Hawaii is a tropical paradise. The samereasons we love Hawaii cause our pools tohave so many problems with algae. Wehave warm weather year round with lots ofsunshine and rain. A perfect place forgreen, yellow and black algae to make ahome.
Pool chemistry is all about removing dangerous organisms from ourwater. But the main reason we need to balance our Chemistry inHawaii is to prevent our crystal clear swimming holes from turninginto murky swamps.So, how do you get rid of algae? I would like to say “follow steps one,two, three, and then pau (done)” but I should say “call us and we willget rid of it for a small fee”. What I will tell you is that there are manydifferent functions that contribute to the growth of algae and I will tryto make it simple for you to treat your pool yourself without givingaway our trade secrets. Sorry.
Before we start treating the algae with chemicals, lets look at ourequipment. Make sure the pump is flowing, all the baskets andstrainers are clear. Make sure the filter is operating properly. If thepool already looks like a green lagoon maybe it is a good time tochange the water and just pump the oily goo out. Adjusting your pHwith algae attacks is hard as the chemicals you add will most likelychange the pH as well. pH is very important when fighting algae aschlorine does not work well in high pH pools. Call us with your difficultpH problems.

Yellow Algae: The easiest to treat. If you have yellowish or brownshadow like patches on your pool walls this is most likely yellow algae.To treat this you need to shock to 15-20 parts per million for smallattacks and add a cap full of yellow treat for three days straight. Alsodon’t forget to scrub and vacuum the pool as well.
Green Algae:This algae is more stubbornand needs careful attention. If the problem isbad you may just want to drain the pooldown. For moderate attacks you need toshock to 20-30 parts per million and treatwith algaecide. I like to set the filter cycle to24 hours so that the floating green stuff canget filtered out. This process may take threeto four days of backwashing scrubbing andvacuuming. If the algae is not dead by thenext day after the shock you may need toshock again. Most of the time you sill see thedead algae sink to the bottom in grayishgreen piles and this needs to be vacuumedout to waste. If you have a polaris or otherpool sweep you may want to turn it off andtake it out of the pool in order to let theheavy algae debris sink to the bottom forvacuuming. Call us for the best algaecide forgreen algae.

BlacK Algae:This is the hardest toget rid of. It will stain most whiteplaster. Shocking is advised but I liketo scrub it with a chlorine tab and addalgaecide and shock the pool as well.Call us for the best algaecide forblack algae.