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No flow - green algae - what to do?

15 years ago

My skimmer baskets were full of frogs for two days and I didn't know it. They were cutting off the flow of water, and the pool wasn't filtering. I've gotten them out, but the water is now very green and cloudy (you can't see the bottom). It's amazing how quickly it happened. I'm not sure how to remedy this. It's a salt water pool. Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you,

Jason

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Comments (9)

barco
15 years ago
Not to make light of your situation...but thats funny. How many frogs did you have for goodness sakes...lol

You need to post your pool test numbers. Most likely your chlorine is low relative to your CYA numbers...and I'm betting your pH is also high. Those are guesses really though. You need to go and buy a good Test Kit and do all the basic tests of your pool and post the numbers/results you get for each test.

However, you probably will need to buy some Muriatic acid and some liquid chlorine or Plain chlorine bleach to fight your problem.

Also, how many gallons of water does your pool hold?
repair_guy
15 years ago
I'm guessing a blast of chlorine, a clean filter and a lengthy run time is your first stop. Don't need a test kit to tell you you have no chlorine in that pool. Once you can see the bottom, start testing to dial it in.
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barco
15 years ago
Yeh but if your pH is 8.5 and your CYA is at 200, you'd be wasting time and your money on Chlorine without a test kit.
Wet_Puppy
Original Author
15 years ago
I ended up putting it on "super chlorinate" (didn't know there was such a setting) and letting it run all night. It's clearing up, but I'm guessing I need to add chlorine. I wasn't sure if you could do that to a salt water pool, but I read some of the other messages and see that you can.

I'm not sure how many frog there were. Twenty maybe? Enough to totally stop the flow, it seems. Here's what it looked like. It was pretty gross.

{{!gwi}}
{{!gwi}}
tresw
15 years ago
Those pictures are hilarious!! Those are toads, normally they don't like bodies of water. They must have been drawn to your pool by insects. I'm surprised so many of them survived, they can't stay underwater long like frogs can.

Quote: "Yeh but if your pH is 8.5 and your CYA is at 200, you'd be wasting time and your money on Chlorine without a test kit."

High CYA is unlikely with an SWG pool though since CYA is added manually. But it's a valid point that the water needs to be tested to see where things are.

Quote: "I ended up putting it on "super chlorinate" (didn't know there was such a setting) and letting it run all night. It's clearing up, but I'm guessing I need to add chlorine. I wasn't sure if you could do that to a salt water pool, but I read some of the other messages and see that you can."

Yeah, it's no problem adding chlorine. Usually it's more effective than super chlorinating with the SWG because the SWG generates a low amount of chlorine over a period of time and shock gets it all in there right away.
Wet_Puppy
Original Author
15 years ago
They actually went to the water to lay eggs. I heard them croaking that night, and I saw the eggs all over the pool the next morning. At first I thought the eggs themselves did something to the pool chemistry.

The few that remained alive were only able to do so because the layer of bodies underneath them was so thick that their heads were above the surface. LOL. I shouldn't laugh over the poor tragic deaths of the little creatures, but it's a weird way to go.

So I guess I need to take my water to be tested before I do anything else.

Who says owning a pool doesn't add spice to your life? ;)
barco
15 years ago
OMG, a frog orgy.

I feel for the person that had to reach down and pull that out....lol

I guess you will be having frog legs for dinner for weeks now. ;)
Wet_Puppy
Original Author
15 years ago
That person would be ME. LOL. I used a crow bar to grab the basket's handle. I wasn't about to pull it out by hand. Bad enough I had to put dead, bloated frogs/toads in the garbage. :P
tresw
15 years ago
Aaaaah, the eggs do make sense, I had forgotten they lay their eggs in water. I'm curious where you live? I grew up in Houston and I have never seen so many toads as I saw growing up there. I remember one freak year there were literally thousands of tiny ones (maybe 1/2" long) hopping down the street in the gutter. We lived on a cul-de-sac and strangely they were all going counterclockwise up one side of the street, around the cul-de-sac and right down the other side of the street in the same direction they came from! Not the brightest of creatures!

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