Yes, I know everyone here opposes copper algaecides, but I had to try it as a method of last resort to treat my black algae.
I've read just about every article on the internet and tried the "proper" methods. I think the algae was embedded in my pool too long for normal methods to work though. The heads are so hard that scraping them with a wire brush literally does nothing to them. The only way I could actually get the heads off was using a paint scraper on a pole, with a snorkel and a swim mask so I could see exactly what I was doing. Did my whole pool like that, and algae certainly isn't spreading or growing, but even high levels of chlorine made minimal further progress to get rid of the residual stuff still left on the walls.
Phase 2, I saw a few people on this forum say they had success using a pressure washer underwater. Bought a 3300 PSI pressure washer and turbo nozzle. To a certain extent, it does knock the residual algae off, but only when using a turbo nozzle, and only at point blank range. Unfortunately it also occasionally knocks off a chip of plaster. With this I can actually make some continued progress after scraping, but it's a very slow process, dot by dot, with some risk to the pool surface. House was built in 2007 so I feel like there's probably a resurfacing in my future anyways, meaning some collateral damage is acceptable.
Finally, since nothing else was successful in fully getting rid of the black algae, I decided to try the InTheSwim black algaecide, which has copper in it. I hoped based on reviews that it might weaken the algae enough for it to come off easier. Well unfortunately I wasn't one of the lucky ones, it appears to have done almost nothing for me. So now I need to figure out how to get this copper out of my pool. My understanding is that if I dump chlorine in there, it may oxidize the stuff and turn my water green. Actually it seems like right now, the algaecide has eaten all of my free chlorine. My understanding is that you are not supposed to shock and add algaecide at the same time. However, none of the articles talk about what to do after.
Is it going to be impossible to maintain free chlorine in the pool until after all the copper/algaecide is gone? Or can they coeexist? What is the best product to get the copper level down?
I've read just about every article on the internet and tried the "proper" methods. I think the algae was embedded in my pool too long for normal methods to work though. The heads are so hard that scraping them with a wire brush literally does nothing to them. The only way I could actually get the heads off was using a paint scraper on a pole, with a snorkel and a swim mask so I could see exactly what I was doing. Did my whole pool like that, and algae certainly isn't spreading or growing, but even high levels of chlorine made minimal further progress to get rid of the residual stuff still left on the walls.
Phase 2, I saw a few people on this forum say they had success using a pressure washer underwater. Bought a 3300 PSI pressure washer and turbo nozzle. To a certain extent, it does knock the residual algae off, but only when using a turbo nozzle, and only at point blank range. Unfortunately it also occasionally knocks off a chip of plaster. With this I can actually make some continued progress after scraping, but it's a very slow process, dot by dot, with some risk to the pool surface. House was built in 2007 so I feel like there's probably a resurfacing in my future anyways, meaning some collateral damage is acceptable.
Finally, since nothing else was successful in fully getting rid of the black algae, I decided to try the InTheSwim black algaecide, which has copper in it. I hoped based on reviews that it might weaken the algae enough for it to come off easier. Well unfortunately I wasn't one of the lucky ones, it appears to have done almost nothing for me. So now I need to figure out how to get this copper out of my pool. My understanding is that if I dump chlorine in there, it may oxidize the stuff and turn my water green. Actually it seems like right now, the algaecide has eaten all of my free chlorine. My understanding is that you are not supposed to shock and add algaecide at the same time. However, none of the articles talk about what to do after.
Is it going to be impossible to maintain free chlorine in the pool until after all the copper/algaecide is gone? Or can they coeexist? What is the best product to get the copper level down?
.png)
