Algae in my travertine

[JamesW]

I had the impression that Wet &forget increases alkalinity

What gave you that impression?

 

[Poolnerdgrandma]

QUOTE="JamesW, post: 1915953, member: 18171"]
What gave you that impression?
[/QUOTE]
I did a lot of reading about Wet and Forget last year when I had this problem, and I know that I ended up using some washing soda before the product arrived because something I read said that Wet and Forget raises pH. It was in this thread: Wet and Forget product?

 

[JamesW]

I don't think that it works due to raising the pH.

 

[duraleigh]

Anybody ever think of trying chlorine?

 

[Jimmie48]

I saw a product at a lowes end cap the other day and it was for algae and mold. Reading the ingredients it was basically 5% bleach(chlorine) and some other ingredients so I am sure some diluted bleach would work well also....I will try it this weekend and report back myself...I can post pictures. IF it comes back maybe I will try the product mentioned above.

 

[Jimmie48]

So the bleach diluted with water worked perfectly. I sprayed it let it sit and it started turning brown right away then I washed it off. Shot it a 2nd time and scrubbed it a little bit and it looks great again. Will see how long it lasts. FYI I did about 1/4 bleach(std 6%) to water in a spray bottle. I have also heard Vinegar can work as well and if I see some pop up again I may try that also.

 

[JamesW]

Vinegar is acidic and not suitable for travertine.

 

[AnkurGT]

I had the impression that Wet &forget increases alkalinity, and that the algae doesn't like that. Could be completely off-base.

I see what you did there.

 

[suATX]

This Wiki post explains more about Benzalkonium Chloride

Benzalkonium chloride - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Seems fine to me...used as a preservative in eye drops etc...

 

[DV9410]

For what it's worth, I ordered the Wet and Forget, but was going to be out of town when it arrived. And I couldn't wait that long to tackle the green patches. Some of the info said that Wet and Forget works by changing the pH. I mixed up a strong solution of water and washing soda (that I had on hand from when the PB dropped my TA and pH to unswimmable levels right before a pool party) and it worked a charm on those specific areas! Wet and Forget arrived and I'll be using it on the whole deck later today once I've swept, etc. If the green bothers you before Wet and Forget can get there, try applying high pH to the green stuff. I haven't observed any issues with the travertine or pavers where I did this.

Resurrecting this old thread, do you remember what ratio water to washing soda you used?

 

[Katodude]

I use a 5:1 bleach solution. I use a BBQ skewer to scrape the algae, then spray it with the bleach solution in a 1 gallon pump sprayer. Then hose it off.