Am entering my fourth season with our pool (third season during which I've maintained the pool myself).
Despite (mostly) following TFP practices and testing my water several times a week, I tend to struggle with algae growth whenever my water temps are in the upper 70s or higher. Last season, I was able to mostly keep algae at bay with weekly brushing and monthly treatments of Chlorox Pool & Spa Algaecide % Clarifier, which would reliably clear up the pool overnight with a single one-gallon application.
My pool gets partial sun and is surrounded by lots of vegetation. I do cover it from early November through early February, which keeps it mostly leaf-free. I believe the plaster is original to the 29-year-old pool. It looks very presentable but is of course rougher than newer plaster would be. I don't believe this should matter as long as chlorine levels are sufficiently high, but probably makes regular brushing more important than it would otherwise be.
This season I'd really like to get to the bottom of the issue and wean off the algaecide treatments. I'm currently partway through a SLAM (passed OCLT but still at 1ppm CCs).
One oddity of the pool is that the right and left natural stone waterfalls were built very differently, almost like they were built by different crews or one crew who was learning as they went. The left waterfall is designed so that it traps almost no water. After the waterfalls are switched off, any water will drain down into the pool within an hour or less. However, the right waterfall has multiple deep basins that can trap water for days or more before it fully evaporates. These basins tend to get pretty grungy as shown in the photo - I cleaned them last year just before covering the pool and they're already nasty again.
I run the waterfalls for 5 minutes daily and sometimes for 30+ minutes. In consideration of their condition - would this likely be enough to contribute to algae growth / elevated chlorine demand in the pool as a whole?
I'm going to try leaving the waterfalls off for a few weeks and see if that makes any difference - but am curious if this behavior is a common issue with "basin-type" water features..
Despite (mostly) following TFP practices and testing my water several times a week, I tend to struggle with algae growth whenever my water temps are in the upper 70s or higher. Last season, I was able to mostly keep algae at bay with weekly brushing and monthly treatments of Chlorox Pool & Spa Algaecide % Clarifier, which would reliably clear up the pool overnight with a single one-gallon application.
My pool gets partial sun and is surrounded by lots of vegetation. I do cover it from early November through early February, which keeps it mostly leaf-free. I believe the plaster is original to the 29-year-old pool. It looks very presentable but is of course rougher than newer plaster would be. I don't believe this should matter as long as chlorine levels are sufficiently high, but probably makes regular brushing more important than it would otherwise be.
This season I'd really like to get to the bottom of the issue and wean off the algaecide treatments. I'm currently partway through a SLAM (passed OCLT but still at 1ppm CCs).
One oddity of the pool is that the right and left natural stone waterfalls were built very differently, almost like they were built by different crews or one crew who was learning as they went. The left waterfall is designed so that it traps almost no water. After the waterfalls are switched off, any water will drain down into the pool within an hour or less. However, the right waterfall has multiple deep basins that can trap water for days or more before it fully evaporates. These basins tend to get pretty grungy as shown in the photo - I cleaned them last year just before covering the pool and they're already nasty again.
I run the waterfalls for 5 minutes daily and sometimes for 30+ minutes. In consideration of their condition - would this likely be enough to contribute to algae growth / elevated chlorine demand in the pool as a whole?
I'm going to try leaving the waterfalls off for a few weeks and see if that makes any difference - but am curious if this behavior is a common issue with "basin-type" water features..
