Skimmer socks and algae

Those of us who use skimmer socks swear by them. They catch all of the small stuff which would normally get sucked through the basket holes and clog up the filter medium. I've had to backwash my filter much less often and, when I do backwash, the output is much cleaner.

But there is a drawback: The skimmer sock will retain some algae cells. It's just the nature of things. You can rinse off the large bits, the dogs hair, the bugs, but rinsing won't dislodge all of the "live" contaminants.

If you, despite your very best efforts, continue to get algae growth, it's possible that the reinfection occurs via the skimmer sock. I've begun to soak mine in a strong bleach and water solution, a 1:1. I keep the sock over the basket when I vacuum my pool and the crud caught in it is awesome. Disinfecting the sock makes sense to me. We shock our pools. Why not shock the sock?

The socks are not that expensive, I would get rid of the socks if I felt they weren't in optimal condition.

There are always algae spores in the pool, in the air, on the deck etc.. Chorination just keeps them from growing. The sock is in constant contact with the pool water, so algae won't grow if the pool is properly sanitized. If algae can grow on the sock, it can grow anywhere in the pool.

The string on my thermometer had a healthy blue-green crop on it above the water line earlier this summer, so I tied it on the ladder one step lower. Now it's white.

I also sometimes re-use some of the socks, but i usually wash them out with dish-soap first & let them dry.
This applies to the pool-devil sock as well.
( where would I be without that pooldevil? skimming the pool, which I never have to do now that I got one. can't say enough about this cheap awesome product. sorry.lol:D )

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Originally Posted by JohnT

There are always algae spores in the pool, in the air, on the deck etc.. Chorination just keeps them from growing. The sock is in constant contact with the pool water, so algae won't grow if the pool is properly sanitized. If algae can grow on the sock, it can grow anywhere in the pool.

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Which it does. Nearly everyone has had to manage a spot ot two of algae somewhere in the pool at one time or another. I've been following the thread of brown silt/algae which seems to appear this time of year in some pools and I'm left with the perception that even the most stable pools can and do suffer an algae infection occasionally.

At just slightly over $1 per sock I can't afford to use a new one twice a day which is how often I change skimmer socks. It's more reasonable for me to disinfect them and try to eliminate one source of infection, anyway.

I just bought some cheap Knee Hi stockings at the grocery store rather than the skimmer socks. I think they were $2.99 for 4 of them, so after use, I just chuck 'em out. Aside from the length of them, they appear to be the same thing as the skimmer socks and they save me a trip to the dreaded pool store.

I also buy the 4 packs of cheapy knee highs because we had a terrible grasshopper influx this summer. I had to change the knee highs twice a day and they were full of dead and alive grasshoppers. Yuck!! I just threw them on the gravel and after a day in the sun I threw them in the trash. BUT I have not had to backwash for over a month. I love the skimmer knee high solution. No grasshppper body parts clogging up my filter.

Mom2czars, you're paying way too much. I buy 10 pair of Hanes 'queen size' kneehighs at the grocery store for ~ $5. (BTW I'm not a cross dresser, I use them to add cya via the skimmer :D )

If you add your bleach through your skimmer, you'll douse those algae spores and kill them. I get about a month out of each skimmer sock.

I bought a 5 pack in the spring. I change each day in the morning after I get home from work. I wash out the used one and hang in the sun to dry. Each sock gets four days of sun and drying. The sun kills any thing that may be alive in the sock and it gets reused on day 5. This rotation seems to work well for me.
Steve

AnnaK, your signature states: 'Used with abandon by three German Shepherd dogs'

I can see why you need to change your filter sock 2x/day! These guys have a lot of hair. I also see that you have a sand filter. Have your tried adding some DE to the filter to determine if that aides in filtration of particles, too?

CaryB

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Originally Posted by waste

Mom2czars, you're paying way too much. I buy 10 pair of Hanes 'queen size' kneehighs at the grocery store for ~ $5. (BTW I'm not a cross dresser, I use them to add cya via the skimmer :D )

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Not meaning to thread highjack, but Waste, is that the best way to add the stabilizer? My pool just got filled and they told me to put the cya stuff (granuales) into a white sport sock and dangle it off the side. But, 24 hours later and nothing seems to have dissolved. How much can I put into the skimmer like that without it causing problems with the pump if it even does cause problems. They gave me two containers of the stabilizer to put into the pool.

Kevin

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Originally Posted by ivyleager

AnnaK, your signature states: 'Used with abandon by three German Shepherd dogs'

I can see why you need to change your filter sock 2x/day! These guys have a lot of hair. I also see that you have a sand filter. Have your tried adding some DE to the filter to determine if that aides in filtration of particles, too?

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Not yet. It's too late in the season for me to want to go there but it's a plan for next year.

A.

Caustik,
CYA is slow dissolving stuff. It typically will take a week or so to dissolve. I have always just added my CYA through the skimmer. It just dissolves slowly in the filter. I make sure I wait a week before backwashing so I don't just throw it out. Just another option for adding CYA.

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Originally Posted by Watermom

Caustik,
CYA is slow dissolving stuff. It typically will take a week or so to dissolve. I have always just added my CYA through the skimmer. It just dissolves slowly in the filter. I make sure I wait a week before backwashing so I don't just throw it out. Just another option for adding CYA.

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I will give that a shot. I really am not liking the sweatsocks dangling from the ladder look. I will dump a bunch into the skimmer and see how it goes. Thanks for the input.

Caustik, welcome to the forum! Saw this last night but got called away from the pc. As Watermom said, this stuff dissolves sslloowwllyy, so it takes many days to get an accurate reading(or to get out of the sock). PatL34 has a method he came up with for quickly dissolving the cya - he puts it in a fine meshed 'leafrake' on a skimmer pole and places it in front of one of the returns (w/ the pole weighted down to prevent movement). Since I can't leave a few lbs of chem dangled into the pools I work on, I use the kneehighs in the skimmers (I used to just dump it into the pool, but would end up loosing a lot of it when, unknowing, homeowners would vac it out then backwash their filters). There's nothing wrong with slowly! adding it via the skimmer and not backwashing for a week (*however, I had a customer a few years back that 'dumped' ~ 12 lbs in the skimmer all at once - the cya all collected at the first 'elbow' in the line and clogged it solid, nothing would dislodge the stuff, so we had to abandon that line and switch over to the 'reserve line' that we install on every skimmer)
I'm not trying to scare you out of adding through the skimmer, I've had to do it a few times when I ran out of kneehighs, just make sure the pump is running and that you add it slowly - I always go over to the pump and make sure that I see it comming in. Enough from me for now, I hope you have a great experience with your pool, if you ever need help, feel free to call on the great and knowledgeable folks here!! :) - Waste

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Originally Posted by waste

Caustik, welcome to the forum! Saw this last night but got called away from the pc. As Watermom said, this stuff dissolves sslloowwllyy, so it takes many days to get an accurate reading(or to get out of the sock). PatL34 has a method he came up with for quickly dissolving the cya - he puts it in a fine meshed 'leafrake' on a skimmer pole and places it in front of one of the returns (w/ the pole weighted down to prevent movement). Since I can't leave a few lbs of chem dangled into the pools I work on, I use the kneehighs in the skimmers (I used to just dump it into the pool, but would end up loosing a lot of it when, unknowing, homeowners would vac it out then backwash their filters). There's nothing wrong with slowly! adding it via the skimmer and not backwashing for a week (*however, I had a customer a few years back that 'dumped' ~ 12 lbs in the skimmer all at once - the cya all collected at the first 'elbow' in the line and clogged it solid, nothing would dislodge the stuff, so we had to abandon that line and switch over to the 'reserve line' that we install on every skimmer)
I'm not trying to scare you out of adding through the skimmer, I've had to do it a few times when I ran out of kneehighs, just make sure the pump is running and that you add it slowly - I always go over to the pump and make sure that I see it comming in. Enough from me for now, I hope you have a great experience with your pool, if you ever need help, feel free to call on the great and knowledgeable folks here!! :) - Waste

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Thanks for the reply Waste. And yeah I added a small bit into the skimmer without the pantyhose to see the effect, since when I tried to clean what was left in the sweatsocks was basically paste I was kind of leary on dumping it all in there. I now have a couple pantyhoses sitting in the skimmer and it is starting to dissolve just over a few hours I can see a difference. The wife didn't need that pair anyhow. Thanks for the info!

Pantyhose in the skimmer is fine to do. But, when you pour the cya granules slowly into the skimmer, they go right into the filter. They don't turn to paste and as long as you are adding it slowly, there is no problem. I have always done it that way, year after year, and never had a problem. Go ahead and do the pantyhose thing. I mostly just added this additional post for informational purposes for other people who might be reading this thread. Didn't want them to be afraid to put it in the skimmer.

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Originally Posted by Watermom

Pantyhose in the skimmer is fine to do. But, when you pour the cya granules slowly into the skimmer, they go right into the filter. They don't turn to paste and as long as you are adding it slowly, there is no problem. I have always done it that way, year after year, and never had a problem. Go ahead and do the pantyhose thing. I mostly just added this additional post for informational purposes for other people who might be reading this thread. Didn't want them to be afraid to put it in the skimmer.

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Yes, I can see if they were not pre-soaked overnight and were fresh out of the plastic container that they would not cause a problem. Just in my situation that was already messed up by my lack of experience I had a thick gooey paste started inside the sweatsocks that I wanted to use rather then just throw out the stabilizer. Even if it was free, I hate to waste stuff.

I appreciate both options offered (Thanks Watermom!/Waste!).

I put mine (CYA) into a knee hi and tied it to the outside of the pool but dangled it right in front of a return. It dissolved in about a day. I'd just reach in from time to time and mush it around in the knee hi and it worked like a champ.

Guess I'm going to have to go on a cheap Knee Hi quest.;) I never wear the damn things anymore, so I only need them for the pool.

Mom2, I buy mine at the grocery store for 10 pair @ $5. I also get the 'Queen size which accomodates ~4 lbs when doubled over. :)