Hi,
I've been noticing over the years that my pool has been getting larger/darker algae stains that are simply not going away. My first attempt to get rid of it of course was to SLAM the pool (15ppm Cl, 30 CYA, 7.5pH, 370Ca) for 24 hrs with heavy brushing every 6-12hrs but that didn't get rid of it. I've left some CalHypo on the floor of the pool and that easily managed to clear out the spots after leaving down there for long enough. The problem now is that I can't exactly 'leave' granular chlorine on the walls of my pool to also clean those out. To double confirm what I thought it was, I looked at my skimmer which had some stubborn algea stains in the grout. Despite my best effort during the SLAM process, no amount of scrubbing could get rid of it all. However once my water level was low enough, I tried a 4:1 10% bleach solution and that got rid of the stains right away with minimal brushing. So I'm pretty convinced that I'm dealing with algae stains that I'd like to get rid of.
I suspect that it's also making maintenance harder than it should since having any algae in the pool promotes having more algea and it's most likely making any chlorine lapse bloom more than it should. Sadly the tube on my Stenner pump broke this weekend (no big deal), but that means that my pool was with virtually no chlorine for 24hrs since the temperatures were over 100°F this weekend and I was left with a nasty bloom that I now have to SLAM & cleanup again. Is my assumption correct that the stains are probably contributing to a speedier algae problem?
My second question was around acid washing vs chlorine washing. I was wondering if anyone did the job themselves. It doesn't look very difficult to drain the pool, spray a mix of chlorine and brush away the stains (PS: I know that my pool is well above the water table through a geo test). My main thought however is that I wouldn't want the mixture to collect in the drain and damage the pipe so perhaps I'd want some kind of way to seal off the main drain temporarily to minimize the damage but I'm not sure what I would use to do that. Maybe an upside down bucket filled with water and with a rubber seal if I can find one that fits? I'd also be curious to hear what chlorine concentration is best to use for this.
My third question is around acid washing vs chlorine washing. My pool's calcium level was too high a few years back to the point where I've had to purchase around ~50 pumices and burn all of them up with elbow grease to clean the tiles. The pool surface is pebble tech and I don't immediately see any calcium deposit signs there. The underwater tiles also dont' show any signs of calcium deposit (only the waterlines had some). Would I be better off doing an acid wash (I'd probably want to get that done professionally vs doing it myself at that point since it's probably harder on the surface) or should I just stick with a chlorine wash?
Thanks for the help as always.
I've been noticing over the years that my pool has been getting larger/darker algae stains that are simply not going away. My first attempt to get rid of it of course was to SLAM the pool (15ppm Cl, 30 CYA, 7.5pH, 370Ca) for 24 hrs with heavy brushing every 6-12hrs but that didn't get rid of it. I've left some CalHypo on the floor of the pool and that easily managed to clear out the spots after leaving down there for long enough. The problem now is that I can't exactly 'leave' granular chlorine on the walls of my pool to also clean those out. To double confirm what I thought it was, I looked at my skimmer which had some stubborn algea stains in the grout. Despite my best effort during the SLAM process, no amount of scrubbing could get rid of it all. However once my water level was low enough, I tried a 4:1 10% bleach solution and that got rid of the stains right away with minimal brushing. So I'm pretty convinced that I'm dealing with algae stains that I'd like to get rid of.
I suspect that it's also making maintenance harder than it should since having any algae in the pool promotes having more algea and it's most likely making any chlorine lapse bloom more than it should. Sadly the tube on my Stenner pump broke this weekend (no big deal), but that means that my pool was with virtually no chlorine for 24hrs since the temperatures were over 100°F this weekend and I was left with a nasty bloom that I now have to SLAM & cleanup again. Is my assumption correct that the stains are probably contributing to a speedier algae problem?
My second question was around acid washing vs chlorine washing. I was wondering if anyone did the job themselves. It doesn't look very difficult to drain the pool, spray a mix of chlorine and brush away the stains (PS: I know that my pool is well above the water table through a geo test). My main thought however is that I wouldn't want the mixture to collect in the drain and damage the pipe so perhaps I'd want some kind of way to seal off the main drain temporarily to minimize the damage but I'm not sure what I would use to do that. Maybe an upside down bucket filled with water and with a rubber seal if I can find one that fits? I'd also be curious to hear what chlorine concentration is best to use for this.
My third question is around acid washing vs chlorine washing. My pool's calcium level was too high a few years back to the point where I've had to purchase around ~50 pumices and burn all of them up with elbow grease to clean the tiles. The pool surface is pebble tech and I don't immediately see any calcium deposit signs there. The underwater tiles also dont' show any signs of calcium deposit (only the waterlines had some). Would I be better off doing an acid wash (I'd probably want to get that done professionally vs doing it myself at that point since it's probably harder on the surface) or should I just stick with a chlorine wash?
Thanks for the help as always.
