My pool is 14 years old. I adopted her just two years ago, so we are still getting to know one another. This past weekend she decided to revolt, as some teenagers do, and become resistant to my cleaning efforts. I noticed it was looking more green than blue, but couldn’t quite put my finger on it. I had never had this issue before, so it was baffling. I was doing everything the Pinch-A-Penny gang was telling me to do: weekly testing the water samples, adding all the chemicals as prescribed, so why was she not acting right? Upon sweeping the sides and bottom, I noticed a yellowish substance that seemed to look and act like dirt, but clearly I couldn’t have that much dirt in the pool in just a few days, as it is enclosed with a screen and we haven’t had a hurricane yet this season. Still not knowing why my pool water was cloudy, I tested the water again and P-A-P said to shock the pool. I did that but nothing really changed. I cleaned the filter, and it was gross with yellow residue. Initially I thought it was pollen, but we are in the middle of summer and all that needed to bloom was already bloomed, so that didn’t make sense with the volume of yellow I was seeing both in the pool and in the filter. I researched algae and found it must be yellow algae. I ran right back to the pool store better able to describe my problem, and they gave me a plan of action. Lots of chlorine, Yellow Out. Run the pool constantly and clean the filter daily. That worked like magic! I was so happy to wake up and see a beautiful blue pool again! I washed all the pool toys and equipment with a chlorine/bleach mix and machine-washed all of our swim suits.
Owning a pool is absolutely like having a teenager. She’s beautiful and fun, absolutely welcoming and refreshing when she’s healthy. But if she gets a chemical imbalance you just watch out! She will roll her eyes, hold her breath and turn green faster than you can say “What’s wrong? What did I do wrong?” Thank goodness for Google. And Pinch-A-Penny. I guess we both are learning how to get along with one another to stay healthy and mutually beneficial.