Our pool is always a lovely shade of green.

[Cake Monster]

The problem with your Pool is really due to a total lack of  maintenance. The water is Green due to Algae blooms, which are caused through water that is not clean and exposure to Sunlight.

Its a real problem here in Thailand, as many Thais think a Pool is just a hole in the ground that you fill with water. - Its Not ! .

The Pool has to be filled with clean, Chlorinated water, and then a Filtration System ( usually 2 or 3 sand filled filters and a Pump ) has to continually run to filter the water clean.

A) The  water used to fill the Pool has not been Chlorinated.

B) The Pools filtration system,If it has one, is not used correctly, or set up correctly. 

The chances are that the Filter is rarely switched on ( if at all ) to save Electric, and the Water to fill the Pool or top it out is sourced from an unclean lake or Canal. for the same reason

Ask to see the Pump and Filter System for the Pool and check its being used properly.

A 2HP pump will use 1440 Watts of power every Hour, so in 24 hours its easy to work out how its being used ( or not ).

Do not use the Pool in this state as God only knows what horrible Bacteria are lurking in their.

 

[4675636b596f75]

22 minutes ago, Cake Monster said:

The problem with your Pool is really due to a total lack of  maintenance. The water is Green due to Algae blooms, which are caused through water that is not clean and exposure to Sunlight.

Its a real problem here in Thailand, as many Thais think a Pool is just a hole in the ground that you fill with water. - Its Not ! .

The Pool has to be filled with clean, Chlorinated water, and then a Filtration System ( usually 2 or 3 sand filled filters and a Pump ) has to continually run to filter the water clean.

A) The  water used to fill the Pool has not been Chlorinated.

B) The Pools filtration system,If it has one, is not used correctly, or set up correctly. 

The chances are that the Filter is rarely switched on ( if at all ) to save Electric, and the Water to fill the Pool or top it out is sourced from an unclean lake or Canal. for the same reason

Ask to see the Pump and Filter System for the Pool and check its being used properly.

A 2HP pump will use 1440 Watts of power every Hour, so in 24 hours its easy to work out how its being used ( or not ).

Do not use the Pool in this state as God only knows what horrible Bacteria are lurking in their.

 

Lions and tigers and bears ... oh my ....

 

 

[JAS21]

Do many swim in your pool when it's green ... I would be tempted just to watch ...

[Humpy]

Chlorine dear, chlorine !!

[observer90210]

I think I have found the solution that is not chemical !!.....a martian is peeing every night in that pool !!

[4675636b596f75]

1 minute ago, observer90210 said:

I think I have found the solution that is not chemical !!.....a martian is peeing every night in that pool !!

I piss in the pool all the time.  Did you see how big it is?

[4675636b596f75]

3 hours ago, JAS21 said:

Do many swim in your pool when it's green ... I would be tempted just to watch ...

I have had to convince quite a few mothers to remove their children from the pool and give them a shower.

[VocalNeal]

17 hours ago, 4675636b596f75 said:

Been there for years, and chlorine, we don't need no stinkin chlorine.  They only have some soda ash which is Ph - but they throw that in more than the chlorine which seems to get done once a month.

 

 

17 hours ago, Pdavies99 said:

most of the time it needs chlorine added,...what I did was buy some chlorine tablets  / blocks and on the quiet throw one in every day, hey presto...after 4 days water went clear and containment went to bottom of the pool. Then I asked them to clean out the dirt etc which they did.   now I just throw one in occasionally, no smell and clear. I'm sure many will say wrong etc, but was that or nothing

 

So the OP's solution is here . Take control and do as KHun Davies does? Surreptitiously bung a chlorine tablet in every now and again. 

[Thailand]

Don't smell the chlorine but the odor of a troll is prevalent.

[Captain 776]

21 hours ago, Humpy said:

 Tell the pool owners to sprinkle a bucket of Flocculant Plus powder (Swimmingpoolsthailand.com) liberally over the pool surface. Run the pump on RECYCLE for 30 minutes and leave the powder to do its thing for 12 to 24 hours without filtering. The 'gunge' will settle to the bottom.

Vacuum the pool floor to WASTE. Top up with clean water and add  chlorine and acid to achieve the correct readings. 

If someone doesn’t Flocculate correctly..........the whole system gets Flocculated.

You do NOT want to run the pump.......at all once flocculant is in the water.

You SHOULD stop the pump and let the water become still.

Then spray an even layer of Flocculant over the surface..............the flocculant will then slowly sink to the bottom capturing any floating particles and the next morning you will see all the crap floating like dust balls on the bottom of the pool...........then carefully vacuum to waster.

DO NOT vacuum Flocculant thru your filter

[zappalot]

Actually it is very easy to take care of the pool once you start monitoring and adjusting the right values.

Forget the cheap testing kit shown in previous postings.

There is much more to it than just the total chlorine and the pH value you can test with the useless kit shown earlier.

 

And I tell you why: the total chlorine doesn't help you at all. Much more important is the level of the free chlorine. Only free chlorine is taking care off viruses, bacteria and algae. Once a free chlorine molecule bounds to for example an algae it becomes useless but is still in the swimming pool. It becomes  part of the total chlorine.  So by the cheap test kit shown earlier you might get the information that there is a lot of chlorine in the pool. So that bound  chlorine is not being able to take care off bacteria, viruses and algae anymore.

 

Also important is the Cyanuric acid level. If that one becomes too high because they only use acidic chlorine to take care of the pool the free chlorine level must be higher and higher to make the chlorine working on any kind of algae/bacteria/viruses. If it is too low the sun will eat up the chlorine  quickly rendering it useless.

 

So you have to get one of these testing kits. There is also a  guide from the Ministry of health of  the kingdom of Thailand suggesting in which range all these values should be. When I had to deal with our brainless  management company in our condominium that one helped a lot. You also need a second kind of chlorine since the one that is basically used in Thailand will make your pool acidic and drives up the cyanuric acid level.

 

 

Edited July 23, 2019 by zappalot

[alacrity]

Green = high alkalinity (sometimes combined with low chlorine). Adding hydrochloric acid will resolve the green issue. 

After that get a full water test by a professional (if you don't just call a professional initially).

The test kits highlighted by others are for routine maintenance purposes only. There's a host of other things to check. 

[JohnnyTwoDog]

Getting a test kit for Chlorine and PH is a good start. Those tests won’t give you a clue about more complex problems though.

 

Green pools are almost always from either algae or dissolved metals such as copper.

 

Algae can be controlled by sanitation with chlorine and algicides. If there are other problems with the pool Chemistry sanitation will have a limited effect.

 

for example if phosphates or nitrates are high much more chlorine and algicides are needed and that gets costly.

 

Nitrates and phosphates are a byproduct of organic material in the pool and human waste, sweat etc. phosphates can easily be reduced with chemicals. When nitrates are high the only solution is to drain and refill the pool. 

 

A chlorine and ph test kit is cheap. Test kits for Nitrates, phosphates and metals are pricy upwards of $100 US dollars.

 

Copper and other metals can be reduced with chemicals. There are specific commercial products for this purpose.

 

low amounts of Copper will actually help keep algae in Check without turning the pool green. I use a product called Pristine Blue which is copper based. Chlorine is still needed for sanitation. The company recommends sanitizing with a chlorine shock every two weeks. I sanitize my single family residential pool least once a week. And More often when the grandkids use it.

 

i just started getting frequent algae. I tested for phosphates and nitrates. Nitrates were close to zero but phosphates were moderately high. I used a popular phosphate reducer and have a nice clean pool again.

 

Algae is a slimy growth. If the pool does not have slippery growth the green problem is likely metals.

 

pools need to be tested weekly and treated as recommended by the tests. The cost to treat and maintain a single family pool is reasonable. A large condo pool could get expensive and may be why your management company is not more interested.

[zappalot]

4 hours ago, JohnnyTwoDog said:

Getting a test kit for Chlorine and PH is a good start. Those tests won’t give you a clue about more complex problems though.

 

pools need to be tested weekly and treated as recommended by the tests. The cost to treat and maintain a single family pool is reasonable. A large condo pool could get expensive and may be why your management company is not more interested.

 

How exactly do these cheap test kits testing total chlorine only (and pH) help? You have no clue about the free chlorine after using such a test kit. And only free chlorine keeps a swimming pool clean. So you need a test kit showing you how much free chlorine is there in the water.

 

Why would it get expensive to treat a swimming pool in the right way? There are different chlorines in the market so you can buy the one rising pH and another one lowering pH. That way you almost do not need any other chemicals. 

[zappalot]

8 hours ago, JohnnyTwoDog said:

The company recommends sanitizing with a chlorine shock every two weeks.

 

Be aware of this company. On which grounds would you shock your pool every two weeks if there is no problem???

And what is shocking? How do you know you probably shock your pool? In order to properly shock your swimming pool you need to know your cyanuric acid level. You need to bring your free chlorine level to about 40% of the cyanuric acid level in order to shock Your swimming pool properly.

 

The higher the cyanuric acid level ( ideal range is between 30 and 50) the more difficult it is for free chlorine to keep the pool free from algae or bacteria.

 

If anyone tells you that he knows a thing about swimming pools just ask the following question: "what is cyanuric acid and how do you control it?" If they have no clue ( And I say a 97% of management companies who want to manage swimming pools or swimming pool companies don't know what that is). Send them home, do not listen to their advice.

[alacrity]

On 6/20/2019 at 8:47 PM, observer90210 said:

I think I have found the solution that is not chemical !!.....a martian is peeing every night in that pool !!

It's green not red. Or, are you referring to the Thai stop light "dark green"color?

Edited July 27, 2019 by alacrity
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