyanuric acid (CYA/stabilizer) levels
When it comes to water chemistry, checking your calcium hardness levels should be done regularly because high levels of calcium hardness can impede the normal function of chlorine thus making it more challenging to take care of your swimming pool. Phosphates come from vegetation, soils and fertilizers which is a food for algae. When phosphate levels increase in the swimming pool they must be removed because no matter how much chlorine you use, algae will still spread. Typically, with high phosphates you will need to purchase a phosphate remover if all your other chemistry levels are within normal ranges. Other factors could be high CYA levels. CYA helps reduce chlorine loss by protecting the free chlorine in the pool from the sun’s ultraviolet rays, reducing the amount of chlorine needed to maintain proper sanitizer levels. When these levels get too high, it lessens the effectiveness of chlorine to act as a disinfectant. Higher levels will bind with the chlorine, making it slower acting to kill bacteria and micro-organisms, and prevent algae from growing! This typically occurs because chlorine tabs have stabilizer in them.
How To Treat Algae
When you’ve determined where the growth is coming from, Weber Pools recommends the following steps to help remove the algae:
- Identify the type of algae
- Check chlorine, pH and phosphate levels
- Check all pool equipment for leaks
- Check filtration equipment for tears in the filter grids or old sand
- Check calcium hardness levels
- Check run times for your filter equipment
If any of the above are the issue, the addition of more chlorine or increasing your filter run times should help. If you’re dealing with high CYA levels or calcium levels then a water change is necessary. Weber Pools has the ability to make your green pool blue quickly. We can help with all filter equipment repairs or pool maintenance. We can also help you with high calcium and CYA levels too! We have a mobile filtration trailer that recycles swimming pool water instead of draining it. The Puripool Process uses Reverse Osmosis (RO) membranes to lower calcium hardness, total dissolved solids, salts, phosphates and cyanuric acid without draining the swimming pool. This past week we took care of a swimming pool that was loaded with algae. If you notice in the picture above, the water in the swimming pool was foaming because the algae was dying and we used our mobile filtration trailer to filter out all the contaminants. Notice the difference in water clarity in the spa compared to the swimming pool? This is how we can make sure your swimming pool is functioning at all times wth also the best water quality!!
Remember If you keep your pool in good shape, you will not only avoid the hassle of having to use various additional chemicals in the swimming pool but also dealing with the unnecessary algae bloom in your swimming pool!