To eliminate algae for good in your swimming pool you'll need to vacuum & brush your pool, test & balance the water, utilize a chlorine shock treatment, allow your water to circulate and filter, and clean your filters until your back to crystal clear water.

Start by vacuuming your pool manually. If you have a sand filter vacuum your pool to waste. This will prevent any algae from by-passing your filter and recirculating the contaminated water back into the pool. If you have a cartridge filter and don't have the ability to vacuum to waste vacuum your pool as you normally would and clean the filters as needed. Do as thorough of a job as you possibly can vacuuming to help prevent further algae growth.

Robotic or automatic pool vacuums are not recommended for algae clean-ups.

Brush the remaining algae off the pool walls and floor this allows the chlorine to come into contact with all the remaining algae which will drastically help in killing it off. It also disturbs and loosens debris along with the algae so it can be caught by your filter. Do your best to get into all the nooks and cranny's of your pool including corners, ladders, steps and any other areas where algae may be hiding. The better job you do with brushing the faster your algae problems will be solved.

Testing & balancing your pool water is critical to eliminating algae and ensuring your sanitizer (chlorine) will be effective when we add it in the next step.

Use test strips, or a liquid test kit, or take a water sample to a pool store to test your PH, Alkalinity & CYA levels. After you have your results treat your water with the appropriate PH and alkalinity control products and stabilizer for your CYA levels following the manufacturers instructions on the packages.

Use a chlorine based pool shock to quickly raise the chlorine level in your swimming pool. This is also known as super chlorinating your pool. These high levels of chlorine will kill the algae fast and effectively.

We recommend using Calcium-Hypochlorite Shock (Cal-Hypo)

To determine the correct dosage follow the instructions provided on the chlorine package. Chlorine is used up FAST when killing algae so you'll your going to double, triple, or maybe even quadruple the dosage of chlorine depending on the severity of your pools algae problem.

If your pool water color is

• Light green - Double the dose of shock
• Dark Green - Triple the dose
• Black - Quadruple the dose

For example if you have algae that is dark green in colour and the package of pool shock your adding recommends adding 1-full pouch of pool shock to get your pools chlorine level between 1-3 ppm your going to triple your dose as recommended above for dark green algae and add three full pouches instead of one.

*Always pre-dilute your chlorine shock in a pail of water before adding it to the pool*

Now that you've gotten through most of the dirty work it's time to let the chlorine do it's job and kill off the algae. Keep your pump running for a minimum of 8-10 hours to help circulate and filter out the dead algae particles.

After a minimum of 8-10 hours your pool water should loose it's algae colour and turn cloudy from all the dead algae particles floating in your pool. Don't worry cloudy is good at this point.

If your pool is still green jump back to step 1 and start the process again. Keep your chlorine levels high until the algae is gone.

Now that you've killed off your pools algae problem it's time to get things back in check. Test your Chlorine, PH, Alkalinity, & CYA levels and ensure they are within the appropriate ranges.

If your chlorine level is still on the high side that's no problem. Keep your pool cover off until the level returns to the 1-3ppm range.

You may also want to add a clarifier to help clear up your cloudy pool water faster.

You've almost made it! The last step is to make sure your filter is clean and able to filter any remaining dead algae and assist in clearing up your cloudy pool water.

If you have a sand or D.E. filter thoroughly backwash until the water runs clear.

If you have a Cartridge filter remove the cartridge elements and soak them in a filter cleaner or diluted muriatic acid and spray them clean. You may also want to consider replacing the filter elements.

1) Keep your chlorine levels high until your pool is back to a clear & clean state. The chlorine shock you've added to your pool will disappear fast when your fighting algae. Keep your chlorine level above 5 ppm until your pool is back to normal.

2) Ensure cyanuric acid levels are between 30-50 ppm. CYA levels that exceed 50 ppm can reduce the effectiveness of chlorine and increases the amount of time it takes for chlorine to kill bacteria. If your CYA levels are above 50 ppm you'll need to drain some water out of your pool and add fresh water to bring your CYA levels within the correct 30-50 ppm range.

3) Do Not Add High Doses Of Algaecide To Get Rid Of Algae.
Algaecides will kill algae but contains high levels of copper which can be detrimental to your pools surfaces. Algaecides are best used as a preventative measure or to treat the early stages of algae growth.

Chlorine sanitizes your pool water. Killing bacteria and algae spores before they have the chance to take hold in your pool. If your chlorine levels are too low or you have no chlorine in your pool at all you are very likely to experience algae growths.

Make sure you keep your chlorine levels between 2-4 ppm and test your water at least once a week.

Water circulation is very important in keeping your pool clean and clear, algae is much more likely to grow and thrive in still water. Although circulation is a very simple process it can be easy to overlook. Make sure your pool pump is running for an adequate amount of time everyday to keep your pool watered filtered and sanitized.

Having dirty pool filters will greatly increase your chances of experiencing algae growths by reducing your pools ability to clean contaminated water and preventing proper circulation.

If you have a sand filter make sure you regularly backwash your filter and replace the sand inside ever 3-5 years.

For cartridge filters make sure you clean your cartridges as needed or at least twice a year and replace the filter elements every 3-6 years.

Keeping your PH level between 7.2 & 7.8 Is vital in preventing algae growth. If your PH extends outside of this range you can reduce the effectiveness of your chlorine and inhibit its ability to kill algae. Algae growth flourishes in high PH pool water in the range of 8.2-8.7.

Test your pools water PH & Alkalinity levels a minimum of once a week or after rain and heavy swim use and treat your water accordingly.