Clear green pool water: could it be "small cell algae"?

[ebatch24]

I have small cell algae in my pool. my pool was opened may 7th and is now a clear green color. i have a pool company and they have shocked it 3times now but it will not clear. my question is this, why cant they figure it out? i would think that an algaecide would do the trick, but i do not see that listed on the chemicals they are using. what should i do?

[PoolDoc]

"Small cell algae"??

That's a English phrase apparently used to translate Russian biological studies of Lake Baikal. To the extent that it's defined at all, it seems to refer to planktonic algae with a major axis less than 20 μm.

Did you, or your pool guys, take a sample, filter it to extract the algae, put the algae on a slide, and use a laboratory microscope to measure the cell size? If not, my guess is, that someone is trying lay some high-end bullsh## on you!

OK. Clear green can be algae but usually is not. So what do we know?

• Two common causes of CLEAR green water are dissolved iron and something weird with alkalinity, that I've never been able to quantify.
• Of course, there may be a cause I've NOT seen before.
• If your pool guy told you "small green algae" . . . and did not use a microscope . . . you know that they are ignorant, dishonest, or both. I'd bet on "ignorant".
• But as a rule, most pool guys -- even very honest, and relatively competent ones -- have very moderate intelligence and education, and limited ability to pierce the massive bullsh## spread out by the pool chemical companies.
• Good pool guys often understand very little, but have worked out some practical methods they use to get the job done. This often works.
• BUT . . . when something different happens (like clear green water) they are at a loss, unless they happen to have encountered the problem AND a solution before.
• On the other hand, many pool OWNERS are better equipped to educate themselves on the chemistry than most pool guys are.

You've got three options that I can see:

• Hire someone more knowledgeable and skilled (In late May? Lots of luck!)
• Let your pool guy keep struggling.
• Purchase a K2006 test kit and tackle the chemistry yourself.

If you can find an HTH 6-way kit at a nearby Walmart, that will get you started.

Once you have test results -- and you should test your FILL water, too -- post them.

Meanwhile, make SURE your chlorine stays above 2 ppm and your pH remains between 7.2 and 7.8.

Good luck!