Hello, my name is Michelle. 
I live in Houston, TX & am new to this forum. I own an above ground pool which is approx. 4700 gallons. I've had it about a year and LOVE my pool, but it has been a roller coaster of confusion in regards to the pool chemistry and keeping algae from starting to grow in the bottom. We DO have several trees in our backyard. I try to dip it out with a skimmer net once a day at least. I have been shocking it once a week (because that's what the people at the pool store tell me to do..) I even drained and refilled it at the start of this summer. I've had the pool about 1 year. During the winter, I had the pool covered (at this point, it still was filled with the water from last season.) I still checked the chemicals while it was covered to ensure there was plenty of chlorine in it. In Spring of this year, we uncovered the pool and noticed that a little algae had started to grow in it. Keep in mind that the pool cover does have some holes built into it for ventilation (I am guessing), so some water could get into the pool during winter when it rained. I visited my local Warehouse Pool Supply and even Leslie's Pools, was told to buy this and that, which included Algaecide, "Pool First Aid" which is supposed to remove dead algae, pollen, etc., water clarifier, Leslie's "Fresh -N- Clear" pool powder (oxidizing shock,) Leslie's ChlorBrite, which is a chlorinating shock, etc. - all of these were certainly not cheap.. When trying to use these things as suggested to rid the pool of the algae, nothing worked. It started to look like a swamp. We would vacuum it, brush the liner, & use the chemicals. All this really did was stir up the fine, powder like particles of algae & cloud up the water. The filter would intake the water, not pick up the fine algae particles, and spit them out on the other side back into the pool. It was a never ending cycle. This was the point that we decided to drain the pool and refill with fresh water. We drained pool completely, made sure the vinyl liner was totally clean, and refilled with fresh water. We shocked the pool initially to get proper chlorine levels into water, and then used a chlorine floater with chlorine tabs. The pool looked great, up until we started to get quite a few rain showers about 2 1/2 weeks ago. I shocked the pool after the rain showers, because I was told by the pool stores that rain creates a breeding ground for algae. Despite this, I started noticing a couple weeks ago that the pool began to look cloudy and the "fine particle dust", which resembles pollen, started to appear on the bottom of pool and the ladder. I know this is algae again. We vacuum the pool, it gets stirred up and makes the water look cloudy, and it settles back down to the bottom again. Does anyone have any suggestions? I tried putting Algaecide in it again and all of the above listed chemicals, but it doesn't seem to help. I think maybe it's just too many different chemicals, and they might be working against one another. I have a friend who tells me to just use chlorine or even bleach to maintain the pool and nothing else. He says he has always kept his spa sparkling clear by doing this. Any suggestions? Thanks! 
I live in Houston, TX & am new to this forum. I own an above ground pool which is approx. 4700 gallons. I've had it about a year and LOVE my pool, but it has been a roller coaster of confusion in regards to the pool chemistry and keeping algae from starting to grow in the bottom. We DO have several trees in our backyard. I try to dip it out with a skimmer net once a day at least. I have been shocking it once a week (because that's what the people at the pool store tell me to do..) I even drained and refilled it at the start of this summer. I've had the pool about 1 year. During the winter, I had the pool covered (at this point, it still was filled with the water from last season.) I still checked the chemicals while it was covered to ensure there was plenty of chlorine in it. In Spring of this year, we uncovered the pool and noticed that a little algae had started to grow in it. Keep in mind that the pool cover does have some holes built into it for ventilation (I am guessing), so some water could get into the pool during winter when it rained. I visited my local Warehouse Pool Supply and even Leslie's Pools, was told to buy this and that, which included Algaecide, "Pool First Aid" which is supposed to remove dead algae, pollen, etc., water clarifier, Leslie's "Fresh -N- Clear" pool powder (oxidizing shock,) Leslie's ChlorBrite, which is a chlorinating shock, etc. - all of these were certainly not cheap.. When trying to use these things as suggested to rid the pool of the algae, nothing worked. It started to look like a swamp. We would vacuum it, brush the liner, & use the chemicals. All this really did was stir up the fine, powder like particles of algae & cloud up the water. The filter would intake the water, not pick up the fine algae particles, and spit them out on the other side back into the pool. It was a never ending cycle. This was the point that we decided to drain the pool and refill with fresh water. We drained pool completely, made sure the vinyl liner was totally clean, and refilled with fresh water. We shocked the pool initially to get proper chlorine levels into water, and then used a chlorine floater with chlorine tabs. The pool looked great, up until we started to get quite a few rain showers about 2 1/2 weeks ago. I shocked the pool after the rain showers, because I was told by the pool stores that rain creates a breeding ground for algae. Despite this, I started noticing a couple weeks ago that the pool began to look cloudy and the "fine particle dust", which resembles pollen, started to appear on the bottom of pool and the ladder. I know this is algae again. We vacuum the pool, it gets stirred up and makes the water look cloudy, and it settles back down to the bottom again. Does anyone have any suggestions? I tried putting Algaecide in it again and all of the above listed chemicals, but it doesn't seem to help. I think maybe it's just too many different chemicals, and they might be working against one another. I have a friend who tells me to just use chlorine or even bleach to maintain the pool and nothing else. He says he has always kept his spa sparkling clear by doing this. Any suggestions? Thanks! 
