Do I need to Acid Wash, please help

[gspitz]

Long story short, pool was over run with algae, water was dark green and you could not see more than a foot into it, and the plaster was cracked in a couple places. We drained the pool and had a repair guy come to patch the cracks. I pressure washed the pool today and say I got 90% of the dirt and dead stuff off the walls, but there is a lot of staining. Honestly I could care less about the stains and texture of the plaster. Do I need to acid wash the pool to help keep the algae from coming back, or is that just to clean the stains off? Here are some pics, I would like to know what you guys recommend I do before filling it back up....I also noticed lots of spider cracks in the plaster, I know nothing of the history of the pool or how thick the plaster is. My goal is to have it ready for this summer, usable and algea free.
please any help would be greatly appreciated. I would hate to fill it up just to have a hugh problem fighting algea cuz I didnt acid wash or to have to redrain it again if it keps cracking and I needed a replaster.

Before:

After Powerwashing

Close up of stains and cracks

 

[jblizzle]

The acid wash is mainly for stains. To ensure the algae is gone, you will want to go through the shock process when the pool is filled ... making sure to brush where you think there still could be some algae.

Did you clean behind the light?

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[gspitz]

No I did not clean behind the light, I will now though.
So I can skip the acid wash since I could care less about the stains at this point.
What about the spider cracks, is there a way to tell when the plaster just needs to be replaced?

 

[jblizzle]

Are there chunks of plaster missing? My current house was that way for years. Replastering is often for aesthetics.

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[Butterfly]

The round black spots look like black algae to me. You might want to try to knock off the heads with an algae brush and scrub with a trichlor tablet. It seems it could be easier to kill while exposed.

You can do a search to find lots more info on black algae.

 

[gspitz]

@jblizzle, I didnt notice any chucks missing, just the spider cracks. Afraid they will spread of get worse and start to leak in the near future or maybe the next earthquake...

@butterfly, I will look into black algea, I think most the little black dots in the close up photos are just dirt particles. But I will be sure to check them out closly and take care of that before I refill.

The repair guy is coming back to fix one of the cracks, but is it safe for me to assume that if I dont care about the look of the pool I can just fill it.

Also does anyone recommend painting the pool?

 

[jblizzle]

Paint seems to only last a couple years and then looks worse than what you started with.

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[gspitz]

Thanks for all the help