Top Five Ways To Clear A Green Swimming Pool

Everyone at some point will wind up with a green swimming pool and will want to know right away how to clear a green swimming pool and make the water blue again, but the truth is that you first need to determine why the swimming pool water turned green in the first place.

There are usually a few common things that will cause your swimming pool to turn green. Some of the more simple things that can cause the pool water to turn green is forgetting to add chlorine to the swimming pool, not running the pool filter long enough, or possible a more advanced water chemistry problem or even swimming pool filter equipment failure.

Once you figure out what caused your swimming pool to turn green you now can use the following guide and choose from five top ways to clear your green swimming pool.

How To Clear A Green Swimming Pool With Chemicals:

One way to clear a green swimming pool is to use chemicals to do so. In addition to the chemicals you will need some kind of filter system as well because just chemicals alone will not clear up your green water that you have in your in-ground or above ground pool. The first thing you will want to do is to check the chemistry of your water. This will include checking the level of the ALK, PH, and total available chlorine. Make sure to write down all the levels of your chemical readings. You can either use a standard test kit that uses reactants or you can use a test strip type like Aqua Check strips.

Once you have gathered your chemical readings you will want to adjust the chemicals by adding what you need to bring them to the correct levels. This could include adjusting the Alkalinity with sodium bicarbonate as well as adding pH up or down. Don’t panic soon you will be a pro and will be telling others how to clear a green swimming pool as well.Now, the next thing you will want to do is to add shock to the pool. You can either add liquid swimming pool shock or powered shock, but of you have a vinyl liner pool you will want to make sure you buy a “no burn” brand of pool shock so that you do not stain the liner. You will want to “triple shock” the pool by just tripling the dosage on the package.

Now that you have adjusted your chemicals and added your shock you will want to run your pool filter twenty four hours day until the swimming pool water is clear. In this time you will need to backwash the pool filter as needed.

How To Drain and Clean An Above Ground Pool That Is Green:

Before we even get started to tell you how to clear a green above ground swimming pool by draining it, PLEASE NOTE, that this can only be done with above ground pools and NOT in-ground or semi-above ground pools. Those types of pools can collapse when drained. Another thing to keep in mind is that you need to keep your pool liner cool and damp throughout the entire process otherwise the sun and the heat could shrink and dry out your liner causing it not to fit and then ripping when you go to fill the pool back up.

Now that you know the things you are not supposed to do you will want to get started in clearing up that messy green above ground pool that you have. You can drain the pool one of two ways. You can create a siphon by using a garden hose or the pool vacuum hose. Another way to drain the pool down is to use a submersible drainage pump. Do not use your pool pump unless you know what you are doing other wise you can run your pump dry and possible do damage. Once you start a siphon or get a pump drain the pool completely.

Once the pool is drain completely you will want to hop in and scoop out all the debris and any left over sludge. Be sure to wear water proof high boots so that your feet don’t get in the messy green algae or dirty water that may be left on the bottom of the pool floor. If everything is out of the pool you can also scrub it down with a wet rag to remove any stubborn stains. Once you are completely done cleaning the pool liner you can fill the pool back up with water and now you will have a nice blue refreshing swimming pool again. Also remember to set the chemicals back up in the pool now that you have brand new water that is untreated.

How To Clean A Green Pool With Extra Filters & Pumps:

Another way commonly used by swimming pool companies as well as large estates and even some homeowners, is the use of extra pumps and filters.

What you can do is set up external or extra pumps running inline with any type of pool filter and run them all at the same time, this creates another complete filter system cycle for every set up you add. For instance if your pump and filter usually takes four days to clear up your green pool water, if you were to get another filter system and you were to run it with and long side the other one your swimming pool would clear up twice as fast. If you had three systems, your swimming pool would be clear three times as fast and so on.

Now this might not be cost effective for the average pool owner that only gets a green pool every once and a while, so you may be better off trying another one of the five methods on how to clear your green pool or you could call around to your local swimming pool companies and ask them if they offer this type of service, which many swimming pool service will for a competitive and cost effective price. This method is great to get that pool clean if you are in rush or have a big event coming really soon and don’t have days to spare. You could even turn a green pool into a blue clear swimming pool in a few hours if you had enough pumps and filters.

This method is the most effective way by far to clean up your pool and if you can even borrow pumps and filters instead of buying or renting you could save even more money.

How To Clean & Clean Green Pools With Natural ECO Chemicals:

Another way to clear the dirty , swampy and green or even brown water in the pool is to use a non traditional method of using Natural pool chemicals that are also ECO-friendly. These chemicals are made by a company called Natural Chemistry and they make a wife variety of pool chemicals that are made from natural enzymes that work in several different ways. For example natural chemistry makes a product called “pool first Aid” that will clear swimming pool water that is green and brown. They also have a great product called Pool Pefect + PHOSfree that will keep your pool sparkling clear with no algae all season long.

Natural chemistry also makes another product in their line called “pool perfect with phos free” which is also designed to clear that same swampy and green pool water by using an ECO friendly solution.

How To clear a green pool with common household products:

If you are not in a rush and have some time to spare then the good news is that you can turn your green swimming pool water blue again just by using everyday household products. The two main things you will need are baking soda and bleach. The baking soda is the base and will control the ph and ALK levels of the water. Sodium bicarb or otherwise known as baking soda is the same exact thing at the stuff you are buying from the swimming pool store called ALK up.

The next thing you will need is bleach, sure bleach will not be as strong as pool shock but if your pool is only a bit green the household bleach will be enough to clear that water. Of course don’t forget that you will still have to run your swimming pool filter this whole time, so if you have a filter problem then you will want to repair that first.

Here are some commonly asked questions about green pools:

Question: “Can I run my pool heater while my pool is green?”

Answer: Yes, you can run your pool heater while the pool is green but its not a good idea. In fact the hotter the swimming pool water is the faster the algae will grow.

Question: “So your telling me baking soda is the same exact thing as Alk up that I have been paying big bucks for?”

Answer: Yes, That’s right, Baking soda is the same exact thing as Alkalinity up for your swimming pool. They are both the same chemical sodium bicarbonate.

Question: ” If I have leafs and other debris on the bottom of my pool should I scoop them first or after the pool water is clear?”

Answer: It’s always a good idea to try to remove as much as possible from the bottom of the swimming pool before or after the pool water is clear, The thing you do not want to do is to “stir up” the water when you are trying to clear the pool (i.e. after you added chems), because this will only make the pool water get worse.

Question: “What types of filters are required to clear my green pool?”

Answer: You can use a cartridge, sand, or even a D.E. Filter to clear the water of your swimming pool. The fastest type of pool filter that will clear your water in the shortest amount of time is a D.E. filter.

Now that we have showed you five different ways to choose from to tackle that nasty mess you have in your pool, you should have no problem clearing it up. Remember that just a little bit of pool maintenance each week can make a huge impact on your swimming pool water and you can totally avoid having a green pool to begin with.