Algae in stairs and its affect on water

[dbdubb28]

I'll try to keep this short and sweet. Since our first experience with Algae a couple of months ago, we've gone thru three different SLAM's. The first 2 led me to research algae in stairs.
I pulled the stairs out for the third SLAM which we completed this past Monday. The stairs were out of the water for a total of probably 7 days. Pool and water were looking like new again.
Last weekend I drilled around 100, half inch holes in all the areas that filled with water, to help improve water circulation within the steps. My hope was putting them back in the pool while FC was still in the 20's, that it would be strong enough to kill any other Algae that was still alive in the steps. So I returned the steps to the water last Tuesday. I've been running the pump on high for at least 4 hours each day (low the rest of the time), just to ensure good water circulation thru the stairs.
I allowed the chlorine to drift lower on Wednesday and Thursday. FC was around 16 on Friday. We swam Friday afternoon and I could tell the water was cloudy, thus I went ahead and bumped up the SWCG and had a FC of 20 this morning.
I also put the robot in this morning and during cleaning out the filter, I could tell green was coming out.

My question: Could this be a byproduct of dead algae that was in the stairs? If not, what am I missing? Should I scrap the stairs and just get some that are easy to take out of the water?
I'm some what frustrated with this whole thing and would appreciate thoughts and advice. Attached are pictures of the pool and stairs from about 20 minutes ago.
Thanks in advance.

 

[cowboycasey]

I have those exact stairs and I went the other way and closed every one of the holes to allow no water in them... I use weights to hold them down

with that said you may have to get after it with a spray bottle of 10% bleach once a week... I use a sprayer like below as you can use it under water.. Just fill with 10 or 12% chlorine and spray everything..

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• cowboycasey
• Sep 12, 2020

 

[dbdubb28]

Thanks for your insight. I'm going to run thru another SLAM with the steps in the pool this time. If the algae comes back again then I'll be taking out the stairs and looking for some that can easily be removed from the pool after use.

 

[clduncan]

I have holes drilled in my ladder too! I use bleach and a syringe and inject bleach into the holes to prevent algae growing inside of the ladder. Make sure to brush your ladder at least once a week to prevent algae from getting a stronghold.

 

[dbdubb28]

What do you do during winter? Do you take the ladder out?

 

[Mdragger88]

Pull them out & spray them with bleach water. Some have used a pressure washer as well. Don’t put them back in until u know they are algae free. Treating them in the water is a preventative maintenance thing not a solution when they have algae in them. If they are free of algae & you close after the water is below 60 & @ slam level there shouldn’t be any issues over the winter. Be sure to to open before the water is over 60 degrees too.

 

[clduncan]

I pull mine out when we know the water will not warm up enough to swim. I clean them with some bleach water and store them away for the winter.