I am a first year pool owner (came with our home we purchased in January this year). The pool is 30 foot round, 54" deep, and we just upgraded from a 19 inch filter to a new 24 inch filter with zeosand this year. We decided to convert it to saltwater, which has been absolutely fantastic... until we had a blockage in the basket near the pump (silly me, I didn't realize there is a skimmer basket to clean AND a pump basket). This greatly reduced the flow of water because it was clogged with cottonwood fuzzy stuff, which in turn caused the generator to not make chlorine, and we recently ended up with blobs of algae on the bottom of the pool (see attached photos). We tested the water using test strips, and had virtually no chlorine and high ph. We went to the pool store to ask for help, they told us to get 4 gallons of shock, 1 bottle of 60% algaecide, ph minus, a bottle of clarifier, and gave us an instruction sheet on how to get rid of algae.
We followed the instructions on the sheet and dumped the ph minus in there first (we have higher ph, same problem in our fish tanks, I think its our well water). Next, the instructions said to dump the algaecide in, then add shock, and said all three of these steps could be completed on the same day, which we did. The pool store said to add 2 gallons of shock for a pool our size. Then, the instructions said to wait 24-48 hours, and we had the filter running pretty much non-stop since then. However, mother nature brought in a storm that evening (2 days ago), and last night we also had a derecho come through. Lots of rainwater was added, and we lost power for a good 12 hours so the filter was not on. I checked this morning, and there is no change to the pool at all. I was instructed to wait until the algae turned grey, however it looks the same as it did before we added anything. I added the other 2 gallons of shock to the pool this morning.
I'm reaching out for help since I don't necessarily trust the pool store people. They tried telling us we should be adding a gallon of shock per week, even though we have a saltwater pool (isn't the purpose of having a saltwater pool to even out the chlorine, therefore you shouldn't need to shock it under normal operation?). Am I supposed to brush the algae so that it isn't sitting on the bottom? If I do that, doesn't the algae go into the filter and grow in there? I'm not sure what to do, nor am I sure what type of algae this is. What is weird is that the water is crystal clear, I can see straight to the bottom. And when I brush the algae blobs that are on the bottom, they turn the water greenish-brownish, but eventually it settles back down on the bottom again. How long do we wait until we can swim in there again? OH! One more thing... we do not have a vacuum. We had a pool robot that came with the house (not that it would vacuum up algae anyway), but the robot died so we need a new one. The pool store guy said we should get one again, but in the interim we could use the process above and the clarifier would clump all the dead algae together and bring it to the filter so we don't necessarily have to vacuum it this time.
Any help would be appreciated!!!
We followed the instructions on the sheet and dumped the ph minus in there first (we have higher ph, same problem in our fish tanks, I think its our well water). Next, the instructions said to dump the algaecide in, then add shock, and said all three of these steps could be completed on the same day, which we did. The pool store said to add 2 gallons of shock for a pool our size. Then, the instructions said to wait 24-48 hours, and we had the filter running pretty much non-stop since then. However, mother nature brought in a storm that evening (2 days ago), and last night we also had a derecho come through. Lots of rainwater was added, and we lost power for a good 12 hours so the filter was not on. I checked this morning, and there is no change to the pool at all. I was instructed to wait until the algae turned grey, however it looks the same as it did before we added anything. I added the other 2 gallons of shock to the pool this morning.
I'm reaching out for help since I don't necessarily trust the pool store people. They tried telling us we should be adding a gallon of shock per week, even though we have a saltwater pool (isn't the purpose of having a saltwater pool to even out the chlorine, therefore you shouldn't need to shock it under normal operation?). Am I supposed to brush the algae so that it isn't sitting on the bottom? If I do that, doesn't the algae go into the filter and grow in there? I'm not sure what to do, nor am I sure what type of algae this is. What is weird is that the water is crystal clear, I can see straight to the bottom. And when I brush the algae blobs that are on the bottom, they turn the water greenish-brownish, but eventually it settles back down on the bottom again. How long do we wait until we can swim in there again? OH! One more thing... we do not have a vacuum. We had a pool robot that came with the house (not that it would vacuum up algae anyway), but the robot died so we need a new one. The pool store guy said we should get one again, but in the interim we could use the process above and the clarifier would clump all the dead algae together and bring it to the filter so we don't necessarily have to vacuum it this time.
Any help would be appreciated!!!
