How to Treat Cloudy Algae in a Pool
- 1). Check your pool's chlorine and pH readings. The free chlorine should be at least 5 PPM and the pH should be between 7.2 and 7.6. Add chlorine as necessary. Higher pH levels can reduce your chlorine's effectiveness in killing algae. Algae growth may be accelerating, therefore resulting in more dead cells as you treat it.
- 2). Test your water temperature. Higher-than-normal water temperatures also spur algae growth. Bring pool temperature to below 76 degrees.
- 3). Change your filter. When you add clarifier to your pool, it will bond to the dead cells and make them filterable.
- 4). Add approximately 1 gallon of liquid chlorine per 5,000 gallons of pool water to kill any new cells.
- 5). Add pool clarifier per package instructions.
- 6). Wait 24 hours, and check pool cloudiness. If there is significant improvement, repeat steps 3 and 4 daily until pool is completely clear. If there is no significant improvement, increase liquid chlorine and clarifier amounts by 25 percent and wait 24 hours until cloudiness starts to disappear.
