We are now rounding the corner and heading into Late july and early August. In the pool industry it is better know as algae month. Why you may ask? Well, most pools have now reached a nice warm temperature and with a couple little oversights, algae can form and spread quite quickly. A couple little tricks are listed below to help prevent this nasty annoyance.
1. Test and Balance the water. It's simple, bring in a sample, have us test it.....actually purchase all that is required and then physically add it to the pool as outlined in the test results.
2. Add and good quality algicide....starting now. Don't wait till algae starts. The best advice with algae is preventative maintenance. Balance the water and add algiced weekly.
3. Filtration. Old school....24/7. I know nobody wants to hear that but here's something to consider. If your pumps not running it's not filtering, basically your pool is a stagnate pond. In warmer temperatures that encourages algae to bloom. Then you have to add a lot of additional chemicals, vacuum, backwash and invest not only your money but your time to get back to clear water....plus you just wasted your weekend cleaning the pool rather than enjoying it. So really, pay to run the pump or pay $$ and your time to clean it up. If you haven't already invested in a 2 speed or variable speed pump, I would suggest to give us a call. This is a far better solution to timing the pump on and off.....for many reasons. We can go over the many benefits they offer and see which model may suit you best.
4. Remove the solar blanket. Yes they work great (you know it's coming) BUT....they trap all the chemicals and seal in chlorine, especially salt pools. You must remove the cover each and every day. Unfortunately we as humans must go out and take the blanket on and off, but it is well worth the effort. By leaving the blanket on you are more than doubling the chance of liner wrinkles and discoloration. It's no joke, seen it happen over and over again (on brand new liners) and it's not covered under any warranty :( so if you have a blanket, make sure you take off the pool regularly.
5. Last but not least and by far the easiest. Use the pool. Yes it's true. A pool that is used more often will have less chance of an algae bloom than one that is forgotten and ignored. So get the kids off that Xbox or YouTube and start using the pool.
