After dumping more phosphate remover into the pool, I am waiting to see if algae will return. Also pumped out about 1/5 of the pool to refill it with fresh water to dilute out all that hardness in the water...
Not sure if you are familiar with the folks at Trouble Free Pool, but they are pretty awesome. It has made my adventure of pool ownership quite refreshing.
Thanks for the link. I will check to see if they have useful tips to me.
I have spent close to $100 in phosphate remover in the last month. That seems to slow the algae growth, but not stop it. Never had this problem before.
Then, I recall reading in the neighborhood flyer the story told by a local pool service contractor. He said so many pools he served got algae problem, something he never saw. Said phosphate level was high on all of them, and could not tell where it came from. Suspected that it came from dust stirred up by a large highway construction project nearby.
I am a few miles from there, and do not see unusual amount of dust in the pool. Where does my pool phosphate come from?
This morning, while brushing the pool, it occurred to me that perhaps the phosphate came from the tap water. Yes, could it be?
Surfing the Web tells me that phosphate level allowed in tap water can be as high as 0.03 mg/liter, because phosphate is not a hazardous substance. But, but, but that's 30,000 ppb. OMG! Even 1000 ppb of phosphate will turn a pool into an algae pond.
I have ordered a $30 phosphate test kit (local pool supply store charges $1 per test). I will get to the root of this. Maybe the city changed its water source, and pumps from a different well or something.
PS. On the drive to the supermarket, I realized that the above number was not right. 0.03 mg/l is 30ppb. I was off by a factor of 1000x.
