First post - CALCIUM KILLING ME!!!!!

I have an above-ground pool (27' round). Started to get mustard algae which I've been battling for a couple of months. BUT now the algae has adhered to the bottom of the pool in what I assume is a "cocoon" of calcium. Feels like sandpaper and WILL NOT BUDGE unless you literally scrape it with hard plastic. Even a wire brush barely dents it. Is pretty much coating the entire bottom in a yellowish-brown thick scale (some areas worse than others).

I've drained the pool down to about 4 inches with the intention of scrubbing the heck out of it but this just isn't working. I have no idea what to do...I'm literally on my hands and knees working on it inch by inch. Is there something I can add to the remaining water that will soften this stuff or should I just fill it with gasoline and set it on fire?

I don't really have a good suggestion for you but I have asked Ben to take a look at your post and see if he has anything for you to try. Good luck and welcome to the Pool Forum.

Is what you have like this? (PS: don't tear up your liner scraping -- that's not the way to remove this stuff. If what's shown below is NOT like what you have, since pictures to poolforum@gmail.com)

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-d...gae_09_HHH.jpg -- https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-d...gae_01_HHH.jpg

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-J...MG_2545-ed.jpg

Not really. It looks more like a normal soft layer of yellow/brown algae but it won't budge. Feels like sandpaper. Will scrape off with hard plastic (like a piece of PVC pipe). It will stick to the PVC and looks and feels like sandy clay.

Spray it with a hose nozzle to clean off anything that can be removed that way, and then photograph it. Send the pictures to poolforum@gmail.com.

It really sounds like you have uncleaned sand algae, like the green picture above, but with the slime removed. The other pictures were after either pressure washing or hard spraying, and then drying.