I don't think they get darker downstream of the ionizer. The hose that I notice the most is actually the one from the bottom of the skimmer basket to the pool outlet since it is visible from inside the pool. It is also a "clear" pipe that you can see through. The others are pretty and white on the outside, but when you look into the end of one, it is pretty disturbing. I had at least one end of all 3 exterior hoses disconnected last night while taking the SWCG offline and I think they all looked equally bad inside. The hoses on the outside of the pool usually don't get swapped around during the season. They may get put in a different location when hooking everything up at the beginning of the season though.

Dead algae still uses chlorine? I must have misunderstood. I thought you only had overnight chlorine demand with live algae and once it was dead, it stopped eating up the FC b/c you aren't fighting it anymore. Then you just had to wait on the filter to get all the dead algae out.

Yes the ladder's green chalky stuff was leftover from last year. It has been in my shop all winter to keep it out of the weather so it hasn't even been in the pool this year.

Again, I appreciate all your help.