Above Ground Pools - Clearing the Water

With the popularity of low cost easy set swimming pools on the rise there is plenty of published articles instructing you on how to test your water and do the other basic maintenance items for them, so we will not be covering those. But I have picked up a few unpublished tricks myself that I will share with you about how to clear up an Intex swimming pool if it becomes green or cloudy.

My Pool has turned Green

If your water is green, it is because algae has been allowed bloom. There are dozens of reasons why that might have happened, most all of them related to pool chemicals. There is a strong possibility that you have not been using the proper kind or not enough chlorine, and/or let more than a few days go by without checking and updating the cholorine levels. Once the green gets a foothold, it will grow like crazy.

First, you must REMOVE the green from the floor and walls. This is where I have gotten creative. You will need to use a suction sweeper with a 1 1/2″ pool hose. This setup can be purchased for around $40.

Normally you would hook this type of vacuum into the intake of the filter pump. However the pump that comes with these pools is no where near powerful enough to run a vacuum, and even if it were, the filter would clog up almost instantly.

Instead we will use a SIPHON to create the suction. Simply attach one end of the hose to the sweeper head and place the rest of the hose into the water. Using the open end of the hose, hold it up against the output pipe of the pool pump. This will force the air out of the hose and make bubbles come out of the sweeper head. Once the air is completely out of the hose, the bubbles will stop. Now, hold your hand over the open end of the hose to the prevent water from coming spilling out and air from getting in, and QUICKLY take the open end of hose out of the pool and place it on the ground and remove your hand. The water should be pouring out of the end of the hose now and will continue to pour until the pool is empty. But that is not our intention, we simply want to use this natural suction to power our sweeper.

Now that you have the water flowing, carefully sweep the pool floor. This might take a couple of times to get it all because you will disturb some of it and will need to wait for it to settle down again to catch it.

Shock with Sodium Hypochlorite

Next use a combination of algaecide and chlorine shock. Use the directed amounts as perscribed on the sides of the bottles. There is a difference between the maintenance chlorine that you should have been using all along, and the chlorine shock that I just mentioned. The shock is super powerful, it only lasts a short time but is very effective. The algaecide will undo the foothold that the blooms require.

Does your water look milky and cloudy! What went wrong? Two likely reasons: You used the chemicals from Wal-Mart or other discount store, particularly the HTH brands. In my opinion do not use these! There is a difference! The active ingredient in these is calcium hypochlorite which has been known to leave behind cloudy water. Instead use Sodium Hypochlorite which can be found a non-discount pool supply stores! This was the most valuable lesson I learned about caring for my pool. The other reason is your filter is not doing a good enough job trapping the smallest of particles suspended in the water.

My Pool has turned Cloudy

To clear up your cloudy water and you will need to improve your filtering process. The filter that comes with your pool does a fair job, but is not fine enough for the super small particles that are what is making your water this way. First, replace your filter with a fresh one. You can clean these filters many times over, but I always suggest starting with a fresh one for this next step. Then we add some really fine white powder! What is that you say? Wont the powder cloud the water even more? Yesit would if you added it directly to the water, but we will not be doing that! Instead we will be coating the outside of our filter with it by injecting it into the intake when the pump is running. This will coat the filter with a fine, even layer of material which will improve capturing. The powder is thick enough not to pass through the filter yet fine enough to grab microscopic dirt and hang on to it.

Diatomatious Earth in the Filter

Purchase this filter powder, or diatomatious earth, from your pool supplier. It is a really fine powder and it is inexpensive. Mix 1/2 cup of this powder in a bowl with 4 cups (or so) of water. Using a small (2-3 feet) of garden hose, stick one end into the INTAKE of the pump. It helps if the hose was prefilled with water eliminating any air. Now use the hose to suck the milky powered water from the bowl. If you are careful you can use the pool water to "flush" the bowl as the hose drains it. Just dont get the powder into the pool, only into the intake.

You will need to clean this filter often. The powder will soon become saturated with pool plaque and the water will no longer be able to flow through it. Simply remove the filter (try to keep the mess to a minimum) and spray it clean with a garden sprayer. Repeat this process 3-4 times and you will be amazed! Once the water is clear, you can discontinue using the powder. You can use the same filter (once cleaned) over again many times as long as you started with a fresh one when we began.

Maintain your Chlorine Levels

Keep your water chlorinated DAILY using a QUALITY CHLORINE maintenance product (Sodium Hypochlorite), not the junk they sell at most discount stores. Going a few days without this allows algae to bloom, so keep it up!

Make sure you SUPER SHOCK your pool weekly with an overdose of chlorine to 5 PPM, or Parts Per Million, based on your readings using a standard pool test kit. This kills hidden bugs/growth that your daily chlorine additive might miss. The shock should take 5-6 hours to settle to safe levels.

Regularly sweep your pool as debris will help the algae if left to sit on the bottom. Using the vacuum tool as I described will make sweeping easier and more effective.

Between using and maintaining the proper chemicals, using a filter powder and sweeping the pool with a siphon suction, you should be able to clear the greenest of pools in a matter of a day or two.

Although I consider myself more of an anniversary gifts expert, I now feel like I have mastered the art of crystal clear water. As easy as it is to maintain, setup was a little more difficult because our yard was not completely level. But that is another artcicle by itself.