Lay My Hat

Hi,
What with my OH being unwell, pool maintenance has been forgotton for past couple of months.

Knowing that we had a pump problem, I decided to get that sorted first. New housing for pump basket fitted on Friday so all the equipment seems to be functioning ok.

I noticed how bad the black algae (north facing tiled pool walls only) was and realise how difficult it is to remove:shock:. I have poured liquid chlorine all along the pool walls. The algae has loosened from the wall surfaces but even with brushing with a stiff bristle pool brush, it is proving tough. The local pool outlet used to have a product called AlgiBlack which is supposed to be very good at countering the black algae but no longer stock it for some reason.

If all my efforts fail, the last resort is to empty the pool.

Has anyone used the steel brushes, will they damage the tiles?

Any advice is welcome.

Many thanks,

Maria,

There is a fundamental difference which singles out “black� algae from all other forms. The outer layers (the dead layers) of black algae protect the inner layers from algaecide. You must continue with your anti-algae treatment, preferably with a specific algaecide rather than chlorine. While the treatment is going on you must run your circulation pumps continuously, day and night. Most importantly you must frequently, by that I mean at the very least once a day, vigorously brush the areas of attack – you have a tiled pool so a steel wire brush is the tool to use; if it was a liner pool then you would use a stiff nylon brush.

The last resort is to empty the pool.

No it isn’t, unless you are prepared to scrub every square inch of the pool with concentrated chlorine while it’s empty.

Be persistent, back off on nothing and you will win. This time next week you will be asking “what was the problem?�

Fluffy

Hola Alan,

Many thanks for your speedy reply. I will search again for an algicide specific to black algae. I saw the wire brush yesterday at the pool shop but I was worried that it would mark the tiles so I will pick up one of those as well.

Fingers crossed that the problem will be solved by next week

Maria

Just wanted to wish you good luck - Alan has ,as usual, given very good advice.

Maria wrote:I will search again for an algicide specific to black algae.

When I said "specific" I didn't mean specific to black algae, I'm not sure such a product exists. What I meant was that you should use a treatment which is specifically anti-algae, in addition to your chlorine treatment.

Fluffy