Skimmer socks and algae

[AnnaK]

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?

[SUNNYDAYS]

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

[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.

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.

[RavenNS]

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 )

[AnnaK]

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.

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.

[Mom2Czars]

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.

[adillenal]

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.

[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 )

[CarlD]

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.

[medvampire]

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