Skimmer socks and algae

[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

[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?

CaryB

[caustik]

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 )

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