Weighing down Wedding Cake Steps ?

[lucig284]

Hi everybody.. We removed our Wedding Cake steps this afternoon to clean them.. WOW what a mess. I have never seen that much algae.. I know that these steps are notorious for their poor circulation which make them an ideal breeding spot for algae, but due to health problems they are the best way for my hubby to get in and out of the pool so they have to stay.. We are going to drill a few more holes and hope for improved circulation. My question to anyone that has these steps in their pool is what do you use to weigh them down?? We're open to suggestions.

Thanks,
Luci

[JohnG33]

Hello...I have similar steps in my pool and use two 50lb bags of filter sand.

[pedsrn]

I have those steps and we use two 50 lb bags of play sand. Do NOT use bags of river rock or pebbels. We made that mistake last year because Lowe's was out of sand, so I picked up river rock. You have not seen algae on the steps until you introduce it in there with rock..lol.

Let me know if the extra holes help. I'd love to find a way to cut down on the algae under and inside the steps.

T-

[CarlD]

I use 50lb bags of filter sand too, but I use 3. I also drilled holes in the top front of each step.

I put a piece of 40guage vinyl under the steps. Home Depot sells this stuff for putting under shower stalls. The drawback is the rest of the bottom is a tad faded. But it seems to slow algae down slightly. I also hide a floater with a couple of tabs under the steps, set to the lowest level. It SEEMS to help but there's still algae growth under there.

[Bob Norene]

Is there a difference in the Wedding Cake steps I vs II? Also after reading about your troubles with the alfea do you recommend having them? Thanks,

Bob

[AnnaE]

For the past two years, we put regular sand to hold down our stairs. Is there a difference between Play Sand and Filter Sand? Someone told me that Filter Sand is better. Also, how did you put the sand in the pool? We wrapped it in 3 plastic garbage bags each. However, algae still grows. Any suggestions? Thanks.

[JohnnySixString]

We just had a 24' round installed and it comes with similiar steps also requiring sandbags. I was thinking about stacking some weights in there instead. Anyone think this might work or be a bad idea?

[karrde97]

The problem I had was that I didn't want to attach it to the deck since I needed to constantly move it to clean. By not attaching to the deck, the back end floated up. They were nice for the little one. But we have moved to a straight ladder.

[gonefishin]

We've had bad luck with the large sand filled ziplocks and with the weights too. This year I plan to fill some empty bleach and milk jugs with concrete...it should do the trick.

dan

[traceyb]

Hi guys....just an idea to weigh your steps down safely. We got 3 pieces of 3-4 inch pvc capped off one end w/ pvc cleaner and adhesive. Then we filled the tubes with driveway rock and capped off the other end. THis makes for a clean, easy way to weigh down the front end. Easy to remove.....just make sure you glue the ends on well. The rails that you attach to wedding cake steps help hold down the back end, if you need more help there, make a few more and drill small holes through the top part of the back opening and concoct a way to hang a few more. There is a few pix on this site of someone who had done that. Just an FYI.. hope this helps.