BAD Algae for many pool openings

Many of our families have reached out this Spring after or during their opening, surprised at the amount of 'gunk' in their pool. Filters may seem ineffective and / or they feel like they need to clean their filter much more often. Yes... To all of that.

This has been an extraordinary year for algae. The winter was VERY mild, we received a lot of rain and a good number of storms (this is how algae spores travel), and we had several days in the upper seventies in February. This has created perfect conditions giving the algae growth a huge bump start, and it is everywhere! If you did not pay close attention last fall and were on the low side of chlorine when the pool was closed, you likely will be experiencing even more algae than the next pool.

The answer is to shock the pool, filter 24 hours per day, and scrub the pool walls and floor. Likely the filter will need washed at least once a day OR MORE. The harder you hit the pool with liquid chlorine, and the more you clean the filter, the faster this process will be over. Remember to keep your PH down in proper range (7.2) or your chlorine will not work as well. Repeat the shock and filter as needed until the pool clears.

Pro Tip: add 0.5# of ph minus (dry acid) for each gallon of liquid chlorine you use to offset the high PH of the liquid CL. No need to check. Adding 4 gallons of shock? Add 2# of ph minus at the same time.

There is another option if you are not getting good results. You can shock the pool and then apply a flocculant agent. That is where you kill everything in the pool and then allow it to settle out and fall to the floor. After things have fallen, you then vacuum the gunk off the floor to waste and through the water away. It may take the same amount of time but could be less work than cleaning your filter multiple times per day.

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