While green is widely accepted as the color of nature, green water in swimming pools is unacceptable as it is always a sign of nasty algae overgrowth. When there are algae on the pool, there will also be bacteria and other microbes, which grow fast by consuming the waste algae creates when it makes its food. To make it simpler to understand, green water is dangerous for human health.
Many reports say that green water in pools could not be avoided, but that is not true. If the owner of the pool constantly tests his pool and does maintenance, this problem has a low probability of occurring. If a pool’s water has indeed become green because of algae growth, then a pool owner can follow several steps to solve the problem.
Treating Green Swimming Pool Water
Step 1: Make sure that there is water circulation. Before shocking the water with chlorine, check that there is water movement or else the chlorine shock will be ineffective. This means that the water in the pool has to go to several filtrations so many of the algae are removed. As every pool owner knows, the water in pools go through a cycle. As the water in the pool itself is drained, it goes to the filtration system where it will be cleaned of some impurities. If this process stopped, then it is difficult to solve the green water problem.
Step 2: In order to kill the remaining algae on the water and prevent them from multiplying again, the water should be shocked with chlorine as many times as needed. Shocking the water means raising the amount of chlorine in it to very high levels very fast. This will destroy whatever living organisms are lurking in the water.
Step 3: Filtration is very important because it removes more algae from the water and traps them on the filter. This should be done several times until the water is not very cloudy anymore and is turning into blue. Make sure to backwash the filter when they are already full to keep them from being destroyed. After washing the filter, put it on again and repeat the process until it is as clear as filtration can do.
Step 4: As the water is now blue instead of green and is not very cloudy anymore, it is time to add the water clarifier. There are many high quality water clarifiers out there. These chemicals will finally restore the crystal clarity of the swimming pool water. During this process the pool owner should be stabilizing the pH and total alkalinity levels of the water.
There is no need for any owner of swimming pools to panic if they wake up one morning to see their pool as green as a forest. All he has to do is follow the simple steps outlined in this article.