Run waterfalls or not?

[jeffbg]

I had made the assumption that I should run my waterfalls daily in order to flush them and make sure algae can't get a foothold. Now I'm wondering if I should do that at all. Seems like maybe it is pushing any algae I might have into my pool on a daily basis and providing nice, oxygen rich water to feed it (if it is indeed in there).

What do folks normally recommend? Flush daily or not? At the start of the day or end of the day?

Thanks!

- Jeff

 

[anonapersona]

If you don't run them, any rain water will still collect and you will start to breed mosquitoes. Rocks will get covered with algae and if you do run the waterfall, you cannot kill the algae, it has grown too thick. When this happens, do not pour straight Cal-Hypo on the rocks like I did, it is not good for the rocks and may break them down a bit faster.

I decided that I needed to run the waterfall for at least a short time, 3x/day to keep algae down.

 

[Mr. Ed]

You are doing the right thing to run the waterfalls.


algae only needs phosphates, carbon dioxide and sunlight to grow....oxidizing the pool helps eliminate phosphates and carbon

 

[Liz101]

Do the same things hold true with sheer descents?
I hadn't used mine in several days and noticed it was flowing out like areas were clogged when i started it.
Should I be using them everyday too?

 

[whoozer]

Run em at night, cooling things down in the pool, you want to circulate all the water and treat it all with your balanced water eventually anyway. If your in the shocking process then it wouldn't hurt to run them.