Green or cloudy pool water after rain: what to do, and how to look after a villa pool through Saigon's rainy season

Rainwater and fallen leaves both alter the quality of pool water, and a single storm brings rain, plant debris and grit in at once. The rainy season here usually lasts from about May to November and arrives as heavy afternoon downpours with thunder and strong gusts. Whatever is not lifted off the surface sinks and breaks down on the floor.

The signs that a pool needs attention are cloudy or greenish water and walls that feel slimy. In a tiled pool, the grout lines are where algae and scale cling most easily, and in water left to stand, algae can build into patches that are hard to shift.

Make the area safe, get the debris out before more of it sinks, and only then judge the water. When a storm is forecast, clear the drain pits, make sure the pool's overflow outlet is free, and bring light furniture and parasols indoors.

• Look over the grounds from a distance first. A large broken branch caught high in a tree is a job for someone with the right equipment, and a large tree that has suddenly started to lean needs a specialist's assessment.
• Glance into the plant room, where the pump and filter are housed. If water is leaking, the room is unusually damp, the pump sounds wrong or the pool lights flicker, leave the electrics alone and call the equipment technician. UpClean's specialists follow the same rule.
• Net leaves, flowers and insects off the surface while they still float, then clear the skimmer basket.
• Sweep leaves off the deck and out of the drainage channels round the pool.
• Watch the colour through the day. If you have a test kit, measure pH and chlorine and write the readings down.
• Keep products in the cupboard until a reading shows they are needed.
• If the water is still cloudy once the debris is out, ask for an inspection early.

Garden care in Saigon's rainy season

Pruning, drainage and checks after heavy rain.

Aim for the range recommended by the manufacturer of the product used in your pool. This guide sets no figure of its own, because the range belongs to the product in use; UpClean's specialists work to it too, and UpClean does not certify advanced water-quality parameters for a home pool.

Test two values with a kit, pH and residual chlorine, following the instructions supplied with it, and keep a written record. Readings logged over the weeks show whether the water is drifting, which is why UpClean includes them in its Up Report, the photo and checklist record sent after each visit.

Add a product only after a test shows it is needed. The amount depends on the actual reading and on the volume of water, so the label, not habit, sets the dose.

• Use only products approved for use in Vietnam, and read the label before opening.
• Never mix different products with one another.
• Keep small children and pets out of the pool and away from the area while products go in and disperse.
• Store products somewhere dry, cool and ventilated, out of children's reach, with lids closed tightly.
• If nothing was added, the pool can be used once the water has settled clear. If a product went in, wait for the time on its label; after an UpClean visit, the specialist tells you that time at handover.

It depends on where the pool sits, the trees around it, how much the family swims and the time of year. The table is a starting point; a schedule for a particular pool is proposed after a survey.

A few habits between visits keep the water steadier and leave less to do at each clean. The advice is general; for your particular filtration system, also read the installer's operating instructions.

• Net off fallen leaves and flowers every day, before they sink.
• Ask everyone to shower before swimming. Sunscreen, cosmetics and sweat leave marks along the waterline.
• If the pool has a suitable cover, use it during long absences and in weeks when nobody swims.
• After heavy rain, check the cover. Rain lying on it is standing water, which health authorities ask households to clear at least weekly: the Aedes mosquito that carries dengue lays its eggs in water like this.
• Keep visits going while you travel. You need not be home: a key can stay with the compound guard, building management or family, and only the assigned specialist handles it.
• Book a thorough clean for the days before you return.

Mosquitoes at home in Ho Chi Minh City

The weekly standing-water round for house and garden.

Identify the lining first: it decides the brush, the descaling method and which solutions must not touch it. White scale and greasy sunscreen marks collect at the waterline, the band where the water surface meets the wall. Most of them improve clearly with a solution suited to the tile or stone; deposits that have built up for a long time may only fade, so a specialist tries a small area first and tells you what to expect.

Whenever the fault lies in the equipment. UpClean does not repair or replace pumps, filters, valves, lights or pool electrics. Its specialists empty the skimmer and pump baskets and read the filter's pressure gauge; anything abnormal is photographed and written into the Up Report for you to pass on.

When the gauge shows high pressure, the filter may need backwashing, that is, flushing it by running the water through in reverse. An UpClean specialist does this only where the system has clear operating instructions and you agree. These signs go to your pool technician or builder instead:

• A pump that makes an unusual noise.
• Water leaking in the plant room, or a room that stays unusually damp.
• Pool lights that flicker.
• Peeling on a painted lining, which belongs with the contractor who built the pool.

A one-off clean of a pool with a water surface of up to 40 m² is 1,500,000 VND, all-inclusive. Larger pools, unusual conditions and regular plans are quoted after a free survey, on site or from photos and video. Treatment products are charged for the quantity used and agreed with you before they go in, and the written quote does not change unless you approve it in writing. Draining is usually unnecessary: brushing and vacuuming are done with the pool full.

The specialist records the water, walls and waterline, then works from the top down: floating debris, then walls and waterline, then the floor, vacuumed through your existing filtration once the brushed-off dirt has settled. Baskets are emptied, the gauge read, pH and chlorine tested, and products added only if a reading calls for them. You are told when the pool can be used, and the Up Report arrives by WhatsApp or Zalo. The pool can share one quote with a villa deep clean, stone polishing or window cleaning.

To book, phone or message 0968 726 135 on WhatsApp or Zalo, 7:00 AM to 8:00 PM daily. Quotes and the Up Report can be in English, and if you want an English-speaking specialist at the house, ask when booking; if that cannot be arranged, you are told beforehand. You receive your identity-verified specialist's name and photo before each visit, which a compound may need to register outside staff. Payment follows the walk-through, and any agreed item that falls short is redone free within 48 hours under the default Warranty Policy. The service covers private pools in villas and townhouses, regularly in Thao Dien, Sala, Thu Thiem, Phu My Hung and Nha Be.

Pool cleaning

What a visit covers and the areas served.

Villa cleaning

A floor-by-floor deep clean that can include the pool.

Stone floor polishing

For a pool deck or stairs that have lost their shine.

Marble, granite and acid

Telling the stones apart, and what acid does to each.

Book a visit

Choose a day for the clean or the survey.