Moss on Waterfall

[Curtsam]

My pool is still not completed but hopefully will be on this month.

I promise I advanced search this question to make sure nobody else asked this silly question first.

Just wondering if my pool waterfall that is made from natural stone will get moss on it? If so, is this considered algae?

If it will not get moss from the pool water then can it get moss from the rain or water hose? If so do I need to remove it?

I appreciate any responses.

 

[Patrick_B]

Yes it would be Algae. It's possible, and likely if you don't maintain adequate Free Chlorine levels. If you see algae in your pool or waterfall, the reason is inadequate sanitation/Free Chlorine.

Yes, it can and will get from one place to the other. If you have it or get it, you have to kill it. This is the only way to "remove" it.

 

[Curtsam]

I now have water in the pool and everything is running and chemicals are in great shape. I am worried that the algae/moss on my waterfall rocks may drop down and contaminate my pool. The moss is NOT where the pool water goes down the fall.

QUESTION IS: I have natural stone rocks and was wondering what kind of dillusion ratio of bleach to water would be safe to kill and not hurt the rocks. I will also use wire brush and hose to knock it off.

Thanks in advance for any replies,

Sam

 

[SunnyOptimism]

We have a natural stone waterfall attached to our pool. The way it is designed is water falls from the top through a series of three small (<3gal) overflows before going into the main pool. Natural stone is very nice but YES it can definitely grow algae (no moss for me here in AZ....maybe lichen eventually).

I did once get a baby green monster develop in one of those overflows due to inadequate waterfall run times and low FC. So I programmed my waterfall to run several times per day at short intervals to ensure that it sees lots of chlorinated pool water.

To to clean the exterior stones, you can use 1:1 bleach and water, works great in my stones. Also, if you are worried about damaging/discoloring stones with bleach, you can use a pressure washer to wash stone work. Pressure washers are great for getting into all the nooks and cranies of natural stone. There are stone cleaner products out there in the hardware stores, but I'd be very wary to use any of them near my pool. Diluted bleach to remove organics and dilute muriatic acid to remove Ca stains works fine for me.

One note, naturals stone can "shed" a lot of sand and particulates as it weathers so keep that in mind while vacuuming the pool and try not let the runoff from cleaning hit the pool water. It's ok if you do, it can just lead to pool water cloudiness or extra sand to vacuum up.

 

[Curtsam]

Thank you so much for the in depth detail and answer regarding my waterfall Sunny!

Sam,