Why do swimming pools turn green

Some of the main causes of pool algae are: Heat Rain Letting chemicals get out of balance Transferred from one pool to another Recurring algae is usually Mustard Algae. How do you get rid of mustard algae and keep it from coming back? First, vacuum the pool on the waste setting. Mustard Algae is resistant to the normal chlorine levels so to get rid of Mustard Algae you can use a Yellow Out type product.

To keep the Mustard Algae from returning to your pool, use copper algaecide. Copper algaecide should be used as per the manufacturer instructions and should not be used during high levels of chlorine to prevent staining. Use clarifier to help filter out the algae and Metal Out or Demineralizer to prevent staining. You'll be back to swimming in crystal clear water in no time! If they are too small for your pool, a buildup of algae can result. Filtration issues causing color changes in the water can also be connected to which type of filter you have installed in your pool.

If your pool has a sand filter, clearing the pool of whatever is making it murky and green may take a week, or even longer. If your pool has a cartridge filter, you may need to clean the cartridge every single day until the pool water is completely clear and back to normal. It is also possible that a pool can turn green from exposure to oxidized copper.

This is a rare occurrence, since it can happen only when pool water comes in contact with copper, usually via corrosion in copper heaters. In most cases, the quickest way to turn your green pool blue is to shock it. This is also called super-chlorination, and it is the process of adding enough chemicals—usually chlorine, but sometimes something else—to eliminate built-up chloramines, along with algae, bacteria and other organic matter.

Shocking your pool is a multi-step process, and it can feel intimidating to handle so many chemicals. Many people manage this successfully on their own, while others prefer to have a professional shock their pool for them, to ensure that they get the complex balance of chemicals exactly right. Either way is fine, as long as you feel your pool is getting what it needs—and as long as it works, meaning that your pool returns to a normal, clear, beautiful blue.

The lower range of that scale is best for most pools before receiving a shock treatment; if the pH is too high, the shock will make the water cloudy, and shocking also raises the pH overall. Rinse with Tomato Juice , ketchup or lemon juice. Soak your hair as best you can with tomato juice, then let it set for minutes. Or try ketchup. After coating your hair with it, you will need to wrap your hair in tinfoil or wrap a swim cap and let it sit on your head for about 30 minutes.

If you decide to give the lemon juice a try, put the lemon juice in your hair and let it sit for about minutes. Whichever you choose, wash and condition your hair after you have fully rinsed. Try aspirin, baking soda or lemon Kool-Aid as a rinse.

Massage paste into your hair and let it sit for about minutes. If you decide to give aspirin a try, crush about tablets in a bowl then add warm water to it for it to dissolve.

It is this process of eutrophication that you are fighting in your swimming pool. In order to stop the process you need to limit organic matter growth. In order to limit the organic matter growth, you need to interrupt the life cycle somehow. One of the best ways to accomplish this is to effectively starve out the algae in your pool.

If there is no food for algae then it will not be able to grow very fast, or at all, which is ultimately the goal. Up until now in this article, this all sounds very straight forward. Algae grows from eating nitrates and phosphates - so what is the problem? Well, it is important to note that this information is very watered down. The actual science behind nitrates and pool water, and even more so with phosphates, is much more complex than it may seem.

For example, "phosphates" are not a singular thing. Phosphates are a dynamic, complex series of chemical compounds, and can exist in many different forms such as organic phosphates and inorganic phosphates, of which there are many subclassifications such as orthophosphates and condensed phosphates.

If you have "phosphates" in your pool, this could actually be many different kinds, and that is only the tip of the iceberg! So knowing there are different kinds of phosphates, it is next important to understand that there are also different kinds of algae. Every type of algae will be able to feed on phosphates, but the rate of growth and ideal growth conditions changes from one type of algae to another.

For example, there is a type of algae that grows aggressively at parts per billion of phosphates, and you you might try to lower your phosphate level to parts per billion or less if you have a problem with these in your pool.

Unfortunately there is a different form of algae that prefers phosphate levels at ppb instead of ppb and so you can end up with an algae problem of a different kind. The problem of nitrates and phosphates fueling algae growth in pools is a very complicated one for any person who is not a chemist that specializes in this field. Understanding how algae grows in water, which compounds feed and promote algae growth, and how phosphates and nitrates get into the pool is only one part of the science behind why pool water turns green.

The other major part of the equation is the effect that chemical sanitizer, like chlorine, has on limiting algae growth in your pool. So now you understand that algae is growing plant matter in your swimming pool that is feeding off of chlorophyll from the sun, as well as carbon dioxide, phosphates and nitrates in the pool water. So how does chlorine fit into all of this? Chlorine kills algae.