algae

We are first time pool owners and are struggling to completely clear our pool. I’m working on going through Pool School but I wanted to see if anyone could help with our current situation. Is this dead algae or living algae? We had a pool service come out yesterday and within hours there were...

Now am not sure whether to power wash, acid wash, or chlorine spray the plaster and then wash it down to the deep end submersible pump to clean the brown off. Our pool is in its 3rd year now and has been acid washed once before for plaster color issues. My original plan was to just put some...

I have taken over pool maintenance at our house. I was following Clorox strip recommendations for a little over a week, was spending way too much money on chemicals without seeing the progress I wanted. I then started reading about SLAM on Trouble Free Pool. I started SLAM and have been using...

Hi, our pool is constantly turning green. I have the impression if I turn around and don’t look at it for an hour, it turning green. The plaster pool is about 25,000 gallons, I have a new pentair variable speed pump, a sand filter and a WaterGuru chlorine and ph device. Sat, cya and alkalinity...

Hi all, I stumbled across this website today just before I bought a bunch of shock for my pool.. perfect! But i need help fast to figure out everything going on with this pool and I'm getting many different answers. Please see my details below and help me optimize this pool! TIA -South FL...

All, looking for some feedback here. I’m a new owner of a pool maintenance company so still coming up to speed on everything. I do have a couple fairly experienced techs, but they don't seem to adhere to TFP methods much. Have a client with what appears to be black algae. Have read up on it in...

I KNOW closing with algae is a bad idea BUT I have an above ground pool and the water is perfectly balanced and clear, but I have algae growing on the walls and floor of the pool. I have been brushing and shocking for the past month and it does not seem to make a difference. The algae keeps...

I had some leaves and debris fall in my pool when I opened it. Had a newborn in the NICU and couldn't take sufficient time to clean everything out in May/June when I usually would get the pool right. I've battled it back and forth all summer in an endless cycle of shock, green, shock, green...

I have struggled all summer with this stupid pool. I have learned more about pool chemistry than I would ever want to know. I just cannot keep the algae at bay. I had a beautiful period after a slam for about a week then that’s it. Now I just want to close it but cannot clear it up to close it...

The site has advised me not to use Yellow Out on my mustard algae (indoor 1400 gal Endless Pool), so I'm scouring the posts to see what I should do!

Greetings, please bear with me, new at this. TFB Membership I joined TFB in May 2022. as Gene 1939 I followed various topics on TFB regarding pool issues that I was having at the time. (See my posting from May 22, 2022.) However, I became very involved with family issues and had very limited...

So after a long period of unemployment, and recently getting a job, I’d hoped to save my pool from having been a bog. Got it blue for a while but it was always cloudy and after finally using HTH green to blue (which I shouldn’t have since I have a single Hayward cartridge and not a backwash...

OK, so after I added the test results the top item is pH is below the ideal range". Then, when I go to pH is shows current reading of 7.4 and the "target" at 7.2 and thells me to LOWER the pH by adding acid. My question is why does it show a target of 7.2 when it also shows an ideal range of...

Hi! We just bought a Coleman pool this summer for the kids and everything was going smooth until we went out of town for a week. I came back to a black swamp that I was afraid the Loch Ness monster was going to jump out of it when I was brushing it. I know nothing about pools and probably did so...

Hi all - I just discovered TFP today after being frustrated with pool stores/companies over the last year. I moved into my house with a pool in late 2022, so this is my second season with it and it has been a struggle keeping it maintained. It seems that no matter what I do, I get algae buildup...

I’ve been fighting lingering algae most of the summer. After the pool store recommended 10% algaecide, 2 weeks later I saw more algae. They then recommended the 90 day algaecide with 11ish% copper. After a few days of vacuuming, and swimming, I cleaned up some gray/white sediment (I assume...

Hi there 👋, First time pool owner here. I really can't tell if it's one or the other as when I brush it just goes into a cloud. These brown yellow spots just appear on the bottom of the pool, usually along the seems of the vinyl, some in other areas. I am actually in the process of a slam with...

13,000 gallon pool SWG and using Hayward EC40 filter. Can’t get the algae under control. Chlorine is currently about 3-4 ppm and CYA is about 55. I know this is a bit high for CYA but initially I tried to SLAM it at 30 ppm but I couldn’t keep chlorine over night, and the sunlight has been...

A week ago I noticed a little bit of algae starting to grow in the corner of our tanning ledge. Then I noticed that my SWG at 100% was not keeping up with the chlorine demands and was constantly 2ppm or less. Once I brushed the algae off it hasn’t returned. Also CC has never been higher than 0.5...

18 foot above ground pool in coastal Mississippi Replaced sand with glass media 1 week ago. Backwashed until clear. I’ve been following TFP since last summer (only 1 year of owning pool so far so still newbie). Last year, I think we had mustard algae and it took me a long time to clear. This...

Hey TFP, in new here even though I have been reading for months. Learned a lot and very thankful for the community! I recently purchased a home with a pool and decided to take care of the maintenance myself. There’s a black substance on the stairs of my gunite pool that I can’t seem to remove...

Hi all- My water chemistry has been stable (disregard the salt readings) and in good ranges but I noticed my pool getting cloudy over the past week. Salt Cell. Is this a chemistry issue or is there something wrong with my sand filter? I run the filter about 8 hours a day which keeps the FC...

I came home from being away and the pool did not get kept up well with chlorine. It has dark green spots of algae growing on the plaster bottom (primarily in the deep end but everywhere). They are very stubborn and using a whale tail pool brush didn’t loosen it. how do I determine the type of...

Let me start by saying we left the pool uncovered for the first time. We were going to drain but delaware pool companies basically did not offer a full pool drain. We decided to fix the water up. We shocked and then shocked again becuase the water wasnt clear enough. Got as much debris out as...

We have been having hot weather (for us), 100F. Floating pool thermometer shows 79-80 at top 6" Pool has been crystal clear since spring. Chemistry was easy to dial in after winter and has been pretty stable through weekly tests. Today's readings using TFTestkit (2024 reagents) CL 10ppm...

Hello, I am brand new to the world of pools! This March we started off the season with upgrading our sand filter, draining the pool, giving it a nice bleach bath then refilling. Since then, it has been a hassle keeping it swimmable. We have a great guy who tends to it weekly but we cannot...

Hello! I’m taking over pool duties for my parents and I’m clueless. We’re in Toronto so I can’t buy the testers from the links provided. Any suggestions? I’m hoping to get it by Monday so I can’t start working on the pool. It’s dark and cloudy. So far I’ve only been adding liquid chlorine and...

Hi I’m a pool newbie and not sure what my next step should be regarding my above ground pool. I havent used it in over a year and of course its dark green and full of algae. I want to drain it and start fresh but I live in Texas and right now its really hot so Im afraid I’ll ruin the liner if I...

Left for a work trip with perfect water, came back 5 days later to a frog pond. Turn out a weir door broke and got stuck in the closed position and was blowing air through my system enough to shut off my SWG. Read up on the SLAM process and bought a ton of 10% liquid chlorine. I am waiting on a...

Hello, all! I’m a new owner of a saltwater pool. It’s only about 3 years old, and came with the house I just purchased. I have zero knowledge for opening/closing/maintaining, so I have a company come assist. Recently I went for a swim after about 10 days without checking the pool (my bad...