Become a Pro on How to Clean a Green Swimming Pool

how to clean a green swimming pool

Knowing how to clean a green swimming pool can be the difference in enjoying the most out of your house year-round. As soon as the weather turns warmer, there is nothing better than going for a swim. 

Yet, if your pool hasn’t been maintained throughout the year, you will walk outside and find various shades of green where your sparkling pool had once been. In Cyprus, the climate is pool-approved most of the year, and pool owners will want to have their pool ready to use for those golden sunny days!

Property Experts Cyprus walks you through how to clean a green swimming pool and then maintain it throughout the year to keep your property sparkling!

What’s All the Fuss about Algae?

The first step to understanding how to clean a green swimming pool is to know what exactly is swimming around in your pool in the first place. The green color of the water comes from algae. Any pool left without care for 2 to 3 weeks will turn green. In stormy weather, this can happen in only 24 hours.

Algae find swimming pool water chemistry the perfect growing habit. A combination of warm weather, poor circulation, and carbon dioxide or nitrates turn swimming pools from luxury home additions to green ponds in no time.

Algae spores arrive through wind or attachment onto bathing suits, which means that every time a pool is used, algae growth chances are higher. Even when not in use, wind and other floating debris make attempts at avoiding algae spores getting into the water impossible.

The good news is that the algae in your pool are not harmful to humans. However, it looks unpleasant, devalues your property value, and can be costly in time and money to repair algae damage.

More importantly, algae are not the only contaminant in the water. E. Coli and other bacteria grow alongside algae. Sunny days are even worse for the water chemistry as cleaners such as liquid chlorine dissipate in direct sun, speeding up the breeding process. These bacteria can get into microscopic cuts or entranceways on our bodies, such as the ears, and lead to serious infections for swimmers.

For pool owners, learn how to clean a green swimming pool and then use the same techniques for pool maintenance to keep it looking great and be safe for swimmers.

How to Clean a Green Swimming Pool So It Works Properly

Being the envy of the neighborhood with the best swimming pool on the block comes with the knowledge on how to clean a green swimming pool in one day and easy 10-minute daily pool maintenance habits. Follow these straightforward steps for a pool as blue and clear as the Mediterranean waters surrounding Cyprus.

Clear, Clean, or Restart?

You might be wondering how to clean a green swimming pool with the least amount of cost and debating if the job can be done by simply cleaning or a complete reset of the pool. Most often, if the pool is green enough to prevent you from seeing a submerged hand in the water, it is recommended to simply start over. Of course, water costs are an important factor, but clean supplies and treatments will add up and may not solve the problem entirely.

Purchase a test kit at your local pool store and take a water sample. Check the chlorine levels and the amount of cyanuric acid, a stabilizer used to slow the process of chlorine evaporation, which itself remains long after the chlorine is gone and prohibits additional chlorine from sanitizing the pool water. In this case, 80% of the green pool water is still going to need to be pumped out.

One Day to a Sparkling Pool

There are only a few simple steps on how to clean a green swimming pool and the result can be seen in as little as 24 hours.

  1. Using a net, remove any visible debris within the pool.
  2. Clear out skimmers and replace them with new netting.
  3. Clean the pool liners by brushing the pool floor and walls to remove the algae growth from the sides.
  4. Clean the built-in pump filter and backwash the sand filter.
  5. Use a test kit to determine if the pH level of the water is correct, adjusting the pH before proceeding with adding the pool chemicals.
  6. Add in liquid chlorine per instructions on the product adjusted for your pool size, shocking the pool.
  7. Leave flocculant in a skimmer basket to help bind smaller particles together into larger, more easily trapped ones to be removed later.
  8. After 12 hours have elapsed, backwash the sand filter another time and take out clogged skimmer nets, replacing them with new ones.
  9. Allow the pool filter system to work for 24 hours and then remove any remaining dead algae collected at the bottom of the pool.
  10. Enjoy a crystal clear turquoise blue swimming pool!

Are there more tips?

Backwashing a Sand Filter

Being prepared on how to clean a green swimming pool means also being ready to understand the sand filter system and how to backwash it.

The process is extremely easy and most have a simple dial to adjust water flow direction.

  1. Turn off the pump completely.
  2. Switch or adjust the dial of the system to backwash. Close the valve and the water will go back to the pool.
  3. Open the other value that allows the water to be emptied through the sand filter and turn on the pump. The reverse water flow will clean the dirt in the sand and drain it out without going into the pool. Do this for several minutes to completely clean the sand filter and ensure the exiting water is clear, otherwise, this dirty water will return to the pool when restarted.
  4. Turn off the pump. Switch the dial back to the normal settings.
  5. Close the valve for water exit and open the value again for water flow into the pool
  6. Start the pump again.

Maintaining Your Pool

Once you have completed the steps on how to clean a green swimming pool, the rest is left to pool maintenance. Good daily habits prevent you from having to clear a green pool in the future, meaning you can have crystal blue water the entire year. In Cyprus, the Mediterranean climate is perfect for relaxing outside by the pool most of the year.

Spend 10 minutes a day removing debris, sweeping the sides and pool floor, and checking for algae growth. Then test chlorine levels and pH levels and make appropriate adjustments. Finally, check on the skimmer nets and consider backwashing the sand filter if the water seems a bit cloudy.

The Takeaway

For more advice on how to clean a green swimming pool or to find your perfect poolside property in Cyprus, contact the professional licensed real estate agents at Property Experts Cyprus. Having a home with a sparkling pool is one of the best ways to enjoy the sunny island of Cyprus.