Algee under stairs

[RickJoan]

Above ground round 28' Doughboy. Opened up the pool this spring, cleaned things up, got the levels where they should be and it was ok for a week or so then water got cloudy. Could not get ahead of it as algee kept appearing on the sides and a little on the bottom. Had water tested and we needed to add shock and 17 lbs alkalinity plus. It was ok for a while then went bad again quickly. Decided to check behind and inside stair cavity. Bingo, algee city.
Moved stairs out and below them was a ton of algee as well as rock bags and inside stair cavity.
We did not take the stairs out this winter, and every two weeks I scooped leaves and dumped in two bags of shock then swept the bottom to assure shock desolved.
How does one keep the algee from building up under and inside stairs?

Rick

 

[Richard320]

Woodyp says:

I have wedding cake steps that look like the sides have been attacked by crazed woodpeckers in heat from drilling some "extra" circulation holes in them.

http://www.troublefreepool.com/algae-i-think-growing-inside-pool-ladder-steps-t60073.html

 

[RickJoan]

Yes, they are wedding cake style. Great idea. I have a buddy who installed an additional jet to improve circulation. The extra holes sounds like an easier solution since I just took them out tonite to clean them up.

 

[Bama Rambler]

Re: Algae under stairs

I gather from your post that you don't have your own good test kit. I suggest you read here and learn how to test to make sure there's nothing hiding in your pool water. An also get a good test kit. 17 lbs of alkalinity plus (baking soda) is a lot for that size pool. It would have raised your TA by 90 ppm! What was your TA before adding it?

 

[RickJoan]

Yes, we have a test kit as well as test strips. As I mentioned, when I took a sample of our water to our pool professional, we put in exactly what he recommended, which included 17 lbs of alk. plus.