Wedding cake steps- crud in bottom

[Dpooltest]

So I pulled my steps out and was trying to clean them, and found that the rubber protector on the bottom is full of yuck.
1. Is this sorta normal since there is no water flow there?
2. If not, how do I prevent this ( assuming I’ll see if I can get a new rubber protector)
3. Can anyone recommend wedding cake steps that don’t do this?

 

[TomGallopavo]

If they were mine I would clean it with bleach water like 10% and throw them back in the pool and save the money for cigars, whiskey, and bbq, but that’s just me.

 

[Dpooltest]

Tom, when you say clean with bleach water, you mean mix 10% bleach (regular6%) with 90% water, or did you mean clean with 10% bleach (the pool chlorine type)

i can take it off and thoroughly clean ( it’ll be a pain) but I’m curious if it will just come back, or is higher FC able to stop that. ( it’s a pain taking the steps in and out, and more than once a season would suck).

 

[TomGallopavo]

Take a cup of bleach and add nine more of water and scrub it off with a brush. You don’t want straight bleach on your skin. If your doing tfp and your water is fine why worry? Do it once a year...when you close or open. The inside of my ladder probably looks like that. Just an idea.

 

[Dpooltest]

This is year 2 with the pool, I’m still learning, and the steps are new this year. Just trying to Guage what to expect and make sure in understand the tfp ways

 

[kellyfair]

DPool, it’s not unusual for steps to gunk up, and restricted water flow is definitely a culprit.

I don‘t have the same type of steps you do, but I feel your pain on moving them. Last time I pulled mine out it took three of us, so I’m with you - not something I want to do very often!

This may cause some to cringe, but I clean my steps inside the pool. I brush them every time I get in (takes just a few minutes).

When the weather gets warm enough for me to get in, I brush the heck out of everything, raising a cloud of green into the water from the stairs. SLAM for a couple of days with the stairs in and me brushing, and it clears right up.

So, essentially I use my SLAM water as my cleaning solution.

 

[Wobblerlorri]

@kellyfair That's exactly what I do! I unclip the weights holding the stairs down (full of water and they still float!) and scrub away! Then I flip them on their side to make sure I can get to everything underneath. Turn them back upright, clip the weights back on, and I'm done except a quick SLAM.

 

[Dpooltest]

Thanks, when I pulled them out to take this pic, it quickly became evident that’s it’s a 3 person job. They are screwed into steps so I can’t float them to scrub.
My numbers look good, as does the water, so I think I’ll leave them, and brush in pool. Then end of season I’ll thoroughly clean the rubber strip.