It happens every year pretty much around this time when the weather gets warmer. With spring temperatures in full effect in the Las Vegas area, it is important to know that algae love warm water and if your chemistry is off it won’t take very long for your blue pool to turn green. When dealing with large bodies of water like swimming pools, having adequate amounts of sanitation is vital to prevent algae growth, but there are many other factors involved too! We hope this blog post gives you some insights on how to prevent this from happening because depending on what type of filtration you have, it can take a long time to turn it around. For example, sand filters will take the longest out of the three types of filters to clear up an algae-filled swimming pool. For more information on the different types of filters, CLICK HERE!

The bottom line is, most green pools have a direct correlation with lack of sanitation and or poor filtration. When temperatures warm up, you should have a minimum of 3 parts per million (ppm) of chlorine and typically most pools should be filtered for a minimum of 10-12 hours depending on their size. If these things are occurring, you might need to check to see if your filter is functioning properly. Other factors could be high cyanuric acid (CYA) levels. CYA helps reduce chlorine loss by protecting the free chlorine in the pool from the sun’s ultraviolet rays, reducing the amount of chlorine needed to maintain proper sanitizer levels. When these levels get too high, it lessens the effectiveness of chlorine to act as a disinfectant.  Higher levels will bind with the chlorine, making it slower acting to kill bacteria and microorganisms, and prevent algae from growing! High calcium levels in swimming pools can also impede the effectiveness of chlorine as well. When this happens, a water change is mandatory. One other thing to keep in mind especially around this time of year is the wind and pollen. The wind can cause increase vegetation, soils, and leaves in the pool. When this happens if they aren’t removed in a timely manner it can increase the phosphate level in your pool. Checking your skimmer baskets regularly will also help prevent flow issues into your filter due to increase in debris.

Swimming pool maintenance requires work. Maintaining proper chemistry, a pool free of debris and adequate filtration times are all extremely important steps to maintain clear water. Hiring a professional like Clark County Pool & Lawn will also help to alleviate any stress with taking care of a swimming pool but also changing out the water in your swimming pool every couple of years to keep calcium hardness, total dissolved solids and cyanuric acid levels within normal levels can make your life easier too.

Our Mobile Filtration/Puripool Process trailer can lower calcium hardness, total dissolved solids, CYA, phosphates, salts, waterborne diseases and other factors that could be causing issues with the chemistry in your swimming pool. It is designed to filter swimming pool water using Reverse Osmosis (RO) filtration to remove impurities in the water. Although RO isn’t intended to work on green pools, depending on the severity it has been done from time to time.

If you should have any questions heading into this swim season, call us today!