Treating and Preventing Yellow / Green Algae in Swimming Pools in Florida

 As the summer rolls on along in Sarasota, Florida - we’ve all become acclimated to the daily late afternoon rainstorms. As much as our lawns and plants need the water after sitting in the hot summer sun all morning long, our pools do not. As we discussed previously about how the heavy rains can throw off your pool’s chemistry, now is the time when it can be critically important to keep on top of the situation. Some rain may be very acidic, therefore affecting both the alkaline levels and the pH of your pool water. When heavy rains fall that have a pH of about 5.0, it can result in lowering the pH balance of your pool – which should always stay at a balance of between of 7.4 to 7.6. It is when this happens that some Central Florida and Orlando area residents may experience  GREEN swimming pool “syndrome”. If not taken care of right away or immediately, the pool algae can get out of control very, very quickly. The following are the reasons why your pool turns green and what you can do to get it back to being swim-ready and sparkling.

Why Do Pools Turn Green?

As more rainwater fills your swimming pool, the chlorine levels become diluted. When the chlorine in a pool goes below 1 ppm (parts per million), algae has the perfect scenario to start growing. Once the algae grows it will begin to change color, which is when you’ll first begin to notice that greenish tinge in the pool water. The moment you see that greenish color, you need to take action immediately, taking the necessary measures to correctly treat your pool before it gets out of control. Many times, simply super-chlorinating, or “shocking” your pool is enough to kill and get rid of the algae. To shock your pool for regular upkeep, you’ll typically need one pound of granular chlorine for every 10,000 gallons of water. If your past this point and dealing with an algae infestation, it’s going to require a lot more work and is beyond the point of just regular prevention.

The 3 Colors You’ll See and What They Mean

• Teal – at this phase of color, the algae is at its least problematic stage. In order to remove the teal color from your pool, you’ll need two (2) pounds of chlorine shock for every 10,000 gallons of water that is in your pool.
• Green (swamp-like) – seeing a swamp-like color in your pool is a slightly bigger issue, but luckily still fixable. To remedy a green, swampy color, requires three (3) pounds of chlorine shock for every 10,000 gallons of water that your pool holds.
• Black – if you’re seeing black, it’s the most serious of algae colors. Black pools require more work and you’ll need at least four (4) pounds of shock for every 10,000 gallons of water. You may also want to consider calling in a professional pool maintenance company.

How to Shock Your Pool

Before anything else, the first thing you need to do is test the chemicals in the pool water to make sure that the pH level is between 7.4 and 7.6 and that the alkalinity is between 100ppm and 150ppm. Shocking your swimming pool should be done at night, and you will also need to keep the pool’s filter running the entire time. After you’ve tested the chemicals you:

1. Pour the bag of calcium hypo-chloride (shock) into a bucket of pool water.
2. Pour the contents of the bucket into the water around the perimeter of the pool.
3. Leave your pool filter running and see what the pool looks like in the morning. If it’s still discolored, then you’ll need to repeat the process with a second shock treatment.

Stay in Control! Prevention Is Key:

You may notice that after you shock your pool, the green color will go away, but your pool will look cloudy. This means that the chlorine is doing its job, but you need to continue to keep the filter running for 24 hours at this point. It’s also important to keep an eye on the filter pressure to prevent a rise. If you see that the pressure has risen by approximately 20-25%, you’ll then also need to clean or backwash the filter. After the cloudiness fully clears up, you can then reduce the filter’s run time down to only 15 hours a day.

Make sure you keep testing the pools chemicals to make sure the pH and alkalinity are within the correct range (pH between 7.4 and 7.6; alkalinity between 100 ppm and 150 ppm) and that the chlorine level is staying between 1 ppm and 3 ppm. You’ll need to continue balancing your pool’s water weekly afterwards, until everything is back to normal. At this point you can once again resume running the filter for 10-12 hours a day. You may additionally want to consider adding an algaecide to your pool weekly to keep it sparkling for the rest of the summer.

Six Easy Steps To Remove Algae From Your Pool

When it comes to removing algae from your pool there are a number of different ways that you cannot only remove severe algae but also ensure that it never gets out of control from then on. Algae can be a huge hassle especially when you get it for the first time. If you really need to get rid of algae and make sure that it doesn't return you will need to follow the following tips.

1.       Maintain your circulation system: maintaining your pump, the filters and the skimmers is extremely important. When your filter becomes clogged and you don't make efforts to back washer clean your filter it's only a matter of time before algae will form. Your pump also needs to be running at least 6-8 hours a day when you have swimmers in your pool. Without the pump running at least this length of time you were going to get algae.

2.       Shock your pool weekly: one of the best ways that you can eliminate spores of algae is to use regular sanitizer and to shock your pool weekly.

3.       Monitor all the chemical levels in your pool: whether you are using an automatic or floating sanitizer device, you need to always monitor the levels in your pool to make sure that algae spores can't form. All the levels should be kept correct levels or you are going to consistently see algae in the pool.

4.       Use pool brushes: the walls and floors of your pool will often start to form algae. If you aren't regularly scrubbing your pool with the proper brush you'll start to see algae growth forming at the edges above the water or even on the bottom of the pool. It can be difficult for the circulation system to eliminate these spores so you will need to put in a little elbow grease yourself.

5.       Get algaecide: in the worst possible case you can use algaecide to help algae spores from developing into blooms. This is an easy-to-use chemical that is really only to be used if you are having real difficulty controlling the spores.

6.       Consider getting a vacuum for your pool: one of the automatic vacuums can help you clean all of the surfaces in your pool with ease and prevent algae from building up. You can also get a manual vacuum which will both scrub and remove any debris from the pool.

The Upside to Salt Chlorination versus Chlorine Chlorination

Water disinfection is a term used to describe the process of removal or deconstruction of pathogenic microorganisms. During this disinfection and sterilization of the water, the microorganisms lose their colloid balance which results in their elimination. Pools are places where many microorganisms dwell and procreate. Some of them are harmless, but some of them can be potentially very dangerous for the health of both children and adults because they can lead to infections and diseases. If they are not eliminated, they can easily transfer from one person to another. Organic matter makes the water in the pool look dirty. There are many ways in which people can disinfect pool water and one of the most popular is the process of chlorination.

Chlorination is a reliable, cost-affordable and very efficient method of water disinfection. This process has a destructive effect on cells found in all organisms especially in microorganisms because they can’t stand even small quantities of chlorine. The success of this process depends on many factors such as: the type of chlorination, the biological characteristics of the microorganisms, water temperature, pH value of the water and few other factors. Very often people use two well-known methods – salt chlorination and chlorine. Although they are both efficient the truth is that salt chlorination comes with much more advantages compare to the use of chlorine alone.

Salt chlorination is a process that modifies conventional table salt into sodium chloride. With a system like this you can expect lesser amount of chlorine in the water, but this doesn't mean that the effects of purification and disinfection of the pool will be reduced. In addition, this method uses special chemicals that are not harmful for humans, but very efficient when it comes to elimination of microorganisms and algae. At the same time they provide ideal balance of the pH value in the pool which is extremely important for those who care about their skin health and health in general. Furthermore, water that uses salt chlorination is much softer for your skin compared to chlorine. Chlorine can cause negative effects in people who have sensitive eyes, hair and skin. Even if you use a pool which uses a system like this on a daily basis you won’t have problems with irritations and itching.

As we have mentioned before the level of chemicals in pools like these is very low and people don’t need to keep and use hazardous chemicals close to their pools. In other words, salt chlorination is an eco-friendly process. Even the smell that usually appears with the use of chlorine will be gone and you won’t have to inhale that unpleasant odor.

Pool maintenance can become a real nightmare in case you use chlorine, but this is not the case with salt chlorination. Pools using this chlorination are able to clean most of the water on their own. Users don’t have to clean the pools constantly and occasional check and cleaning of the water sanitation is more than enough to make sure that everything is working in a perfect order.