I've had 3 pools. Lots of experience with Pools. I am a chemist by degree.

My question is pretty simple. Does anyone have any experience with the HTH Algae guard product (3x conc.)? Normally I use a Polyquat based algaecide in addition to chlorine for additional protection. However, this stuff was on sale at Walmart and I thought I would try it.

When I pour it in, it does appear to defeat the algae. However, I see this oily green scum (it looks like algae to me) forming on anything that it can at the top of the water...like my pool thermometer. So first question, is this algae just redeposited in an oil film instead of uniformly across the water. Scares me to think its all collecting on the filter.

Next, if you don't keep adding this stuff, suddenly there is a huge bloom of algae, I don't care what the chlorine level is. Its as if this stuff eventually turns into algae food as one of its decomposition pathways. Once that happens it takes tons of bleach to recover...

I'm trying to determine if my experience is unique or just anecdotal.