Algae recovery and green pool cleanup
Green pool recovery
Almost always fixable. Almost never by draining it.
If your pool has gone green — after a winter, a vacation, a failed pump or a season of neglect — it can nearly always be brought back. We quote it before we start so you know what you’re committing to.
- Serving the area since 1995
- Licensed & insured
- No contract
- Typical timeline
- Three to seven days
- Draining
- Rarely necessary
- Quoted first
- Always, before any work
- Includes
- Chemistry, filter runs, vacuuming, follow-up visits
- Aftercare
- Weekly service optional, not required
Do not drain it
It is the first instinct and it is usually the wrong one. A drained pool is a pool you can damage. Vinyl liners shrink and wrinkle and often won’t reseat. Fiberglass shells can float out of the ground, especially at the lake where the water table sits high. Concrete and plaster can crack from the pressure change. And you still have to pay to refill it, which at lake rates is not trivial.
Green water is a chemistry and filtration problem, not a water-quality problem in the sense people mean. The water itself is fine. It has algae in it, and algae can be killed and filtered out. What it takes is the right chemistry in the right order, and then running the filter hard enough for long enough — which is the part people skip at home, because it means the pump runs for days and the filter needs cleaning repeatedly along the way.
The honest exception: a pool that’s been sitting for years, full of leaf mulch and standing organic matter, sometimes genuinely is cheaper to drain and pressure wash. We’ll tell you if yours is that pool. Most aren’t.
How long it takes
Most recoveries run three to seven days from the first visit. Light green with good circulation clears fast. Dark green with a dead pump takes longer, because the equipment has to be fixed before the chemistry can do anything. Black algae is its own fight and takes longer still — it roots into plaster and has to be brushed out physically, not just treated.
What it costs
It depends on volume, how far gone it is, and whether the equipment works. That’s why we look before quoting. What we won’t do is start work and hand you a growing bill — you get a number first.
Keeping it from happening again
Most green pools we see aren’t neglected, they’re unwatched. A pump lost prime, a filter clogged, a stabilizer level drifted, and nobody was standing there to notice. That’s the argument for weekly service, but we’ll do the recovery whether or not you want ongoing service afterward.
Assessment
We look at the pool and the equipment, then give you a number before anything starts.
Treatment
Chemistry in the right order, sustained filter runs, brushing and vacuuming across several visits.
Back on schedule
Balanced, clear and swimmable. Weekly service after is your call, not a condition.
Questions we get
Can my pool be saved?
Almost certainly. We very rarely see one that genuinely can't come back.
How long until I can swim?
Usually three to seven days. Dark green or a failed pump pushes it longer, because equipment has to be working before chemistry does anything.
Should I just drain it?
Usually no. Draining risks liner shrinkage, shell float and structural cracking, and you pay to refill. Green water is a filtration problem, not a reason to start over.
What does it cost?
It depends on size, severity and whether the equipment runs. We quote after looking, never before.
There's black spotting that won't brush off.
That's likely black algae, which roots into the surface and needs physical removal alongside treatment. It takes longer and we'll say so up front.
Do I have to sign up for weekly service?
No. We'll recover the pool either way. Weekly service is how you stop it recurring, but it isn't a condition of the work.
Get a quote this week
Tell us where the pool is and roughly what you're dealing with. We'll come look at it and give you a number, free.