SEPA - anyone else getting hammered by pollen?

[joseywales]

I'm on year 5 with my AGP. I never had to vacuum it for each use. Every day it seems the bottom of the pool has green. Some it is actually staining. I don't believe it to be algae and am performing a FC test tonight. I know my chlorine has dropped at times, due to sunlight and heat and I will monitor that better.

But what looks like dirt, possibly pollen, collect in any creases of the liner, etc. When I brush it, it just cloud puffs away. I use a skimmer sock in my setup and it's always green.

I have wedding cake steps. This year, I drill a couple 2" holes to allow better circulation, in hopes of keeping underneath them cleaner than last year. Last year, when I closed the pool, they were dirty, but not horrible. This year, after only a month of being open, underneath those steps is twice as bad as the entire summer was last year. I'm going to pull them and clean them. I'm thinking of making the holes big enough that I can sneak a vacuum hose in there, while they are in place. I guess it's possible debris cycles from in there, but honestly, I see the green debris mostly on one side of the pool, and the edges (where it might get washed off of my blanket and into the pool).

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[kimkats]

What are you using as weight in the stairs?

We gave up on our wedding cake stairs due to not being able to find a way to keep them clean inside. BUT we were using a bag of sand wrapped in plastic bags. That was WAY before we found TFP.

NOW we know we could have made PVC "weights". Oh well live and learn.

 

[joseywales]

I, too, was tempted by the PVC weights and still have the recipe.

Currently, I am using plastic, concrete filled, weight lifting weights. Got them at a thrift shop. They work pretty well and I don't think they are generating all of this green powder. Only one even seems a bit cracked. However....

I just finished a dive to do the following:

1 - disconnect the steps and vacuum inside them, along with vacuuming the weights. I have to say, they are dirtier now than they were and the end of last season and I never cleaned the steps or the weights during last season.

2 - My steps were laid down on a shower mat. This is plumber's vinyl, but the piece was larger than required and the vacuum would get stuck on it. I dove in with scissors and trimmed all the way around. At one point, my daughter was sitting on my back so I could stay down long enough to finish a cut.

I just added shock level chlorine and will perform an FC test overnight.