Summer is Coming

 Every year when the weather changes all the pools become more difficult to maintain and algae will grow much faster. When the pool water is very cold in the winter, about 40 degrees, algae has a very hard time growing. Think of melted snow in a river; ever wonder why the river water is so perfectly clear and why lake water is always green? Algae is just a plant, think of it as grass that grows in water.  As the days grow longer and warmer the pool water warms up also.  By spring the water is about 65 degrees.
For algae to grow it needs three things: water, food and sunlight. Water, well you have a pool full of that.  Food, algae just like your lawn is a plant and needs food to grow. Algae food is almost anything that gets into your pool, like leaves, pollen, grass clippings, fertilizer, dirt blown in by the wind or the gardener, and dead algae that is already in the pool or inside the filter. Lastly, algae needs sunlight; sunny California has lots of that, right?
To keep algae from growing in your pool you must remove one of the three items algae needs to grow. You can’t remove the water or sunlight so that leaves just food. If you put your algae on a diet by removing as much food as possible the algae will still grow but will grow much slower. You can require that your gardener not blow debris into the pool.  Clean and vacuum the pool at least once a week.  Keep animals out of the water, like dogs, birds, especially ducks, rabbits, snakes, etc.  Don’t let landscape water run off the grass or plants into the pool.  Keep the area around the pool free of debris.
Even with your algae on a diet, some algae will grow so you will need to add chlorine to the pool water to kill any growing algae. Correctly balanced water with three to five PPM (parts per million) of chlorine will give you algae-free water. Take notice, I have said nothing about if the pool filtration pump is even on or how fast it is running or how long it is running.  All the pool pump and filter do is remove any debris in the water.  It is the chlorine that kills the growing algae.
We have maintained pools for bank-owned foreclosed homes where all the pool equipment has been cut out and stolen. We keep the water balanced and full of chlorine so the water stays crystal clear.  We have maintained these pools without any equipment installed for over one year. Yes, there is a layer of dirt on the bottom of the pool but the water is crystal clear. When the home closes escrow the bank has us install new equipment and we vacuum the mud off the bottom and the pool is ready for swimming.
So if your pool gets algae and your pool service company says things like: your filter is too small, your filter is too old, you need a stronger filter pump, you need to run your filter pump longer, your variable speed filter pump is running too slow, or you need to run the filter pump during the day, all of these excuses have nothing to do with the algae growing. If you have algae in your pool it is 99.9 percent caused by not having the pool water balanced and enough chlorine in the water. I have left .1 percent for all the excuses listed above because, yes, the filter will remove some food slowing down the algae growth. But really people it’s the water chemistry.
So if you have algae in the pool water it is from a lack of chlorine and not correctly balancing the water. Sometimes a pool owner will tell me that there is chlorine in the water but they still have a green pool, this is impossible.  It is impossible to have chlorinated water and still have algae grow. It is like saying my car’s gas tank is empty but it is ok I can still drive from LA to Las Vegas.
For more information, call 661-263-7503 or visit www.poolsbyben.com.