Ok got it, I have brush bigger one I will use that to dislodge the leaves. Chlorine is bit more than 3ppm is it ok to get into pool ?
Yes. It’s actually ok to get in the water with chlorine up to the shock level.
Let me know how it goes.
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I just finished cleaning the pool but I didn’t find single deal leaf. I walked around pool multiple times and floor was rough not even single slippery spot. I also brushed multiple time walls, floor etc there is lots of dead algae so it became more cloudier now but no dead leaves or twigs or anything else from tree. So we can eliminate that part… will check the chlorine in evening and bring it to 16ppm and run vaccum all night… do you think it’s good idea to remove dead algae…?
“do you think it’s good idea to remove dead algae…?”
How do you mean?
Sorry I meant bringing back 16 ppm and running vaccum all night to remove dead algae ?
Yes, you keep the shock level at 16 until it only falls by 1 ppm overnight and the water is clear,
When you say running the vacuum all night, do you mean running the filter all night?
I meant keeping that suction side vaccum cleaner inside the pool…
I wouldn’t. Because when the vacuum is running you have to remove the skimmer. The sock is on the skimmer. So if you run the vacuum you lose the filtering enhancement of the skimmer sock. So I would run the filter all night and while I was vacuuming tomorrow I would clean the sock and when I finished vacuuming, put the skimmer with the sock on it back in and let the filter run.
Actually I found a way to have skimmer with sock while vacuuming. I have plate which sit on top of skimmer, this was from my manual vaccum… i put that to my suction vaccum this morning… it did work well with good suction and it blocked lots of stuff… but I agree to run filter without vaccum all night so that we have good circulation of water…
Also I think pool is clean in terms of green algae…dead ones is still there but green ones are not there and these are ones which consumes chlorine… could there be any other reasons for chlorine loss… l read something regarding nitrogen or phosphates… should we consider that ? Please advise I saw in pool store report they didn’t test for phosphates…
The only things I know of that consume chlorine are organic contaminates (dirt, twigs, leaves, algae, body oil, sun tan lotion…) and sunlight. So if you are losing more than 1 ppm of chlorine overnight (when there isn’t any sunlight) the chlorine is still oxidizing/killing contaminates in the water. As more contaminates get oxidized you will notice that it takes less and less shock to keep the chlorine level at 16 ppm. When it gets to the point where the difference between the final chlorine reading you take in the evening and the reading you take early the next morning is 1 ppm or less and the water is clear all contaminates/organics have been oxidized.
It took longer than 4 days for the pool to get in this shape and it will take more than a few days to correct the issue. Keep doing what you’re doing:
- Let the pump run continuously.
- Take a chlorine reading as early in the morning as you can and adjust the chlorine level.
- Take readings every 3 to 4 hrs if possible and adjust the chlorine level.
- Take a final reading in the evening as close to sunset as possible and adjust the chlorine level.
- Vacuum the pool daily preferably in the morning.
- Brush the pool daily preferably in the evening.
- Clean the gunk off of the sock when needed.
- Backwash the filter when needed.
And if you haven’t backwashed the filter since we started this, go ahead and backwash it so you can see how green the water is.
As for phosphates, phosphates are a source of food for algae. A phosphate remover will remove a food source. But the algae still has to be killed. So you still have to use chlorine to kill the algae. If the algae is dead it doesn’t matter whether there is a food source in the water or not. It’s like having a mouse in the house looking for food. You can either remove all the food sources and hope the mouse gives up and goes somewhere else or you can remove the mouse and end the problem.
Yes water pressure was down so I back washed and water was clean not green and when I rinsed it was same. I will continue the steps you mentioned.
Thanks
I am still following the steps. Water is getting better slowly… it’s raining not much sun so chlorine is sustained bit longer… I could see pool floor in some places…
Good. That’s what’s supposed to happen. The water should look a little better each day. And one morning you will go out to take the morning reading and it will be clear.
When algae first blooms and there is only a green tint to the water it can take days to kill it and clear the water. Once the algae turns the water full green and you can’t see the bottom, it takes a lot longer.
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The water is getting better day by day and i can see floor in most places but still 16ppm is consumed with 15-16 hours. Is it normal?When I bring pool to 16ppm in evening since there is no sun more ppm is retained by morning but by the evening everything comes back to zero.I am waiting for my test kit to take early morning reading. I want to know average consumption of chlorine when there is no issue. And if i get into this situation again i should bring stabilizer to proper range between 30 and 60 and then based on that reading, i should find the ppm based on chart to shock the pool. I mean this time it was 16ppm because my stabilizer was around 40.Is my understanding correct?
Suresh and JCM,
You guys are awesome! I would love to see some before and after photos if you get a chance please post. Also not sure if you saw our Video on How to Clear a Green Pool (SLAM) which you may find helpful.
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Thanks a lot JCM water is crystal clear now. Thanks for your advice and clarifying all my doubts. Thanks Patrick for sharing the video it’s helpful.
That’s good to hear and you are welcome.
For your earlier questions:
" I want to know average consumption of chlorine when there is no issue." It depends on the level of chlorine you maintain in the pool. For a pool with 40 ppm of stabilizer the minimum chlorine level is 3 ppm with the ideal range between 5 and 7 ppm. I keep the chlorine level at 5 ppm. Some nights it has gone down to 4 ppm, some nights 3.5, some nights 3 and occasionally 2.5. This is dictated by how many hours of full sun the pool gets, how hot it gets, how much debris blows into the pool, bather load, etc.
On average you can figure 1 - 2 ppm per day. If you keep the level at the minimum and the circumstances are right, it’s possible that the water could consume all the chlorine in a day and when that happens you risk another algae bloom.
“And if i get into this situation again i should bring stabilizer to proper range between 30 and 60 and then based on that reading, i should find the ppm based on chart to shock the pool. I mean this time it was 16ppm because my stabilizer was around 40.Is my understanding correct?”
Correct. But if it happens again you could also just take a stabilizer reading and adjust the shock level to that new reading
And remember this. If you continue to use Trichlor tablets, each table adds about 3 ppm of stabilizer to the water so it won’t take long until you reach stabilizer levels that aren’t recommended.
Good luck
J
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