What Went Wrong?

[JohnT]

No doubt you opened too late. I had to start my filter and add chlorine around the first of April this year. Water temp got into the low 60s and air temp was in the 80s. Earlier than usual by a couple of weeks, but you have to chlorinate before the swimming season to control algae.

[mbar]

Why does it bother you so much?, I opened my pool late - had a lot of algae, but the pool cleared up in 2 days - to me it was worth not having to bother with cleaning all of the stuff that falls from the trees, and all of the extra electricity & chemicals it takes to run the pool while no one is swimming in it. You have to balance out what works best for you.

[CoffeeBean]

Well, I can agree with you in part about cleaning up what falls from the trees in the spring and the increase in electricity.

However, I have to balance that out with the fact that I used mega gallons of water to vacuum to waste to get the dead algae out. It's so fine that I can't use the hose vacuum. It just stirs it up and forms big clouds of crud because it goes right through the vac bag.

Our water use it tied to our sewer bill here. Use a bunch of water, pay for it in the sewer bill too. They will give you a minor credit if you call them and tell them you're filling a pool but it's not much and they won't budge on increasing it.

And...the walls of my pool this year are now green/brown. Scrubbing isn't getting it off. Any suggestions gratefully accepted on how to remove it.

CoffeeBean

[mbar]

I can see your point! I have a well, and never have to worry about running out of water, so it didn't enter my mind. The stains on your liner are probably from organics and will fade out with the high chlorine levels - they won't come off with regular scrubbing - the way you can tell if they are organic is if they rub off with some chlorine. If they are metal they will come off with Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) or ph down. You can crush them in a sock and rub them on the stain. My guess is they are organic from the stuff lying on the liner and it will take a couple of days for them to fade. As they say "patience in a virtue" Best of luck, let me know if the stains don't fade.