Cloudy Pool Water With Algae And Phosphates

by Joanna
(SW Ontario Canada)

Our winter cover broke this year and our water was greeny/brown. I used the usual opening kit and the water went cloudy.

It has been cloudy ever since (mid May). I have had the water tested on several occassions. I use Bromine and it is at a good level. pH and alkalinity are at the bottom of acceptable and calcium is okay.

My phosphates were at 2500 so I used a reducer which brought it down to 1000. I've had two suggestions to get rid of the cloudiness.

1. Add a 'commercial grade' phosphate remover and if it doesn't clear it use a clarifier

2. Another pool place tested for algae and said we needed to treat this to clear the water.

I have no visible algae but when I add the weekly does of algecide it turns the water cloudier. My pool is above ground, 40K litres.

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Thanks for the question Joanna

It would be great to have your exact chemical readings. And be sure you're using a quality pool test kit. I've always used and recommend a Taylor FAS-DPD K-2006 test kit.

Green pool water is normally a sign of lack of a sanitizer. Honestly, a bromine is normally reserved for either hot tubs or indoor pools.

The pool is exposed to sunlight and the bromine gets degraded. Not as fast as chlorine without CYA, but faster than chlorine with CYA. The bromine gets converted to bromide, the bromide can get back to bromine by adding a chlorine shock. You can add a non-chlorine shock, potassium monopersulfate, or a regular chlorine shock.

In my opinion a bromine pool is a bit more expensive to maintain than a regular chlorine pool and degrades faster because there is no stabilizer (CYA) in the pool. You would still need to shock to

reactivate the bromine.

It's my understanding that pool water cannot be shocked with bromine. A non-chlorine shock is needed to kill extra bacteria.

It's basically this; phosphates are food for algae, but a properly maintained pool with a sanitizer level between 1.5 - 3.5ppm will kill the algae. 4-6 ppm for a bromine level.

If there's no algae, and phosphates are safe to swim in, what does it matter what the phosphate level is? I saved the YMCA nearly $5000 in the first year I was there because they we going through about 3 bottles of phosphate remover per week.

Each bottle was $32. I said it's a waste of money and time and ended it. Algaecides are used for preventative maintenance only. It can't get rid of nor kill algae. What kind of algaecide was used and did it have any metals in it? Many times copper is used.

If you're going to use an algaecide, get one that is a PolyQuat 60. This contains no metals and is safe for vinyl liners. You may not have a vinyl liner but other visitors that see this post may. There could be many reasons why your water is cloudy.

In general, a good shock and filtering 24/7 is the first step in clearing up cloudy water. You're probably going to get mixed opinions about what to do from me and your local pool store.

While I can't speak for them, I can say that I've personally cleared up hundreds of pools in Arizona, installed and cleaned dozens of filtration systems, and vacuumed for literally thousands of hours when it was 110 degrees. And I've been the pool operator for our YMCA salt pool (80,000 gallons) for the last 3 years.


Hope this helps and have a fun and safe swimming season.

Robert