Green Pool - How Long To Clear?

[tb0ne]

This is my first year with a inground pool. We bought the house this spring, the cover was still on and had ripped resulting in very dark green water. Once I finally got the filter/pump working the way it should, the water turned blue within a couple days. It's now been 5 days and the water is still blue but I cannot see the bottom. I've been running the filter non-stop, and shocking continuously to try and keep the free chlorine up. PH and alkalinity are at normal levels.

My question is, is this a normal time to clear up a pool? It does seem to be getter a little clearer every day, but with the quick turnaround from green to blue, I guess I expected the clearing process to be much quicker. I'm coming from the above ground world, so I'm used to opening the thing up and swimming in a few days.

Someone told me that I should shut off the filter for a while to let the sediment fall to the bottom and then vacuum. Someone else told me to use a floculant. I'm a little confused at this point, and don't want to waste the money if I'm just simply not being patient. If it's still not clear in a couple days, I guess I'll take a sample to the store and let them try to take my money.

[indyrt]

This is my first year with a inground pool. We bought the house this spring, the cover was still on and had ripped resulting in very dark green water. Once I finally got the filter/pump working the way it should, the water turned blue within a couple days. It's now been 5 days and the water is still blue but I cannot see the bottom. I've been running the filter non-stop, and shocking continuously to try and keep the free chlorine up. PH and alkalinity are at normal levels.

My question is, is this a normal time to clear up a pool? It does seem to be getter a little clearer every day, but with the quick turnaround from green to blue, I guess I expected the clearing process to be much quicker. I'm coming from the above ground world, so I'm used to opening the thing up and swimming in a few days.

Someone told me that I should shut off the filter for a while to let the sediment fall to the bottom and then vacuum. Someone else told me to use a floculant. I'm a little confused at this point, and don't want to waste the money if I'm just simply not being patient. If it's still not clear in a couple days, I guess I'll take a sample to the store and let them try to take my money.

[polyvue]

This is my first year with a inground pool. We bought the house this spring, the cover was still on and had ripped resulting in very dark green water. Once I finally got the filter/pump working the way it should, the water turned blue within a couple days. It's now been 5 days and the water is still blue but I cannot see the bottom. I've been running the filter non-stop, and shocking continuously to try and keep the free chlorine up. PH and alkalinity are at normal levels.

My question is, is this a normal time to clear up a pool? It does seem to be getter a little clearer every day, but with the quick turnaround from green to blue, I guess I expected the clearing process to be much quicker. I'm coming from the above ground world, so I'm used to opening the thing up and swimming in a few days.

Someone told me that I should shut off the filter for a while to let the sediment fall to the bottom and then vacuum. Someone else told me to use a floculant. I'm a little confused at this point, and don't want to waste the money if I'm just simply not being patient. If it's still not clear in a couple days, I guess I'll take a sample to the store and let them try to take my money.

Often the key to clearing a pool is having a sufficient amount of chlorine combined with nearly constant filtering. What are you using to shock the water? Though you're better off doing your own testing (recommended kit: Taylor K-2006) you could also have the pool store provide test results -- but best not to buy anything or put chems into the pool until you're able to diagnose the problem. If you've used chlorine compounds in the past the water may have a high level of cyanuric acid (CYA). The higher the CYA, the more chlorine you have to use to acheive good results. See the Best Guess CYA chart.

If you're fighting algae and don't raise the chlorine high enough (and keep it there) it will just keep coming back. For more specific advice, post back with specific test results.

pH

Free Chlorine (FC)

Combined Chlorine (CC)

Total Chlorine (TC)

Total Alkalinity (TA)

Calcium Hardness (CH)

Cyanuric Acid (CYA)