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Is your Pool looking Green?
In our warm Texas climate a green pool can happen really fast. With proper prevention and consistent care this should never happen to you, but there are situations especially with the homes sitting on the market longer than what we were all used to. Anytime that chemistry becomes imbalanced you are at risk of the pool turning green. If you have an unattended to leak in the pool, or haven’t been staying up on adding chemicals, have a large amount of debris getting into your pool, or are not brushing the pool consistently. There are many different variables that can contribute to a pool turning green.
While a green pool is definitely unattractive it can also be unhealthy. So how do you clean up a green pool? Depending on how much of a “swamp” the pool has become you may have a day to a several day long process. First thing is to remove as much of the junk that is typically sitting at the bottom of the green pool as you can. Usually the leaves and debris need to be manually netted out with a good strong leaf net. This can be quite a bit of work but a vacuum is typically not going to help you yet. Once the bulk of the debris is out, using the proper calculations for the size of the pool, the pool will need a good amount of shock. The pool filter will also play a big role. For a DE filter backwashing and making sure the grids are clean to improve circulation will be critical. For a cartridge filter the cartridges will need to be cleaned daily (or sometimes even more often) during this process. A sand filter will also have to be backwashed and depending on the length of time the sand has been in the filter it may be a good time for a change out.
The process of balancing chemistry, backwashing and cleaning filters, and brushing and vacuuming will continue until the pool is clear. We can usually do this on 3 to 4 service visits for a very swampy pool.
Always keep in mind that the key to a healthy pool is circulation and as soon as a pool sits without movement for too long it is in danger of becoming unhealthy and green. In our climate a pool must run for a bare minimum of 7 hours per day in hot summer months longer would be even better. A filter should also always be kept on a strict cleaning schedule. We keep our clients on a schedule of 6 month cleanings for DE filters and 3 to 4 months for Cartridges. Sand filters are very different and can go several years without a sand change out. We follow manufactures recommendations for cleaning.
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