We hope this helps you clear up your green pool! If you need more help avoiding algae, be sure to grab the free Pool Care Cheat Sheet at www.swimuniversity.com/cheatsheet 👍
Just want to say thank you so much for these videos and this one specifically. We are first time pool owners as of this past May and the previous homeowners left the pool nice and green for us when we opened it. I had no idea how to begin maintaining a pool in good condition let alone a pool that already had something wrong with it. I studied up and Swim University was a huge part of my learning. It did end up taking me a couple of weeks for me to get the pool chemistry balanced, cleaned, and crystal clear blue, but I'm sure it would have taken much longer and cost me a lot more money to get it cleared up without these videos. We have been enjoying and maintaining the pool with no issues since. Thanks so much!
Lol our shock never worked. Maybe a bad brand. Never helped with chlorine levels or green color. I even dumper twice the amount but still no changes to levels
Thank you so much for helping me "ungreen" my pool. I did exactly what you advised and it is beautiful now (wish I could add a picture). I actually went for a swim yesterday. Again thank you!!!
Thank you for recording this. New underground pool owners and we need all the tips and feedback we can get. We want to keep up with the pool for our daughters 🤞🏽.
Thank you for the very clear instructions on how to clean a green pool! Excellent advice and easily understood! I'm curious about why you don't recommend a phosphate remover to keep algae from growing. Phosphates are the sole food source for algae and once you get rid of them.... NO MORE ALGAE!
Most people don't do the proper steps before using phosphate removers (balancing, cleaning, shocking, etc). And they tend to be sold pretty aggressively. Some pool owners find lots of success using them. But they need to do the other steps first!
Yay thanks I'm kind of getting it now! I was about to give up and thought I had made a bad purchase and had a terrible idea!! Thank u for making it simple!!👍🤗
You are amazing!!!! EVERYONE, tune into Swim University for EXCELLENT advice. I own an in ground pool that is in its 36th summer and other than tiles having fallen off it’s in pretty good shape. Two family retrievers decided to run across the vinyl cover every time they got out back this past winter. Needless to say when we removed the cover the water was the deepest green imaginable. I was beside myself as the water is usually clear with a few leaves in the bottom. I was really worried that I wouldn’t be able to clear it up. I stumbled across this video and after 3 applications of shock as you described here, my pool is crystal clear. For years I have agonized with the algae issue and had a hard time controlling it. Your information was EXACTLY the remedy. I cannot thank you enough. You are the best!!!!!
Did you have to keep vacuuming the dead algae off the bottom? If so any advice would help please I have a small 600 gallon 8 foot pool with filter. Can’t get the algae sucked up off the bottom it’s sooooooo small it goes through any filter, pool skimmer etc and if you barely just move it clouds up and then you have to wait several hours or a day for it to settle again.
I tried this method last year with great success. However this year I left the pool (10K gal. abovegrond) unattended for two weeks during 100 degree weather and came back to a frog pond. I tried 4 bags of shock with no change in color. Two days later I tried 4 bags, again with no change. Last night I tried 5 bags, still nothing. At this point it would have been cheaper to drain and refill the pool from scratch, which is what I'm doing now. Followup two weeks later: I drained the pool, sanitized the liner and stairs as best I could and refilled with fresh water. After it refilled I shocked again and then added clarifier as it was still cloudy grey. Now I have a crystal clear pool again finally. I do not know what got into my pool water while I was away but the lawn looks great now after watering it with 10K gallons of pool water.
I’m kind of just learning on the fly as for the past 2 weeks I thought I had an issue with pollen until I stumbled on algae bloom today in pools and realized that’s what I’ve been dealing with, not pollen. I’ve vacuumed 5-7 hours every few days and by the time I finish the beginning part has a thin film again on the floor. I’m sorry shocking straight I’ll I’m isn’t working but doesn’t he recommend getting the ph balanced first? Then scrubbing to get the algae in the water, then shocking? Don’t get me wrong I’m not following those steps here, I didn’t even know there was such a thing as liquid shock until last Friday so the week before I was upset my local Walmart didn’t have any bags of shock. I ended up buying an entire pool opening/closing box kit for $30 because it had a green bags of shock in it. Luckily it also has some chemical to control algae so I shocked my pool 3.5 hours ago and just dropped the algae powder in an hour and a half ago, and trying to stay awake here to shock one more time around midnight or 12:30 to shock again before bed. I dialed my filter for the first time and it was so disgustingly gross but I was able to get it like 90-95% clean and add new filter powder successfully and watched the pressure return to a normal range for the first time in over a week before adding chemicals so I’m happy about that. Good luck Lou!
Liquid chlorine added at night is the best shocker. I’ve always had better luck clearing up a green pool with the liquid as opposed to the powder packs of shocker. The powder shock is easier and mire convenient, but not as effective in a badly algae ridden pool.
How am I supposed to run the filter (D.E.) for eight hours when it fills up with algae gunk so the pressure is at 30PSI in under 50 minutes? (And that was after I took it all apart and thoroughly cleaning it all and then recharged it.) I'd have to clean it 10+ times to run it for eight hours.
I have a cartridge filter system in my pool. My pool was full of algae this year, extremely dark green. I spent one day cleaning my filters every hour, for 10 hours. Unfortunately, there’s no short cuts when it comes to cleaning the filters. Best of luck with your pool, I hope it’s all sorted by now.
I have a cartridge filter system in my pool. My pool was full of algae this year, extremely dark green. I spent one day cleaning my filters every hour, for 10 hours. Unfortunately, there’s no short cuts when it comes to cleaning the filters. Best of luck with your pool, I hope it’s all sorted by now.
@@Rhodesian_FAL - I HAD a cartridge filter system in my pool, but only for one summer. It was awful. Back to the sand filter... what works in a spa doesn't work in a big pool!
Help!! I followed your instructions. Triple shocked waited 24 hrs still teal, so double shocked. Still teal. Kept filter running 24 hrs for 3 days. Still teal. We just moved in. So I figured I’d check the DE filter. It was filthy! Like at a 10 of completely covered in green. Washed it, added DE. Do you think the filter being that dirty is the reason the shockIng didn’t work? Also all levels are good. We are first time pool owners, we are in over our heads. Thanks for all your videos they are great!! Please help!
You need to flush that filter regularly. Even more so if the pool is green or you’re just circulating the same algae. Also don’t underestimate the power of brushing. Imagine not brushing your teeth but just trying to keep good oral hygiene with mouthwash. Same principle. You have to brush at least once per week and more if you have algae. Brush it just before dusk and then hit it hard at dark with the liquid chlorine. Run the filter 24 hours and hit it again with the chlorine. And clean your filter! Don’t give up. You’ll figure it out. Once you know the routine only laziness will defeat you! Not dissing you. We all get lazy. I’m battling a major algae bloom right now because I was lazy right after we got a lot of rain and hot weather. Now I’m paying the price!
I had a large dichotomous filter that was old and difficult to clean. I switched to a brand new sand filter, new pump, new booster pump in July 2023. I had a horrible green pool. I drain the pool. It has been clean since until this month. The DE filter seem to clean so much better than the sand. I am having problems again with green pool. The sand filter is not removing it. The DE always has in the past. It took the DE a few weeks to do it but it worked good. The pool is in-ground about 25,000 gals. The pool store tested the water and said level is good now that we have changed the pH. The Algae came from low Cl levels.. our fault.
Yea, D.E. filters are the best, but they require more maintenance to run properly. I love sand because it's the easiest to clean and run. But not as effective as D.E. or even cartridge filters.
I opened my pool and was doing well with it. After getting the water tested and adding the chemicals the pool people told me to add, it started going the other way. My pool is green now, and I'm totally disgusted! I'm ready to put the cover on and close it. Smdh! It gets FULL sun all day, and I'm sure all the available chlorine is being eaten up by the sun. IDK what happened, but I'm at my wits end. HELP! 😢😢😢
Hi there! How do we clear up tea colored water in pool? We have a de filter. We suspect tannins. Water source is from deep well at seaside. Slightly salty.
I'm always leaving on my preferated pool covered Herr in NJ..I just hooked up my cleaned winterized de75 Hayward running it now new 7 lb. De as recommended for filter and dumped three shock bags of granules hth shock advanced ( it's calcium hypochlorite 56.44% ) per 1 lb bag.. I see the usual walls green scaled with algae .. I won't brush but got the robot vacuum going.. tomorrow I'll check the water with test strips.. in a week I'll take preferated cover off brush and hopefully back wash a cleaner pool... And was wondering if this shock is good enough 3 lbs for ingrown 30 k gallons..tia
i just topped up my pool (16x32) after opening for the season. it was tad green, so i shocked the crap out of it, added algecide. still a tad green. ph, alkalinity, cyneric acid all good. i've always used sodium hypo-chloride to shock. i just don't get it! i've had this pool for 30 years...never had this happen. i'm stumped ...?
The reason why I start filtering shocking with airated safety ingrown cover first is because we have those cotton seeds still LoL.. once they're gone around early June ..will see how well the shock and robot vacuum cleaned up ..than I'll shock brush vinyls liner backwash take filter apart sprayclean de tubes rest for summer until closing repeat as usual.. of course I balance my chemicals yrst strips and a good basic test kit too
Hi, I followed steps 1 and 2 and now I need to add shock. If I don't have shock could I use liquid chlorine instead? And if so, how much can I pour in a 24,000 gal underground pool?
I used to clean pools I’ve out of the game for awhile thanks for a refresher do I have to condition to do a start up it’s pebbletex 60x 60 I’d say it has algae a light dark combo
I used shock now the pool water is clean on top, but the bottom.of the pool.looks murky. Looks like all the shock settled at the bottom- someone turned off the pump after the shock was poured in. Now how do I clean that out?
I used a chlorine powder plus and my filter was filled with the powder and thus my pool was white cloudy… what’s going on? I have a picture of the filter as well. How can I get it to you?
I had a lot of debris on pool bottom when opening pool this year. When I was vaccuuming it out I noticed that the return water from sand filter was dark and cloudy, even after backwashing. I started to buy new sand but I saw a video about synthetic media filter balls to use instead of sand. Now I have an algae problem and I am concerned that using your algae remediation process will clog up the media filter balls, which apparently do not backwash clean very well. Would you recommend going back to sand? Follow up two months later: I got rid of the synthetic "cotton" balls as they do not come clean via backwashing as with sand. I had to disassemble the filter and scoop them out by hand and they were green and slimy. I went out and bought more sand. Now when the pool gets nasty (I travel a lot and have to leave it for a week or more) I can shock and backwash as needed to get things cleaned up.
What kind of sand filter do you have? I'm wondering if there's a cracked lateral or something causing sand blow back in the return jets. And I haven't personally used the synthetic media filter balls. But if you're concerned, you can try vacuuming to waste or drain so the water is leaving the pool. Then try shocking and running the filter when there's less algae in the water.
@@SwimUniversity Thnx for the reply. I have an Intex sand filter (75 lbs of sand) combined with a 2100 GHP pump. When I discarded the old sand I disassembled and cleaned all the filter parts. All the laterals are in good shape. It does not appear that sand is getting out of the filter. It is just when actively pushing the vacuum head around on the dirty bottom that the filter output turns dark. Stop vac, filter out clears. BTW - your recent green pool video was spot on. After a 3x shock and then a 2x shock the next day I am now at the milky pale blue phase of the clean up. I'll vacuum to waste after the chlorine returns down to normal levels.
So I shocked my pool and brushed the sides and bottom and I think I caused a leak. What chlorine level is safe for me to swim in it to fix the leak? Chlorine is pretty high from shocking 2 days in a row.
Hi! First time pool owners. We have an 8,000 gallon above ground pool with a cartridge filter. Your videos have been so helpful!Came home to green water after being gone for the weekend and there had been a thunderstorm. Removed debris, brushed sides and pool bottom. Tested water, all levels were good except chlorine, of course. Did a double shock dose at night, ran filter for 24 hours, still green. Going to try it again per this video. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge!!
Thank you. Great info. We were in Montana for 2 weeks and son added chemicals but didn't add chlorine. I forgot to leave it out. Now I have a green pool. I'll get it with your advice!
Hi! My pool is green. I added shock & algaecide . But it says no flow. So I backwashed . It looks like filter is clogged so put to recirculating. How long can I run on recirculate ? Or should I wait for filter to be fixed? Thanks
If you add clarifier, how long after shocking do you add it and does it have to be cloudy blue to add it? And you don't have to vacuum clarifier do you? I know if you flock it you have to vacuum. My pool turned green due to pollen i believe because it's been clear all winter and up until pollen and me not cleaning my filter when i should have, caused it to go teal green at first. I used shock with no help then could not shock again because i couldn't get to the store for a week, so it turned greener. I have since poured 4 gallons of liquid chlorine in at night with pump going 24/7. Alkalinity and ph are in range. Next morning i check and it's still green. So mad! So today i had 2 bottles liquid chlorine left, so i added those tonight and brushed sides and some of the floor. Tested again and Alkalinity and ph are still good but chlorine is high of course. Now I'm just waiting to check it in the morning but was wondering if i should add clarifier or just wait and keep cleaning my cartridge filter each day? I have a 24ft.above ground pool.
Follow the process all the way through with the shock (at least 8 hours or overnight). If it's cloudy blue, run your filter 24/7 (you may need to clean or backwash it before or after). That might do the trick, otherwise add clarifier. You don't need to vacuum clarifier.
I need help. I opened my pool late this year. I opened with 12lbs of Cal hypo, cleaned every leaf off the bottom. The next day I added 6 more lbs, still green. My Ph is good, calcium good, all others good except FC. Per my pool store I began shocking daily. I've been shocking daily for 5 days and my pool is still green. I tried to flock twice with no results. I have never had problems getting my pool clear. The pool store salesperson told me to double shock every day and add algaecide every 3 days. What do I need to do?
So, not sure what to do. My brilliant husband filled our pool with irrigation water and it's milky brown green. Not algae just fine particles. Should I shock then flock? Where do I start???!
Please help me! I started with 13 gallons of liquid chlorine, then 2 bags shock, then 1 bottle of flocculant. Chlorine levels still at 0!!! Water has changed from dark green to aqua but can not see anything! More shock till I get chlorine up? I tried vacuuming to waste what I could but couldn't see what I was doing. Can I turn filter back on even after using flocculant? This is my first time opening a pool and obviously I have no clue what I am doing! 😁 Hope you can help!! Thanks!
Should i wait to address low stabilizer until the algae is taken care of? Also, i don't have a waste port, just a cartridge filter. This is a 21' round above ground pool. I intend to convert to saltwater generator once this is taken care of.
Yes, wait on the stabilizer (you're probably shocking with cal-hypo shock, which is unstabilized on purpose). Without a waste port, you may just need to clean your filter more than once. Have a clean replacement cartridge on hand.
Thanks so much for the advice. Unfortunately, in Florida, pool services suck so I might as well try to do it myself. The pinchpenny (by whatever name) pool companies pay their workers so little that I get a different not-qualified-for-any-other-job guy every other week. I’m telling you, if someone started a pool company and only hired people who have experience with pools and paid them $25 an hour, they would get rich.
Ok. Good video. I screwed up and let my pool get out of control. I guess I've done it before over the years, but I'm on it. Looking forward to getting this handled. Simple process so I have confidence that it will work. Thanks.
Thanks for this. Stupidly went out and bought algaecide to sort it out but luckily saw this before I'd used it. Took it back and swapped for shock. Never thought I'd be so happy to see my water a cloudy blue! On the home stretch now. I'm worried my chlorine levels are going to be off the charts, as soon as this settles down the cover goes on for winter.
My pool is green and took all the steps but not even the slightest improvement has been noticed. I brought my pool water to a local pool store to get tested and they found that there was a high level of copper in my water. I used the stain remover they sold me and still have no improvement after 24 hrs. Does anyone out there know what I can use to eliminate the copper from the water? I need help I’ve spent many hundreds of dollars already and have not seen any improvement.
Will these tips work for above ground pools that I can either use sand or the Polysphere balls they sent with the pool? The pool is a Bestway 18’ round or can I get a tutorial on keeping my pool clear and usable during the summer months.
Did it change from a dark green to teal? If yes, I'd do one more round of shock. Otherwise, it might be good to use flocculant. We have other videos on that.
My problem is that my filter seems to get clogged after a few hours, ie, the water jet return to the pool is very low pressure. I've backwashed my de filter 2x now. Suggestions?
So basically all these chemicals won't harm kids if they accidentally swallow the pool water during swimming after all the preps are done and the pool is ready to swim in?
The chemical ranges are meant to keep contaminants low and keep the chemicals in the safe range for swimmers. Check out the CDC site for more info: www.cdc.gov/healthy-swimming/about/home-pool-and-hot-tub-water-treatment-and-testing.html?CDC_AAref_Val=www.cdc.gov/healthywater/swimming/residential/disinfection-testing.html
Thanks for producing this video especially- a short term guest left pool filter off for seven days and my immaculate pool went to green. Recovered it in a weekend with these instructions.
Thank you I just shocked our pool after a week of heavy rain . It was in between the stages of algae colors . I shocked it with 2 bags and put more chlorine tablets in brushed the sides and bottom then Few hours later it’s a cloudy blue . Thank you I didn’t want to put the pool away just yet haha .
Pool company recommends a "Power Vac" to get rid of the algae. Is that just a way to complete the ungreening process faster, or not necessarily? Also, when the pool is closed at the end of each season and the pool company adds shock, why is the pool green upon opening in summer? Why bother shocking at end of season at all?
Are they coming out to manually vacuum the algae? And the spring problem can depend on the kind of cover that you have. Is it a mesh cover? And is the pool cleaned before closing?
IM confused, on your other video you said to turn off the pump when adding shock, and the other one to turn it on circulate. On this one you said to put it on filter.
Hi I have an 18’ round pool my chlorine is sky high and the pool is light green -ph is normal and I have a cartridge filter - will adding more shock get rid of the algae or should I try some other method
I’m at a loss. I have tried everything. My pool looks like a swap. No matter what I do it doesn’t change…You stick your hand in and can’t see it after a foot… My numbers are Free Chlorine 12.92 ppm, Total Chlorine 13.59 ppm, pH 8.3, Total Alkalinity 81 ppm, Calcium hardness 231 ppm, Cyanunic acid 44 ppm, iron 0, copper 0.7 ppm, phosphate 611 ppb, TDS 500 ppm.
Help!!!!!!! My pool is getting algae way to fast. I want it gone because I am tired of every time I get in my pool I’m brushing and vacuuming it. I shock my 30ft round above ground 33,000 gallon of water weekly as a maintenance. I use 6lbs every time. I use chlorine tabs daily. I use algaecide weekly as well. This is my 3rd year with the pool and is by far the worst ever. We purchased new. But within 3 days after shocking and cleaning I can see green spots on my floor and if I don’t get straight in and clean it grows fast. This is the first year I have had this problem. It is also the first year that I didn’t cover my pool over the winter time and wonder if that might have something to do with it. Someone told me to drain my pool about halfway and then fill it back up that my pool had I can remember but something about my pool isn’t holding the chlorine like it is supposed to. I can put all my chemicals is and check it a day or so later it will literally be low on chlorine and I can shock it the day before. I am getting frustrated and tempted to just pull the pool down before I go broke fighting this issue. Any advice that can solve my problem would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance to anyone that can help
Oh no! How are your other levels, like pH and CYA? How was your pool in the spring? The halfway drain/refill might help remove an overload of "total dissolved solids." But if it's not holding chlorine, you might be low on CYA
@SwimUniversity I ve done it all it's still green . I m going tomorrow to get water tested one last time and add what they tell me. If in 3 days it's still green I m closing it .
I don't know of ANY filter that will filter out the dead algae, I have to vacuum to waste to get rid of it. It's so fine it just goes thru the filter and right back into the pool. I'm using the glass beads in my sand filter, as I was told they filter better than the sand. Your thoughts PLEASE. OH, BTW, there are GREAT videos and super helpful.
@@SwimUniversity I have a 5000 gallon above ground pool. I'm trying all of this, but I can literally see the green/yellow algae shooting back into my pool while it's on Filter....?
