We're Greening, But Not Green

@porwest (102970)
United States
July 9, 2025 7:11pm CST
This is where it gets fun when you own a pool of any kind. Inground. Above ground. It really doesn't matter. Once you start turning green, the fight is on. We started to get a little algae on the bottom and of course the outlet hose went kaput. So, I replaced that today. I vacuumed a little bit and gently brushed the bottom. I unplugged the vacuum and added a gallon of shock and some stabilizer. Now it's just a matter of getting all the chemicals in balance. Chlorine was a bit low, and we need enough of that to help kill the algae. There's two tablets in the pump and that gallon of shock. So, that should help to lift the chlorine levels. The stabilizer helps to maintain the chlorine. We're running the pump a bit to let the chemicals disperse and run through the filter and later on might add just a little bit of algaecide. We're slightly green, which means we're not totally green, so we should be able to chemical ourselves out of this before we have a major problem. I swear, when you have a pool you have to be part scientist to keep things right. But we've been doing this long enough we mostly know what we're doing. I will keep you posted. Do you own a pool? Any suggestions?
9 people like this
10 responses
20h
I don't have a pool
1 person likes this
@porwest (102970)
• United States
6h
In that case, yours can never go green.
1 person likes this
@porwest (102970)
• United States
6m
@Ineeddentures Probably helped to boost the PH a little bit. lol
1 person likes this
6h
@porwest I have seen the problems people here have had with green slime and other stuff
1 person likes this
• United States
20h
The one time I had a house in a neighborhood with a community pool I worked 80 hours a week and weekends and never got to use it. Boy would I like access to a pool now to do water aerobics.
1 person likes this
@porwest (102970)
• United States
8h
The nice thing about a community pool would be that I wouldn't have to maintain it. But the tradeoff would be my privacy.
1 person likes this
@kareng (77271)
• United States
5h
We don't. Too many trees and covering and uncovering would be a pain in the rear. One of my daughters does and they are always having to adjust the chemicals. It has its pro's and con's.
1 person likes this
@porwest (102970)
• United States
Just now
Oh, I could definitely understand that. Luckily most of our leaf issues happen in the front, and as you can see from the picture, there are lots of trees around us in our neighboring yards, but they tend not to pose an issue in ours. In the fall I don't ever have to go in the back to deal with any leaves. But in the front, I'm constantly mulching them until the end of the season before I overseed.
@cherigucchi (15236)
• Philippines
12h
I would love to have that at my place!
1 person likes this
@porwest (102970)
• United States
8h
It can be a lot of fun and very refreshing on a hot summer day, but also a lot of work. lol
@LadyDuck (478541)
• Italy
13h
It was a pain even with our external hot tub. I am allergic to chlorine, so we found a different chemical and it was expensive. No more hot tub and no more pond!
1 person likes this
@LadyDuck (478541)
• Italy
5h
@porwest We also used bromine in the hot tub. In the pond I tried almost everything, but it always turned green after a few days.
@porwest (102970)
• United States
10h
We had a hot tub in our house when we lived in West Allis and used bromine in it.
1 person likes this
• United States
20h
I gave up ten years ago. Best bet is to keep flushing that filter and letting the high chlorine content do it's job. Stir up the water every so often. It'll clear up. You know the drill, lol. The last year I had an above ground pool here, I was planning on replacing the liner. More than a foot and a half of water would just leak out. I left it over the winter. When spring came it was apparent that frogs had visited and there were tadpoles all over. I let it be for the year and had frogs everywhere. Go to turn on the hose? Frogs. Jump on the trampoline? Frogs. Use the grill? Frogs. I never did buy that new liner. We had frogs for the next two years.
1 person likes this
@porwest (102970)
• United States
Just now
Yep. Chlorine and stabilizer really are the keys here. Helps a bunch. I just checked the chemicals and the chlorine levels are still a bit low so I added another tablet in, will do some more vacuuming, and maybe add a bit more shock. So far I haven't put in any algaecide since it can be tricky. Not enough or too much and you're still going green, so I am trying to get the chlorine to do most of the work to kill it before pouring any in there. Fingers crossed I am successful. lol But funny you mention about frogs. We do have a lot of frogs around here, but not in great number as you described. Every start of the season when we reopen the pool there are tadpoles in it. Unfortunately, they never live long enough to become frogs. They are (somewhat sadly) killed by our initial chemical blast. I have tried to put signs around the pool that say, "Not safe for laying eggs here," but apparently frogs can't read.
1 person likes this
• United States
Just now
@porwest Hahahah Or you can't write in frog, lol.
• Philippines
15h
Nope, I don't own a pool. I think there will be a lot of cleaning to do. Do you change the water every day?
1 person likes this
@porwest (102970)
• United States
10h
Oh heaven's no. Once you put the water in a pool it stays there, and then you use a variety of chemicals to keep it clean and balanced.
@JudyEv (357978)
• Rockingham, Australia
18h
We used to have a pool and mostly managed to keep the water as it was supposed to be. But I never had much to do with it so don't have any tips.
1 person likes this
@porwest (102970)
• United States
8h
The only pain in the neck is that when it starts to go bad, it goes bad quickly, and then it's a mad race to try to stave it off and get it back. lol
1 person likes this
@lovebuglena (47181)
• Staten Island, New York
Just now
I’m glad I don’t have a pool. Less to deal with. Besides I don’t like swimming in the pool. I prefer the lake or some other body of water. Sorry I cannot be of help to you.
@LindaOHio (194038)
• United States
14h
No pool here. Hubby always talked about one; but he never would have kept up with keeping it clean.
1 person likes this
@porwest (102970)
• United States
8h
Yeah, you really do have to keep up with it. One wrong move and you're spending days trying to get things back on track.