By Ron Burr

One of the worst things about owning a swimming pool is looking out your back window of your home and seeing that the pool water is a nasty shade of green. Now what? The family is ready to go swimming but the pool is a mess. The fix to your green pool may be as simple as some of the following suggestions.

oNo free available chlorine. Use your test kit to check the chlorine and pH levels. Remember to make sure that the test kit reagents are not out of date and or the test strips are still current. Add chemicals as needed.
oPoor water circulation. Check the filter is it dirty. If you have a cartridge filter is the cartridge worn out? If you have a DE filter is it time to backwash or completely tear down the filter, check the grids and re-charge the system with clean filter powder. If your system has a sand filter it might be time to empty the sand and recharge the filter.
oCheck the pump basket. If the basket full? Check to make sure that the basket is in good condition. A cracked or broken basket can allow items to bypass into the pump impeller, causing pump failure.
oLack of proper pool maintenance, which includes periodic super-chlorination and fresh water replacement. Don’t forget about brushing your pool surface on a regular basis.
oCheck the level of Cyanuric Acid (Also known as CYA, Stabilizer and Conditioner) in the pool water. Levels over 80ppm can cause the water to “Cloud Up”. The best way to lower Cyanuric Acid levels is to drain some of the pool water and re-fill with fresh water. Remember after doing this to check ALL your chemistry levels and readjust as needed. (If you are using Tri-Chlor tablets to sanitize your pool water, check your CYA levels frequently. Most “Tri-Chlor” tablets contain levels of CYA.)

Possibly the pool water is not green but just cloudy; here are some suggestions for this type of water problem.

oAlgae in the water – Check your pool chemistry and adjust as needed
oToo high a hardness level – Use your test kit to monitor. If the harness is too high some dilution might be needed.
oToo much backwashing of the filter. Backwashing causes pool water to be flushed out of the pool, remember after major backwashing and addition of fresh water to the pool to check your pool chemistry.
oPlugged or channeled filter. Clean your filter, replace media if necessary.
oImproper pH – Adjust your pH to the recommended levels.
oImproper total alkalinity levels – Adjust as needed.
oHigh total dissolved solids content in the water. If the total dissolved solids content is to high some dilution might be needed.