Thanks everyone for the replies so far -
I'm going to chime in here, because I am the OP's other half (please notice that I did not say "better half," as that always refers to her). My better half is doing all the work in keeping up the pool this season, as I am currently going back to school full-time while working about 50 - 55 hours a week in my job. Admittedly, she has always done most of the chemical distribution since she is home more in the day, but cleaning and testing have been shared between the 2 of us in the past. Why we are so frustrated is that we do feel that we are following all BBB processes, and this keeps coming back in some shape or form. Of course, many (if not all) of you could easily say that we are doing something wrong because if we weren't then we wouldn't be having these issues.
I'm a network engineer, and most of my work time is spent in solving problems. This works for me because my personality tends to want to do this with anything that might not be working - whether it be at work, home, vehicles, appliances, etc. I'm not one to want to give up, but my frustration level starts rising and my patience level starts falling when I've made multiple attempts to solve something and it keeps coming back at me. In the first year that we opened the pool, we had an algae incident about mid-way through the season (in Michigan, that translates to mid-July for us). We were still fairly green (bad pun) to the BBB method, and found that we weren't adding enough stabilizer to keep the chlorine levels as high as what they needed to be. The second year, same thing due to the same problem - didn't get enough stabilizer in before chlorine ran to 0, and the algae showed up again (this time a little earlier). The 3rd year, we kept good levels on everything and still ended up having one instance of algae - though later in the season. 4th year is when we needed to replace the solar cover - our first cover was a heavy-duty blue/black cover that served us well. I decided to go with a heavy duty clear diamond pattern cover because of how much better/efficient it seemed to be. Here is where our algae problems really starting escalating. I'm not saying the cover is the cause, but am merely indicating that it was the same season where we had multiple algae incidents (3) in one season.
In EVERY instance of algae, we have followed the shock method to the letter of the law - we did not stop until the overnight drop test was less than 1. We'd keep good levels after that, and within 3 weeks the algae would be back. One could say that we never got rid of it but I don't know how that is possible when we were getting less than 1 FC drop overnight. We were spending so much time shocking, testing, and analyzing that we didn't get hardly any time to use the pool. So, herein is where my frustration lies - if we can't solve this, then there is really no point in continuing to own and operate the pool. Why pay the money in extra electricity usage and bleach if all you're going to do is use the pool a few times between shock sessions?
I feel we have some variables to investigate and/or eliminate from the equation. I do think the solar cover could be a possible contributor to the problem. The problem definitely was never this bad until we replaced the cover. Granted, we do store the cover in our basement when the pool is winterized, but the cover is rinsed and dried before I completely cover it with 2 90 gallon trash bags and throw it in our basement. The ladder could also be a suspect. We have a 2-rail tiered step ladder that seems to have 5x the concentration of algae underneath it than the rest of the pool floor. I realize that water circulation is probably the weakest there, but the ladder does have a fence-like pattern in its design to allow water circulation behind the steps. Just not sure if there is something that we need to be doing with the ladder before and/or after it is put into the pool each season for use. I do spray it off with a hose before putting it into the pool, but don't know if I should be applying bleach to it to kill anything that doesn't get blown off from the hose. A 3rd culprit could be the return hose. All the plumbing used to be PVC, but last year I had to go back to a flex hose on the return line due to the underwater pool light (that was part of the return) breaking over the winter. I didn't know if there was a chance that the flex line could be holding algae in the ridges - even after the pool had passed the overnight drop test. The last variable I can think of is that we've had, I don't know, about 4 inches of rain in the last 2 weeks. Jen has kept the FC higher than what we have in the past (more in the middle of the range for our pool) and she's not let the FC get below 5 - even with all the rain. I don't know if the rain could contribute to the issue - even with our FC staying above 5. Jen hadn't been the full test for CC's the last few days, but we'll have updated numbers today.
I don't want anyone to get the wrong perception or impression in what I'm trying to present here. Am I insisting that I have done everything correctly? No way. Am I willing to admit that I could be doing something wrong or not doing something that I need to? Absolutely. Am I willing to admit that there's probably a lot I still need to learn? You bet. However, both of us have given this our best so far and it's kicked our butts. Just my personality alone wants to know what the source of this issue is - whether I'm the one to correct it or not.
So, I'll speak for both Jen and I when I say that we are tired, frustrated, and just not sure if we're going to find a light at the end of the tunnel that does not have a green hue to it. I know that we are grateful for any opinions, insight, experience, and expertise that could be offered here in an attempt to help us out.
Thanks for reading (if you made it this far), and thanks in advance for any help you could offer,
Todd
Use the Chlorine/CYA Chart (link below) during and after your SLAM and you're set!