Cleaning Sanitizing And Other Preventive Measures
Keeping up with the basics will also go a long way toward preventing algae.
- Maintain balanced pool chemistry, run your pump 8 to 12 hours per day, and shock regularly.
- Before allowing pool equipment, floats, and toys into your pool, make sure youve thoroughly cleaned them. A cleaner with bleach or a solution of one tablespoon of bleach per gallon of water will not only clean but sanitize them.
- Just as pool accessories can introduce algae, so can swimsuitsespecially if theyve been worn in the ocean. Be sure to washnot just rinseyour swimwear before wearing it into your pool.
- If your older concrete pool surface needs resurfacing, dont wait. Etched, cracked surfaces make perfect hiding places for algae. Theyre shady and almost impossible to clean. Resurfacing cures this issue.
How To Get Rid Of Pool Algae
Where theres water, theres life. While this may be a rallying cry for astronomers in search of ET, its a far more troubling prospect for pool owners.
One of the most common pool problems is the flowering of new life in the form of algal blooms. Algae is a catchall term for a wide variety of single-celled microorganisms there are thousands of different kinds, but a few can be commonly found in swimming pools.
Pool algae tend to come in a few common types, distinguishable by color green, pink, yellow, or black. If your pool water is anything other than clear, then it may be time to call in a professional.
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How To Make Homemade Algaecide For A Swimming Pool
The primary purpose of the algaecide is to ensure that the pool is clean and safe to use. It doesnt matter whether you purchased it from a local store or made one yourself. However, many people have begun to employ DIY methods because it is cheaper and economical. In this category, we will discuss DIY algaecides mechanisms and the steps involved in homemade algaecide for your swimming pool.
Step One
You cannot make a homemade algaecide without a few supplies. These are a few algaecide ingredients you may want to get. They include:
- A thin nylon stocking
After getting these supplies, you can proceed to the next steps.
Step Two
Fill the stockings you got with a cup of finely ground cornmeal. Note that you will need more than a cup of cornmeal for a larger pool.
Step Three
After you have filled the nylon stockings with a cup of cornmeal, you need to tie the top with an elastic rubber band. Ensure the band is well-secured.
Step Four
Place the stockings filled with cornmeal in the pool. It will either sink or stay at the top of the water. Anyone is fine! The most important thing is that it comes in contact with water.
Step Five
After some minutes, remove the stockings from the pool. At that time, all the cornmeal in the stockings must have leaked away into the pool. There goes our DIY algaecide for your swimming pool. It is simpler, easier to use, cheaper and more accessible.
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Natural Algaecide For Pools
Natural algaecide refers to natural items that can assist you in removing or preventing algae from growing in your pool. Here are some of the ones we found:
The BBB Pool Method
The BBB pool method isnt a new method for cleaning and maintaining your swimming pool. It has been in existence for a while. The three Bs stand for Borax, Bleach and Baking Soda. These three are easily accessible and can be purchased in a local grocery store.
The borax is usually used for raising the pH of the pool the baking soda is used to raise the alkalinity and sanitize your water with the Clorox bleach. You will also need Muriatic acid in addition to the three chemicals to lower the alkalinity.
How To Safely Add Chlorine To A Swimming Pool
Chlorine is the most popular pool sanitizer. Its responsibilities include sanitization, disinfection and oxidation. Needless to say, having a good residual of free chlorine is essential to having a healthy and safe pool to swim in. This article will explain how to add various types of chlorine to your swimming pool. Lets get started.
First and foremost, a word of caution. NEVER mix different types of chlorine together. Even storing them near each other can be dangerous. Chlorine is a volatile oxidizer and when mixed with other types of chlorine, it can be deadly. Always use protective gloves and glasses, and use caution. In fact, as a rule of thumb, NEVER mix chlorine directly with anything else.
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How Do You Get Rid Of Algae Stains From Pool Walls
Even though there are three main types of pool algae stains, the process of removing them from your swimming pool is almost the same.
Yes, there are places where you will need to be vigorous or repeat treatment to be thorough. But, the whole process is quite similar.
Before you can start removing them, itd be best, though, to figure out the type of algae stain you have in your swimming pool.
The stains can either be green stains caused by green algae, yellow or brown stains caused by mustard algae or metals, and black spots caused by black algae that can also exist as dark blue-green spots.
Now that you have identified the type of pool stains in your swimming pool, we can jump right into the main part, removing these stains.
What do you need?
- Pool Test Strips, Liquid Test Kit, or a Digital Pool Test Kit
- Green Stain Remover or Mustard Stain Remover or Black Algae Stain Remover
- Pool Shock Treatment
- Stiff Nylon Brush or Wire Pool Brush
How To Get Rid Of The Pink Algae In Your Pool: Part 5
Sometimes referred to as pink slime, pink algae are actually not an algae at all its a bacteria. Its color comes from pigments within its cells, and the slime that forms around the bacteria is a mechanism to protect it from external threats. It is a naturally occurring problem and can grow wherever there is water, which includes swimming pools. Pink algae in your pool can manifest as reddish or pink streaks, and it usually grows alongside white water mold. Its prone to growing on PVC materials, of which pool materials are often made from. This type of alga loves to grow in areas of the swimming pool that dont receive direct sunlight, and that have minimal water movement.
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Go From Green To Clean
One of the most prevalent problems that pool owners deal with is algae. This is especially true in warm, humid states like Florida and throughout the South. How does algae get in a swimming pool in the first place? Wind, rain, contaminated swimsuits or even pool cleaning tools can bring algae spores into pools. The presence of nitrates can also help contribute to algae blooms. Combine this with a lack of good circulation, filtration or sanitation and you have a recipe for algae. Algae multiplies rapidly on warm, sunny days in above or inground pools. When conditions are right, an algae bloom can occur in a matter of hours.
Whats the best way to get rid of green algae?
Suncoast All In One Algaecide is the best way to get rid of algae in your pool. It kills and prevents every type of algae, including black, green and yellow mustard algae, as well as pink bacteria. In addition, it has clarifying properties to help keep your pool clear.
This free-floating algae variety, which imparts a cloudy green color to the water, is easy to correct if treated early. Getting rid of it requires only 2 chemicals. Just follow the instructions below and you will be back to blue in no time!
1: Adjust pool water pH to normal range of 7.4-7.6 and the alkalinity to 80-120ppm. Your neighborhood Pinch A Penny offers free water tests to help you with this step.
3: Brush the pool walls and let the filter run continuously until it eliminates the algae.
6: Repeat step 2 after 48 hours.
How To Use Flocculant To Remove Pool Algae
If you catch algae in your pool early on, you could use flocculant to save yourself some elbow grease. This additive bonds to floating algae particles, making it easier to vacuum them out of your pool.
If you have anything more serious than a mild green algae problem, we recommend you follow the full cleaning plan. For getting rid of a little green algae quickly, go ahead and get it the floc outta there.
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How To Get Rid Of Algae In Your Pool In 13 Steps
Sometimes despite our best efforts to prevent them, those sneaky little spores find a way in and start to grow.
Maybe you just didnt have time to maintain your swimming pool the way you meant to or maybe your filter got clogged without you noticing.
Either way, you have a problem and now you just need to know how to fix it.
Removing algae may not be rocket science, but it does require a bit of biology.
It will certainly take some time and a little hard work, but with the proper steps and equipment, youll be an algae-killing expert in no time.
If you follow these steps to the letter, you’ll most likely be able to remove all the algae growth from your pool, but if you find some lurking behind, repeat the steps until its clean.
Are you ready to get to work? Great! Lets get started.
Use Baking Soda As Algae In Pool Home Remedy
This is another great natural way to get rid of algae in a swimming pool. People like using baking soda to get rid of algae because you can swim immediately after treatment in most cases.
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Also, if its not overused, it will only slightly impact pool water chemistry. It works best as a spot treatment for algae on pool walls and pool floors. Baking soda actually has chemical properties that help it break apart algae. Once you broadcast it over an algae bloom area, you have to then scrub the algae off with a brush.
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Brush Your Pool Walls And Floor
Scrubbing the algae off your pool walls lets your sanitizer get deeper into the remaining algae. It also stirs up the sediment youve brushed off so it can be killed and filtered out.
Using a stiff pool brush on a pole, brush the walls and floor of your pool. Pay special attention to corners and shady areas where algae is usually worst. As you go, your water will become cloudy, obstructing your view, so get those tough spots first.
Is Chlorine And Shock The Same Thing
I previously conveyed this a few times in this article, but I just want to go through it again and drive the point home.
Chlorine and Shock is the same thing. Shock is nothing but a highly concentrated dose of chlorine. In fact, you can shock your pool with nothing but regular chlorine. Think of shock as a process to kill algae in your pool, rather than a product.
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Test Your Pool Chemistry
Finally, its time to restore your pools chemistry back to normal.
Normal chlorine levels are ideally between 1 3 ppm, and normal pH levels are between 7.4 and 7.6. 7.5 and is considered perfect for algae prevention.
And alkalinity should be between 80 and 140 ppm.
> > Read: How to lower alkalinity in your pool
Using Chlorine To Sanitize Pool Water
Chlorine is the most important chemical used in a pool. This is what keeps the water sanitized and free of potentially-dangerous pathogens and other nasties. Failing to keep your water properly chlorinated can make it dangerous to swim in and can even cause damage to the physical components of the pool system. Chlorine is a pretty simple chemical. It is negatively charged, this means it can destroy the outer membranes on microbes, which then kills them. This renders the bacteria, algae, mold, or other substances inert and completely harmless where they can then be filtered out of the water via the filtration system.
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How To Use Chemical Treatments To Remove Algae
There are two major chemical treatments for algae: chlorine and flocculant.
Chlorine shock is the most common method of dealing with algae with a sanitizer. It is usually dosed at twice the usual shock for green algae, three times for yellow algae, and four times for black algae. However, chlorine shock will not work if the algae are attached too tightly to the walls or floor. Because of this, you must use a brush to loosen the algae before shocking.
How the filter is used depends on the chemical choice you make. If you add floc, you should run the filter in a recirculating mode or not run it at all, for a few hours. Then, you must turn it off to give the algae time to settle. If you use chlorine shock, you should run the filter almost continuously. Check regularly to make sure that the filter does not become clogged with algae.
How To Get Rid Of Algae In An Inground Swimming Pool
Pool Maintenance | Swimming Pool FAQs
Green: the lovely color of freshly mowed grass, summer leaves fluttering in the breeze, and the protagonists eyes in any teen novel in the local library. Its not so lovely when its the colorof algae in your inground pool.
Algae can grow in the water, floating freely. It can also cling to the surface of the pool , usually in patches.
Most algae is harmless its just ugly and inconvenient. However, the color of the algae will help you determine whether itll sting your skin and how much pool shock youll need to use to kill it.
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Does Vinegar Kill Algae In A Pool
Black algae demand careful attention because it accumulates in the cracks and crevices in the pool. Black algae appear in tiny black spots that feel slimy.
Like yellow algae, a popular place to find black algae is in your pool filter. Does vinegar kill algae? Yes, but an algaecide is a quicker method to kill algae spores.
To get rid of brown pool algae or other types, shock your pool water first. If you have a plaster pool, use a pumice stone to scrub the black algae. For all other pools, use a pool brush and scrub vigorously.
After following the best way to vacuum your pool to catch the dead algae, apply a black algae treatment and let the free chlorine and water circulate for a day. Vacuum your pool to remove the dead algae. Check your sand filter for stubborn black dots and repeat the process if necessary.
The best and easiest homemade pool filter cartridge cleaner is a water hose. Rinsing away the algae that accumulate on the filter helps it to work better. Depending on the filter type, you can usually use a brush on it, too.
How To Vacuum An Above
Above-ground pool vacuums are designed to work with above-ground pools. They are often made of metal or steel and usually come in simple shapes like rounds, ovals or rectangles. Fortunately, both manual and automatic pool vacuums can work in an above ground pool.
- Lower the assembled vacuum into the water until the head is touching the bottom.
- Keeping the vacuum pole locked in place, hold it down with one hand and make sure the head stays in contact with the floor of the pool. Lean the pole along the side of the pool to make this process manageable.
- Take the free end of the vacuum hose and hold it in front of the water return outlet to fill with water. Bubbles will begin to rise from the vacuum head. Wait until all bubbles have escaped to pull it away from the outlet, but make sure the hose remains fully submerged.
- Insert the open end of the hose into the vacuum plate , and place the plate into your pool wall skimmer, directly atop the suction vent. This will initiate the vacuuming process.
- Slowly sway the vacuum head in straight lines along the bottom of your pool until it’s clean.
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