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Dealing with an Algae bloom.
This year has been a bad one here
in central Florida. We had very large amounts of rain at the
beginning of the summer. We had almost 20" in one week at my
house. This was followed by several weeks of very high temps.
This has caused me to edit the following article.
In most cases it is not important
what kind of algae you are dealing with, we just want it to go
away. If you think you are dealing with Black Algae, look for
information at the bottom of this page.
When you are diagnosing your problem,
note whether the algae is growing in the water or only on the
bottom and sides of the pool. If the growth is limited to
these surfaces you will probably need an algaecide. In my
experience, I have found that sodium bromide is very
effective. That is the active ingredient in several brands of
algaecide, so just look for the best buy.
While you have or are treating the bloom, I
recommend that no one be using the pool. For some reason
unimportant at this time, your
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sanitizing system has failed to keep up with
the needs of the pool. There are a lot of things that can
cause this, but let us deal with the immediate problem. The
pool is not safe to swim in if it is not properly sanitized.
If you are
experiencing a light algae bloom, I would apply enough liquid
chlorine to raise the free chlorine 5 -6 ppm. Also,
check your ph.
Ph should be at the lower end of normal range. I
try to reach 7.2
For
sanitizer, I prefer liquid chlorine, it is already a liquid
and will disperse quicker, and there is no danger of staining
the pool. A bag of shock will do the same thing.
If you are having a serious problem, this
chlorine may react completely with your particular contaminant
overnight and may need to be reapplied the next day. The only
way to know, is to test free and total chlorine levels each
day. This might seem expensive, but if the chemicals are not
applied continuously at proper levels, you are just giving the
algae time to start growing again. It is less expensive to get
this done quickly.
I prefer to use sulfuric acid for
maintaining ph. It seems to take more to get to a target ph,
but it seems to stay more consistent once the desired level is
reached.
The amount
and type of chemicals needed
can be calculated by your pool supplier, all they need is the
capacity of your pool in gallons. Only use chemicals as
directed on package labels.
This is where you need to make a
judgment. If the bloom has been caught early enough you can
run your filter system continuously until it is cleaned up.
The water circulation will keep the algae suspended in the
water until it can be filtered out. You may have to brush the
pool surfaces, just brush towards the main drain, you might
even avoid pulling out the vacuum equipment. I usually will
not brush until
(continued)
(Black algae)
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