I have been working to broaden my understanding of how my aging pool works to help us both do well.
My in-ground pool was built in 1966, and is on the edge of town, next to former cow pasture that is now "Open Space".
It is prone to algae infestations during the hot, dry months (August-October).
The pool is rectangular-ish, approx. 40’ long; ~20’ wide at ~3.5' deep shallow end to ~14’ wide at ~8' deep end.
There are 4 returns (one at each corner) plus a dedicated return for the pool sweep.
I really need to cover pool to minimize evaporation (drought!) and algae. Has anyone here tried using 6 mil "Panda" (black&white) type greenhouse cover on their pool? It seems like it should help starve the algae, as well as halt evaporation.
thanks for any feedback!
- 4merTadpole
My in-ground pool was built in 1966, and is on the edge of town, next to former cow pasture that is now "Open Space".
It is prone to algae infestations during the hot, dry months (August-October).
The pool is rectangular-ish, approx. 40’ long; ~20’ wide at ~3.5' deep shallow end to ~14’ wide at ~8' deep end.
There are 4 returns (one at each corner) plus a dedicated return for the pool sweep.
I really need to cover pool to minimize evaporation (drought!) and algae. Has anyone here tried using 6 mil "Panda" (black&white) type greenhouse cover on their pool? It seems like it should help starve the algae, as well as halt evaporation.
thanks for any feedback!
- 4merTadpole
As a lifelong desert rat myself, I can confirm that a good cover can be quite valuable to reduce evaporation and help keep dust and debris off the water. I don't have experience this the Panda product you noted, but for algae specifically, you may have other problems. Your signature shows you use tabs/pucks to chlorinate, and if you've been using them on a regular basis your CYA could be so high the free chlorine cannot keep-up with it as you can see on our 
